Copyright Fulcrum Productions Limited June 1998
http://www.fulcrumtv.co.uk/
Transcript
starts
Sound of TV news - Nick Owen's news reports of the day the deaths were announced...date, news stings etc...
NICK V/O
It seems extraordinary after all this time that people still want to
come and see where it happened, to leave messages, to lay flowers. It says
an amazing amount about
what Diana meant to people. But it's a very strange feeling for me
to come here, to know that this is where it all ended. The sadness doesn't
go away.
NICK PTC
Now people will say that it's time to let the dead rest in peace, but
to come here to Paris is to learn that there are many important but unanswered
questions about
what happened on that terrible night.
TITLE SHOT: DIANA - SECRETS BEHIND THE CRASH
NICK PTC
Immediately after the accident things seemed reasonably straightforward.
High on a cocktail of drink and drugs the driver lost control slamming
the Mercedes into
the 13th concrete pillar inside this tunnel.
Amazingly though despite 9 months of investigation and the questioning
of dozens of witnesses, there are now more questions than answers and the
French judge in
charge seems no further forward.
In two days time he's calling many of the key witnesses back together again for what's called a confrontation - to try to make sense of it all.
COMM
For this is a story full of mystery. The police have still not found
many who were there at the time. Witnesses talk of a mysterious flash in
the tunnel and powerful
motorbikes leaving at high speed. And as we have discovered, the man
at the wheel, Henri Paul, was leading an extraordinary double life. In
public, he was Security
Manager at one of the world's most famous hotels, the Ritz in Paris.
In private, he was a secret agent, in regular contact with the French and
other intelligence
services.
FADE TO BLACK
COMM
The south of France. For generations, it's been the playground for the
seriously rich and famous. And wherever they go, the paparazzi are never
too far behind. Last
August, Diana took a second holiday here with Dodi Fayed, the playboy
son of Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods. For the world's media,
this new
romance was the only story that counted. She was easily the most famous
and most photographed woman in the world. There had been a decent interval
after her
divorce from Prince Charles - and the media pack could smell marriage
in the air.
COMM
Her former lover, the cavalry, James Hewitt, now lives a quiet life in the west country. Despite the fuss over the book about their affair they had kept in touch.
[Caption: James Hewitt, former lover]
HEWITT V/O
I spoke to her about four months previous to that actually. She seemed to be happy in what she was doing
HEWITT SYNC
Q: Did she say anything about her private life?
A: She said - I said, you know, what are you going to do next and um,
she said: 'Oh, I'm going to shock the world and um, I'm going to find a
big black man and
marry him,' um, which was - you know showed through her sense of humour.
She liked to tease and um, and to shock people in a - in a humourly way
like that.
COMM 20"
COMM
Princess Diana always had a very ambivalent attitude towards the press,
particularly the photographers. They were very useful when she wanted attention
for her
activities like the land mines campaign or when she wanted to upstage
her former husband. But by last summer - as her romance blossomed - things
began to
change.
HEWITT SYNC
She always made it quite clear that she would like to marry and to settle down and have a - a family and try and lead a normal, quiet life.
[Caption: Mohammed Al Fayed]
MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC
She stayed with us for a couple of weeks in the South of France, she
enjoyed her children, enjoyed the best holiday they can ever enjoy. She
saw the normal,
ordinary people, life you know which is no formalities, no - you know,
just the way you enjoy life in a normal family way. Close family way, which
unfortunate she
never enjoyed during her life, during her parents, during her marriage,
you know.
COMM
Their holiday over at the end of August, Diana and Dodi decided to go
to Paris for an overnight stay before returning to London. But by the time
they reached Le
Bourget, a private airport just outside Paris, the paparazzi were already
waiting. Here - catching Diana and Trevor Rees Jones, Dodi and one of their
drivers, Henri
Paul.
COMM
On the way in to Paris, there were two near misses. Both times, a paparazzi
weaved in an and out of their convoy. Twice, Henri Paul - who was driving
the back up
vehicle managed to swerve and avoid an accident. Diana was horrified
and said she was worried that one of the paparazzi would get killed the
way they were
behaving. At 3.45, Diana and Dodi arrived at the Windsor Villa, just
on the outskirts of Paris.
ACTUALITY SYNC
Hello. It's Nicholas Owen from ITV.
Good morning
Morning
You're expected. Monsieur Martin is there at the main gate for you.
Thank you very much
COMM
Here, Diana and Dodi were greeted by Gregorio Martin, who has been the butler here most of his adult life.
ACTUALITY SYNC
Bonjour Monsieur. Comment allez vous?
Bonjour
Apres vous. Entrez. Voila.
COMM
The villa is the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - a
previous refuge abroad for another glamorous and stylish woman who had
married into the
Royal family - and like Princess Diana would never be Queen.
