Mediterranean Living

French to reopen Diana death probe

the Daily Mail


The French legal authorities are to reinvestigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Princess Diana after fresh doubts emerged over blood tests carried out on her chauffeur.

Previous examinations of samples taken from Henri Paul have always suggested he was drunk when the Mercedes he was driving smashed into a Paris underpass - killing Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed.

But there have always been fears that the French laboratory team 'mishandled' the blood tests.

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This has now been partially supported by former Scotland Yard chief Lord Stevens, who has been reinvestigating the crash in advance of an inquest.

As a result, the French director of public prosecutions has authorised a judge to probe the evidence of two forensics experts who previously testified that Paul was three times over the drink drive limit.

Fresh statements will be taken from Professor Dominique Lecomte - who carried out Paul's post mortem examination - and Dr Gilbert Pepin, who tested his blood.

The idea is to establish, once and for all, how the tests were carried out and what they showed. The aim is also to iron out inconsistencies prompted by missing and sloppy paperwork.

Lord Stevens believes fears over the original blood tests are justified.

His officers think their French counterparts may have taken 'incorrect readings' from the samples - but believe the conclusions from the new tests will be broadly similar.

Mohammed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi, has repeatedly claimed that the blood samples were switched to make Paul appear drunk. However the test results have always been supported by eye-witness evidence which suggested that Paul had been drinking heavily on the August 1997 night the princess died.

It is not known if this new French move will further delay the publication of the Stevens report.

This has already been thrown into doubt after the Royal Coroner, Michael Burgess, quit the case last month - blaming a heavy workload.

A new judicial figure must now be appointed but any public hearing is not expected until 2008. French judicial sources yesterday revealed that the blood test revelations had caused 'huge embarrassment' within the country's legal establishment.

A lawyer who has been involved in the case since 1997 said: "It is clearly a cause for concern that the alternative theories as to the cause of the accident have never been examined properly.

"Conclusions may have been based on false evidence, which is a scandal. People have been arguing this for years but have been ignored. Now it appears that we must rely on English investigators to make up for initial mistakes."

A spokesman for the criminal investigation department for the Paris police said: "We are providing all assistance to the British inquiry into Princess Diana's death."