FRANCE:Heartshaped pictures of Princess Diana and graffiti reading "Goodbye English Rose" still decorate the Pont de L'Alma bridge in Paris as British jurors yesterday descended into the traffic tunnel below to examine the site of her fatal car crash.
The jurors at the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed yesterday went to Paris to trace the couple's last journey from the Ritz hotel to the traffic underpass where their driver's Mercedes crashed 10 years ago.
The jury and coroner spent 15 minutes walking through the cordoned-off tunnel and inspecting the crash site. Jurors and court officials formed a semicircle around the 13th pillar, which the car hit just after midnight on August 31st, 1997. A chunk of concrete was missing from a corner.
As the group continued along the underpass, jurors stopped at another column, pointing at a graffiti message reading: "Diana on t'aimera toujours" - "Diana we will love you forever".
The jury was driven by coach from the Ritz along the route to the crash site in daylight, to get to know the settings in preparation for months of testimony from witnesses.
The highly unusual journey by a British jury venturing outside its jurisdiction took place amid tight security, with gendarmes and French riot police on standby.
After flying to Paris on a privately chartered aircraft, the jury of six women and five men were driven in an unmarked coach to the Ritz in Place Vendome, where Princess Diana and Mr Fayed had dinner before their journey towards Mr Fayed's flat, driven by Henri Paul and pursued by paparazzi.
Watched by journalists, the jurors' coach did a circuit of the square. The driver knocked the police outrider off his motorcycle, then there was a bang as the coach hit a bollard, losing a hubcap and bursting a tyre.
After viewing the front of the Ritz hotel, the jurors were driven to the rear service exit that Princess Diana and Mr Fayed left from. They then travelled along Henri Paul's route, getting out at the Place de la Concorde to walk round the square and examine traffic flow.
At the Pont de l'Alma, they drove twice through the underpass before leaving the coach to inspect the route on foot.
They returned late last night to examine the scene after dark, more closely replicating the conditions of the midnight crash. They were also due to travel the route to the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital where Princess Diana died. -