[Caption: Gregorio Martin, Butler]
MARTIN SYNC
Q: What about Dodi. Did he like this house?
A: Sure. He like it very much. It's a beautiful house. I tell you, this house in the summer always is beautiful. Particularly in the summer it's extraordinary.
MARTIN SYNC
Q: So you expected Dodi....
A: Yeah, sure
Q: And Diana to live in this house together?
A: Absolutely. Everything is ready for to come here. He prepare the
house all ready. All is ready. We see this. If somebody and moves all the
furniture and if
someone comes with a designer. You know when the new people come. It's
clear.
Q: Do you remember the last day they came here very well?
A: Yeah Yeah Yeah Sure.
Q: Do you remember them coming? Do you remember what happened?
A: They came to visit everything. They go all round the house In the top until the basement, the kitchen the kennel for the dogs. Everything. The car. Yeah sure
MARTIN SYNC
Q: What did you think of them together? How did they seem together?
A: I think really they were a very beautiful couple.
MOHAMMED AL FAYED V/O
Dodi decided, you know, and she decided that this is the place she loved,
she find that this is the place for her and a very secure place and it's
just near London, she
will be at home.
MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC
and was just the right nest for them to continue their happiness and continue their life, but they're gone.
Q: You could imagine them living in that place?
A: Yeah. It was just the right place for them.
COMM
From the Windsor villa they went across Paris to the Ritz Hotel - also owned by Dodi's father, Mohammed Al-Fayed, where they checked into the Imperial Suite.
[Caption: 6.30 pm]
At 6.30 Dodi went across the square to pick up a ring for Diana.
After the excitement of the previous week in the south of France, there
was no big money to be made by the paparazzi - unless - this was to be
the night that a very
special announcement would come. Many close to Dodi - including his
butler - were sure that this was to be the night.
[Caption: Pierre Pham Van Suu, Photographer]
SUU SYNC
With these people you can reach the top, you know, you can make records,
records, or you can make nothing, so the answer is in between, meaning
that it depends
on the type of picture that you would have been able to get. A picture
inside the hotel is out of the question because we never go inside hotels,
yeah, so it would have
to be outside, what are you gonna get outside? Even if they pose and
they smile at us. you know. I'll tell you what the best picture would have
been er, after dinner
Dodi offers - ask her to marry him, gives her a ring, comes out and
she shows the ring, then you've got a picture.
COMM
And even if there was just the slightest chance of this picture, none of the photographers was going to leave early that night.
[Caption: 7 pm]
At seven o'clock Diana and Dodi left the Ritz and went to Dodi's apartment
about 5 minutes away by car, at the top of the Champs Elysee. The growing
army of
paparazzi was waiting for them when they arrived. After a struggle
on the pavement outside, they got through here to this door. For
COMM
[Caption: 7.10 pm]
this is Dodi's apartment... We have been allowed to film inside - the
first film crew here - It's the sumptuous flat that the son of the Harrods'
billionaire hoped Diana
would share with him.
Relations with his powerful father were not always easy. Dodi had his
own mark in the glamorous world of movie stars...a rich playboy, but one
who'd enjoyed
some success commercially as a Hollywood film producer.
It is a home full of the possessions of a man born into the privilege
of wealth...and conspicuous consumption - the high speed boat, the antique
clock. At the chic end
of Paris, in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe...it's a place that
should have been a haven from hostile outsiders. But outside the tranquillity
of Dodi's luxury
apartment, that night the pressure was now building up.
[Caption: 9.30 pm]
At 9.30 they planned to eat at a fashionable restaurant but the throng
of paparazzi and other hangers on made this impossible. They gave up and
went to the Ritz to
eat.
MOHAMMED SYNC
They just don't only taking photographs but also they - you know they
are pumping you, they stand in your way, there is motorcycles in front
of you, it's just
devastating.
COMM
One of the paparazzi there that night was Pierre Suu, caught here hanging
around outside the Spice Girls Hotel in Paris last month. Traveling on
motorbikes and
scooters, these photographers are quick and mobile. Dodging in and
out of the traffic, with high speed cameras and long lenses, they're every
inch the modern urban
hunter.
SUU V/O
We jump off the motorcycle and we get in place to shoot them.
SUU SYNC
A few of us had time to take a picture through the window at that time
and one or two frames and then the door opened, the Princess Diana exit
before and Dodi
leave behind her, a few metres behind and they went into the hotel.
Q: How would you describe the way the Princess reacted to what you were doing?
S: Nothing special really you know. She kept her head straight and walked and didn't talk to us, didn't seem particularly annoyed or anything really.
COMM
But this video shot by the Ritz security cameras tells a very different
story. On of the photographers is already inside the lobby. As they arrive
at the front door a
second photographer steps in front of Diana and manages to take a picture
before being grabbed and thrown out. A grim faced Diana then enters the
hotel, followed
by the bodyguard Kez Wingfield, her boy friend, a few steps behind
Dodi and Trevor Rees-Jones.
According to one of the bodyguards, she then sat down and burst in to tears.
[Caption 10.09 pm]
COMM
Shortly afterwards, Henri Paul, parks his Mini outside the Ritz. It’s
just after 10 o'clock in Paris, 9 o'clock in London. Henri Paul, whose
main job was acting Head
of Security at the Ritz had been called on his mobile and came back
in to work. One mystery - still unresolved is where he was during the evening,
having left work
just after 7 o’clock. Once inside, he drank two glasses of Ricard -
an alcoholic aperitif - in the bar.
SUU SYNC
I saw some maid probably from the hotel through a first floor window,
shutting down curtains, so we assumed that they were gonna have dinner
at the first floor
which is the Imperial suite or something. So then we - we realized
that er, we - we'll have to wait a couple of hours maybe.
COMM
Inside the Ritz, Diana and Dodi had dinner in the Imperial Suite.
MOHAMMED SYNC
They called me, say what's happening and then we're having dinner and
after that going back to the apartment and we're coming back on Sunday
and on Monday
they're gonna declare their engagement.
Q: Did Dodi tell you that? Did Diana tell you that?
A: Dodi told me that. Diana told me that. On Saturday evening. At ten o'clock. In the hotel.
Q: Did Diana speak to you in that conversation?
F: Yeah, yeah.
Q: Do you remember what she actually said to you?
F: She was completely full of happiness. Full of joy. At the end of
the road you know she find someone she can feel, you know, fill her life
and be happy, and er,
fulfill all her dreams which she lost and she missed for years. She
find the family she can be - you know - related to.
COMM 15"
This amateur video captures the mood outside the Ritz that evening.
Inside, Diana and Dodi decide to return to his apartment. According to
Mohammed Al Fayed
his son rang him, in some anguish. By now, it's just after midnight.
MOHAMMED SYNC
I say just be careful. Er, don't take any decision because if you're
happy in the hotel stay in the hotel. If you feel going out you can do
it just - you know - er, it's all
up to you. I left it to him to decide.
COMM 20"
But Dodi came up with a plan. A decoy vehicle would go to the front
of the Ritz. Meanwhile they would escape by the back door. The Ritz security
video shows
their black Mercedes - supplied by a local hire company - being brought
round for them. But they never stood a chance.
SUU V/O
Princess Diana
SUU SYNC
tried to escape photographers as much as she can, you know, so therefore
this is a natural thing to do, to go to check the back door, so that's
why some
photographers went into the back, so both ways were secure so to speak.
COMM
19 minutes past 12. At the back of the Ritz, Diana and Dodi slip into
the black Mercedes, Henri Paul takes over at the wheel. But the paparazzi
monitor their every
move and alert each other on mobile phones. Even the crowd knew what
was going on. On the tourist video you can hear what is happening. "They're
chasing
Princess Diana!"
NICK OWEN SYNC -
This is where the journey began. The rear entrance to the Ritz there.
The princess and Dodi joined Henri Paul the chauffeur and Trevor Rees-Jones,
the bodyguard
and they set off down the rue Cambon, a narrow back street.
We're turning right.
COMM
Within a minute they were ambushed just round the corner at the Place
de la Concorde. According to one key witness, who spoke to the police,
there were many
paparazzi surrounding the car. One photographer on a motorbike was
taking pictures of Diana and Dodi in the back of the Mercedes. At some
lights, a car in front
held them back before they set off - at speed towards the tunnel.
NICK SYNC
This car. This is a Mercedes very similar to the sort that the Princess
and the others were in, a really powerful machine. You just know it's itching
to get going. You
feel invincible in it. Obviously very well built. I'm having difficulty
holding it back to be absolutely honest.
NICK SYNC
There's a slip road on the right hand side about to come in and join
us, just at the mouth of the tunnel. Anything coming out of there, you're
really in difficulties. Then
you get this strange kick to the left, but even at this speed there's
a bit of throwing over to the left and then to the right. You lurch across
the road. If anything goes
wrong. Disaster.
MCKAY V/O
There's no protection in terms of any guard rail. Anybody who just deviates
from the road only has to go a couple of feet on to the curb and you've
got a solid
accident taking place.
[Caption: Professor Murray McKay, Car Crash Expert]
MCKAY SYNC
It's the classic case where a guard rail of some kind would turn a serious crash into a mere deflection.
MCKAY V/O
You should put up guard rails. It's not at all expensive. You could put it in for about 10 - 12 pounds per foot.
MCKAY SYNC
If there'd been a guard rail in this tunnel last August then nobody would have died at all.
COMM
Instead the Mercedes - with only one person - Trevor Rees-Jones, who
would be the sole survivor - wearing a seat belt - hurtled into a tunnel,
which was a death
trap.
MCKAY SYNC
The record for that tunnel is 13 deaths before this accident took place last August in the last dozen years or so
COMM
And even since the deaths last August nothing has been done to make the tunnel safe.
But that night two young people had a lucky escape. Souad Moufakkir
and Mohammed Medjahdi were leaving the tunnel when they heard the Mercedes
braking
heavily behind them.
[Caption: Mohammed Medjahdi]
MOHAMMED SYNC
I got the impression that the car was right behind us judging by what
I could see in my rear-view mirror. So I accelerated so as to put some
distance between us - to
get away - and avoid being hit.
[Caption: Souad Moufakkir]
SOUAD SYNC
The whole thing happened really quickly, really really quickly. I heard
a car braking repeatedly, which is what made me turn round. And at that
moment, that's when
I saw the car hit the pillar.
COMM
The investigating judge believes that as he approached the tunnel, Henri
Paul saw a slow moving white Fiat Uno. He tried to get round it but clipped
the side of the
car, lost control and skidded in to the thirteenth pillar. The Fiat
Uno then drove away. But this is not the end of the story - rather the
beginning of an extraordinary
mystery. For a start, that Fiat Uno has still not been found.
END OF PART ONE
RT: 20' 22"
*************************************************************
PART TWO
COMM
The Mercedes is one of the world's safest cars. It's extensively tested
with full body rolls, computer simulations, and with head on collisions.
This one is at just over
30 miles per hour. But that night, the Mercedes was going significantly
faster.
COMM
Professor Murray McKay is one of the world's leading crash investigators, who's studied the Paris crash.
MCKAY V/O
I've been looking at crashes for 30 years
MCKAY SYNC
And from a knowledge of how vehicles do crush in experimental crashes and conditions where the speeds are measured, you can as it were calibrate this crash.
MCKAY V/O
and the way you work is to start at the end and we have the final position
of the Mercedes pretty well defined. It finished about 15 feet away from
the pillar having
spun off rotating anti-clockwise through 180 degrees and a bit more
MCKAY SYNC
That gives you an over the road speed - striking the pillar - of about 60 miles per hour
MCKAY V/O
That's like falling out of an 8 storey building and landing on cement.
MCKAY V/O
If you looked at 100 crashes you'd only find one or two that are at this sort of severity.
COMM
In fact there are two tunnels - about 200 metres apart - on the road
from the Ritz to Dodi's apartment. Eric Lee, a chauffeur, was overtaken
by the Mercedes as he
drove through the first of these two tunnels.
[Caption: Eric Lee, Chauffeur]
LEE SYNC
I had seen it coming up from quite a distance. And I would say it was traveling at more than 150 kilometres an hour.
COMM
By the time Henri Paul reached the second tunnel - the crash tunnel
- he had slowed down a bit. But from the skid marks it is also possible
to work out exactly what
speed he was driving at just seconds before the crash.
MCKAY SYNC
that gives you something of the order of 78, 80 miles an hour and that's
a reasonably tight objective number. We're not having to rely on any eyewitnesses
to reach
that sort of conclusion
COMM
But why was Henri Paul driving so fast? The paparazzi arrested immediately
afterwards have all claimed to the judge that they could not keep up with
the Mercedes
and were no where near when it passed through both tunnels. However,
many eye witnesses disagree and describe - at different stages of the journey
- a convoy,
with Henri Paul chased by cars and motorbikes.
Eric Lee followed the Mercedes as it sped towards the crash tunnel. In the distance he heard a huge explosion.
[Caption: Eric Lee, Eye witness]
LEE SYNC
I was going at more or less 40 miles an hour, I was still in the first
tunnel when I heard the explosion and they had passed me before the entrance
to the tunnel. The
time to drive along quietly, to come out at the exit to see the car
took me a minute and half, two minutes
COMM
The paparazzi have always claimed they did not arrive until well after
the crash. But Eric Lee is one of several key witnesses whose evidence
flatly contradicts this,
putting them in the tunnel almost immediately afterwards. And this
means that they must have been much closer to the Mercedes than they have
admitted.
LEE SYNC
There were about 10 people down there. Maybe they weren't all photographers,
I don't know. I know that as I went down four people came up, four young
people,
they had been arguing, because as I was going down I could hear them
arguing with the photographers. They were attacking the photographers for
taking pictures.
They came up, I was going in the other direction, I went down, I passed
between them, I went round and I found myself facing the woman who was
inside, who
turned out to be Lady Di.
COMM
Diana and Trevor Rees-Jones were still alive. Though they were among the first on the scene, none of the paparazzi called for an ambulance.
SOUAD SYNC
I saw the driver in the front. He was in the front. His body was thrown forward and his body hit the steering wheel.
LEE SYNC
I still have this picture in my mind, it's terrible. There are three
pictures that I always see: the face of bodyguard covered in blood, the
face of the woman who opens
her eyes, then shuts them again, who seems to be suffering, and the
white hand of driver through the wheel. It was terrible.
COMM
Henri Paul was dead. Even though the airbag inflated, his ribs, collar
bone and right leg were broken and his neck was snapped. Though he died
instantly, crucially
Diana was alive when a doctor, Frederick Maillez, giving a friend -
Mark Butt - a lift home, arrived moments after the crash.
[Caption: Dr Frederick Maillez]
MAILLEZ SYNC
A: The lady was still, er, breathing, but with difficulties, and, er,
she needed some help. So, I ran back to my car to give, , a 'phone call
to the emergency
services...and I went to my trunk to take the only equipment I had,
which was, er, ... bag, you know, resuscitation mask, and I ran back to
the wreckage to give
assistance to the victims
COMM
All around him, it was mayhem. One paparazzi told the police "You make
me sick. I'm going back to Sarayevo. The police over there don't bother
us and let us do
our work". Another complained "let me do my job" when a police officer
pushed him out of the way to get to the victims.
[Caption: Mark Butt, Eye witness]
MARK BUTT SYNC
Some time they were going for a close shot, and back out, they were
- but they did get - get rather close, that was the one thing that - that
kind of bothered me, was
to see how close they had to get with a huge lens and get, you know,
right - right on top, within - within fifty or sixty centimetres.
MAILLEZ SYNC
While I was inside the car, giving assistance to princess Diana I was
aware of a lot of flashes, a lot of people taking a lot of pictures of
myself and of Princess Diana
and of the inside of the car.
COMM 20"
Since the accident the police have raided the homes and offices - and
even the parents' homes - of the paparazzi who were there. They have so
far recovered only a
few dozen pictures. Yet that night hundreds were taken - and some are
now being offered for sale.
LEE SYNC
What did I think?
I didn't try to work out why they were there, I thought to myself that
they were opportunists who were taking pictures of an accident in the tunnel
for the tabloids. I
don’t know.
NICK V/O
A lot of people are ready to believe there was some sort of conspiracy at work , some plot to kill Diana and Dodi by dark and sinister forces.
PTC
Surely the answer is it's too far fetched, too complex to organize -
how could anyone ensure the Fiat Uno was in place, how could any one know
the route Henri
Paul would take, how could anyone engineer such a horrific crash.
There is another sequence of events - described by some witnesses, which
does raise disturbing new questions about happened in the tunnel. One of
those witnesses
is Francois Levistre, on his way home late at night.
LEVISTRE SYNC
When I drove down here in my car, I was doing 70 miles an hour. I looked back in my rear view mirror and saw head lights just like you see now.
COMM
Driving a Ford Ka, - he says he saw another car and then the black Mercedes behind him traveling at some speed, with a motorbike alongside.
[Caption: Francois Levistre, Eye witness]
LEVISTRE SYNC
I'm in the middle of the tunnel, I can see the head-lights approaching, you can see the head-lights because it's dark, it’s night time.
LEVISTRE V/O
you could see the head-lights of the car coming with the motorbike head-lights
because you can distinguish between the head-lights of a motorbike and
those of a
car, and the motorbike was driving along side the car, well now we
can say that it's a Mercedes. Well, anyway, the motorbike when it enters...when
the Mercedes
comes, it drives over the crown of the road to enter the tunnel.
LEVISTRE SYNC
At that moment, the Mercedes...the motorbike... accelerates and you
can see the acceleration of the motorbike because you can see the head-light
rise up a bit. The
bike is accelerating. I am halfway through the tunnel, inside, when
the motorbike accelerates, cuts the Mercedes up
COMM
The police have not identified this fast moving motorbike, even though
many witnesses have described it, some in considerable detail. Eric Lee
remembers it as it
passed him in the first tunnel.
LEE SYNC
as we were going down, a Mercedes turned up behind me flashing its lights
at me, so I moved back over to let it pass and the car went past me very,
very fast.
Very, very fast, I can still remember the sound it made, and it was
followed by a motorbike ten metres or so behind.
COMM
This motorbike is crucial because of what Francois Levistre says he saw as it drew alongside the Mercedes in the tunnel.
LEVISTRE SYNC
At that moment there's a big white flash
CUT TO FLASH
LEVISTRE SYNC
A massive white light I'm looking in the rear-view mirror, and it's
then - at that moment- that I see the motorbike, and I think to myself,
well I think lots of things...I
think why the cutting up, why did the motorbike cut them up
Q: The flash, was this flash like a photo flash?
A: No, it was stronger than a photo flash, or else it was a massive photo flash. It was a big white light like this one.
Q: Like lightening?
A: Yes, yes, but quick, and it's then, when you're in the tunnel and
on top of that in the dark, you can see, you're forced to...it's like a
radar speed trap, a radar
because I've been asked whether it could be a radar speed trap, it's
not a radar speed trap, but it was a big radar flash, it's then that I
see that once the
flash...happens...the Mercedes goes left, right, left.
COMM
Initially, Francois Levistre was dismissed by the French police but
in fact we have established that - last month - he was called in by the
judge to give his account of
events.
But many other witnesses have also described the motorbike and some
have also described this very bright flash in the tunnel. So we set up
an experiment for
Francois Levistre.
ACTUALITY SYNC
Now Monsieur Levistre, there will be two flashes behind you here. The
distance I think will be just about the distance you say when there was
a flash in the tunnel
that night. So if you look out carefully here.
A: No
Q: And now wait, we should see another one. If you look in your mirror
A: Yeah. That second one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
That second one.
Q: The second one is the sort of flash you saw in the tunnel that night.
A: Yes that that night.
Q: You're absolutely sure?
A: Sure Sure.
NICK PTC
So what was that blinding light, Monsieur Levistre claims he saw in
the tunnel. In the demonstration you've just seen, the first flash was
from a paparazzi camera. But
Monsieur Levistre identified the much bigger flash, the second one
and that came from this piece of kit.
Now this is an anti personnel device - quite legal to buy in the UK
- and it sets off one enormously powerful flash of light. Shine this in
somebody's eyes and they are
stunned, blinded, disabled for several minutes. If you're driving a
car when it happens, you'll almost certainly crash.
COMM
We bought our anti personnel flash light in the west end of London for
just over £260. But there's another version of this piece of kit.
It's not available to the public.
It's infinitely more powerful and it's used by army special forces
- including the British - around the world.
END OF PART TWO
RT: 12'57"
PART THREE
COMM 30"
Seven paparazzi were arrested immediately afterwards and that night
the police investigation began. The focus was on the driver, Henri Paul.
Almost immediately it
was announced that he was more than three times over the French alcohol
limit.
But the pathologists also discovered something else, something very mysterious the details of which - until now - were kept secret.
When he died, he had an unusually high level of carbon monoxide in his blood. Carbon monoxide can kill - but even in lower doses it has profound effects.
DEBBIE DAVIS
There is an overwhelming feeling of doom. Your body is screaming.
COMM
Debbie Davis suffered from chronic carbon monoxide poisoning before
her condition - caused by a leaky gas fire - was finally diagnosed. Today
she runs a support
group from her home for fellow sufferers.
[Caption: Debbie Davis, Carbon Monoxide Support Group]
DEBBIE DAVIS SYNC
Your senses are all to pot, your brain is deprived of oxygen, it cannot function properly. You can't judge distance, you can't judge time.
COMM
In Henri Paul's case the carbon monoxide level in his blood - at the time he died - was just over 20%.
[Caption: Dr Alastair Hay]
HAY SYNC
Once you've got a certain level in the blood, that, then, if you stop
the exposure, that level then decreases, and the rate at which it falls
is about, er, half every four to
five hours. So, in other words, if it was 40%, four to five hours later,
it would be 20%. So, the level that was measured in Henri Paul at the time
that he died, would
indicate that, say, some two hours prior to his death, he might have
had a level of 30%.
COMM
Dodi's blood sample showed no carbon monoxide, which means that Henri
Paul could not have been poisoned in the Mercedes. So the logic must be
that he was
poisoned earlier - but that only deepens the mystery, because here's
Henri Paul - two hours before his death - walking down the steps in the
Ritz, without any
problem. If the blood test was reliable he would have had 30% carbon
monoxide poisoning at this time - yet he has none of the tell tale symptoms.
HAY V/O
If you've got a level of about 30%, someone would have a decided headache. He would have real throbbing in the temples. Erm, the
headache would be unmistakable. There would be certainly a, er, a lack of co-ordination.
DEBBIE SYNC
D: He - he - he wouldn't know his left hand from his right.
HAY V/O
It doesn't strike me, when you look at the pictures of Henri Paul, of
a man who is really suffering. It doesn't look as if he's got a headache,
he's not massaging his
temples to try and reduce the pain in any way. He seems to be someone
who is quite relaxed in his environment, in control, he's talking to people,
giving orders. He's
affable, with people that he comes into contact with, smiles at what
I assume are guests, and so on. It seems to be somebody who is fairly relaxed,
and certainly not
in any pain.
COMM
And carbon monoxide is not the only mystery about his blood sample..
I took the Ritz security video - which charts Henri Paul over the two hours
before the crash -
to a behavioural psychologist to see if he could spot the tell tale
signs of heavy drinking. If the blood test is to be believed, Henri Paul
should have been ill, visibly ill.
And he should also have been showing signs of being drunk, having consumed
the equivalent of 8 scotches on an empty stomach.
[Caption: Dr Martin Skinner, Behavioural Psychologist]
SKINNER SYNC
Do you think Henri Paul was drunk?
SKINNER V/O
M: Well I don't think there's evidence from the video
SKINNER SYNC
that can suggest he looks drunk. You wouldn't look at that not knowing what had happened and say goodness me, that's a drunk person we're looking at.
SKINNER V/O
The - the pictures of him walking up and down the corridor are straight and smooth, he's standing very still.
SKINNER SYNC
there's nothing in his demeanour to - from - from these videos, to suggest that, er, there were any problems with his competence to deal with the situation.
COMM (Pause)
Of course if Henri Paul was a secret and heavy drinker then he would
have a high tolerance and might therefore be able to hide his state. But
his post mortem shows
that his liver was in good condition and did not have any signs of
alcohol abuse or heavy drinking. But it's when you put the two together
- carbon monoxide and
alcohol - that the mystery deepens further.
HAY SYNC
Q: So it's a complicated and rather strange picture. Do you have a concluding
thought when you're presented with this problem? What do you think of what
you've
heard?
H: (sighs) I - I find it difficult to rationalise everything. I certainly
think, with a blood-carbon monoxide level of 20%, which was determined
in his blood, and a
blood-alcohol level of about 180 milligrams per 100 mil., that this
would be someone who would have a much slower reaction time, it would certainly
be someone
who would be slowed up in the way they did things, and would probably
also be somebody who was in some pain. But, none of those seemed to be
evident from
the pictures that we see of him. So, it is a bit of an enigma.
COMM 15"
It's impossible to overstate the significance of that blood sample.
From the very start, it's defined our views of Henri Paul and virtually
all our thinking about the crash
- until now. But what if it is not as reliable as we first thought?
PTC OUTSIDE HENRI PAUL'S FLAT
The more I learn about this story, the less clear it becomes. The blood
sample seems - well - suspect and the paparazzi were obviously much closer
than they have
admitted. Much in this story is contradictory and nowhere is this more
true than with Henri Paul, who lived here, up in apartment on the third
floor.
GARREC V/O
I have known him for 21 years.
GARREC SYNC
He was a witness at my wedding.
[Caption: Leonard Amico, Friend]
AMICO SYNC
He was kind of a jolly person and would communicate with everyone, talk with everyone, just chat away.
[Caption: Claude Garrec, Henri Paul's best friend]
GARREC SYNC
He was very bright. He was the sort of friend everyone wishes for. He was very well read, very musical. He played the piano, the violin.
GARREC V/O
There's not one day that I don't think of him. I also have to go the street where he lived...
GARREC SYNC
it's permanent...I still live in the same area and I go to the same restaurants...so...it's hard.
COMM
Henri Paul was also a keen pilot. Just two days before the accident
he completed a rigorous medical to renew his flying licence. The medical
found no signs of
alcoholism. For him, flying wasn't just a hobby. His flight logs show
he was a regular flier and he'd taken courses for flying at night. And
in all he had completed 605
hours flying time.
[Caption: George Bielek, Flying Instructor]
BIELEK SYNC
he was a good man. Now, we never had problem with, with him and - he
was a very serious and a quiet and er, he, he make you, his job very good
in, in, in er, in
flight.
BIELEK V/O
he was a good private pilot, serious, and er, he, he's looking for progressing each time.
COMM
But flying is not a cheap sport.
BIELEK SYNC
A one hour flight cost three hundred pound, about, on these aircraft.
Q: So Henri Paul would have had to have paid three hundred pounds an hour.
A: Yes. He paid it - for that.
AMICO SYNC
Q: Did you get the impression that he was a wealthy man?
A: Not really, no. I thought - I had the impression, it's just an impression,
that he certainly didn't have any financial problems. Wealthy? I did-,
I didn't think wealthy,
no. But not poor either. Comfortable.
COMM
Henri Paul's salary at the Ritz was around 20,000 pounds a year - and
from talking to his friends he sounds like the sort of man who spent his
salary every month.
But we've discovered that actually he was much better off than he appeared.
NICK PTC
Whatever one says about Henri Paul, one thing is clear. This was a man
with some very big secrets, indeed. Apart from 2 accounts in a bank outside
Paris, he also
had 3 accounts and a safety deposit box here at the BNP in the Place
Vendome, just opposite the Ritz. He also had another 3 bank accounts here
at Barclays on the
avenue de l'Opera - just a short walk from the Ritz. But that's not
all. He also had one current and 4 deposit accounts here at the Caisse
d'Epargne, just near the
Louvre. In the 8 months before the crash, 40,000 francs - that's about
£4,000 was paid in to an account here - on five separate occasions,
each time in cash.
In all Henri Paul had just over 1.2 million francs in the bank - that's about £122,000. And no one can say where it came from.
COMM
The Ritz Hotel is adamant that the money - the cash - did not come from
them. So where could it have come from? I thought it would be a good idea
to go back and
talk to his best friend, Claude Garrec, who revealed an extraordinary
secret about Henri Paul.
SYNC GARREC
All I can tell you is that he had contacts within the French and foreign intelligence services. That's all I know.
Do you know what he used to do for these services? What was he doing for them?
I've no idea, he was very discreet, regarding his work.
COMM
A former member of French intelligence has suggested to us that the
security managers of major hotels are prime targets for recruitment - and
the Ritz, with its
glittering guest list of the rich and powerful would be of more interest
than many.
MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC
Q: We also know that Henri Paul was in touch with intelligence services.
A: It would be very sad to know that.
Q: Do you think it is very suspicious that he was in touch with intelligence services?
A: Everything is possible.
SYNC GARREC
During all the time that you knew him?
Yes I think it was during the entire period when he worked for the Ritz i.e. 11 years. I think that he maintained his contacts during all that time.
MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC
That guy been there working there ...Haven't shown any doubt on his
loyalty, his commitment, but you don't know. People can face you with a
lot of decency in their
characters and behind the scene you don't know what. Life is funny.
COMM
But the big question is whether any of the world's intelligence services
- or the freelance agents they employ - would go so far as to kill the
Princess of Wales and her
boyfriend Dodi Fayed. She had certainly made some very powerful enemies
and for conspiracy theorists, there are clues in her earlier life. Her
former lover, James
Hewitt says that after three years, Buckingham Palace decided that
his love affair with Diana should stop. Then came some alarming phone calls.
HEWITT SYNC
the telephone calls were anonymous but left me in no doubt that um, that they knew what the situation was and um
Q: Were they threatening?
A: Yes, they were um, in as much as they said that it was not conducive to my health to continue the relationship
COMM
James Hewitt says he also received warnings from Diana's police personal
protection officers and members of the Royal Household. He says that he
even had a
conversation with a member of the royal family.
HEWITT SYNC
Q: Just describe to me roughly how the conversation went.
A: Um, similar words. Um, words to the effect that, you know, your relationship
is known about, um, it is not supported, um, we cannot be responsible for
your
safety or security um, and suggest that you curtail it.
Q: That sort of thing
A: Forthwith.
Q: That sort of thing was said to you by at least one member of the Royal Family?
A: By a member of the Royal Family. Not immediate member, but yes.
Q: And who was that?
A: I am not prepared to say.
MOHAMMED SYNC
Losing a son and losing a dear friend, you see a mother just gone and
left two sons and know those two sons how much love they have for her.
You can't just say
okay, that's it. That's God wish. Is not natural, is not way - the
way I have to take things, you know, the way you say that's okay. That's
God wish but you want to
be sure that it's God wish, not other people's wishes.
HEWITT SYNC
Do you think it possible that there would be those who would wish ill of the Princess of Wales, enough to sort of do something really terrible to her?
A: Um, yes, I do think there are people like that. Um, I've encountered
people who would wish ill other people for - for very dubious reasons.
Um, and
unfortunately I think that's reality.
Q: The threats that you'd received some years before, did they come back into your mind when you heard about the crash in Paris?
A: Um, yes, they did.
MOHAMMED SYNC
I'm a great believe in God and if it is not God wish for those two wonderful
people to go, God will give hell if this is not God wish that it is an
accident. And I'm not
gonna rest until I get the truth. If it's an accident or a murder.
MOHAMMED V/O
it's just unbelievable for such two wonderful young people just lose their life this way. It's just devastating.
NICK END PTC
Diana's violent end shook and saddened millions. A drunk driver, losing control seemed to make sense - just about - of the senseless.
We've discovered though so much more was going on...the very odd things
about the high speed smash....Henri Paul's double life...the carbon monoxide
said to be
in the blood...that missing car, that Fiat Uno.
So many mysteries. But if talk of a conspiracy to kill the Princess
of Wales is ever to be silenced, it must be right that more efforts are
made to tie up the loose ends,
to make sense of the senseless.
ends
FINAL SCRIPT : Copyright Fulcrum Productions Limited June 1998