BRITAIN: Henri Paul, the driver of the car in which Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed died, behaved like an alcoholic, according to a motorcycle rider for one of the paparazzi who chased the couple's Mercedes through Paris 10 years ago.
Giving evidence from Paris via video link, Stéphane Darmon told an inquest in London that Mr Paul been "very joyful" as he taunted photographers outside the Ritz Hotel on the night of the crash.
He told the jury: "On a very personal note, I've got to say, my father was an alcoholic. When I saw Mr Paul, he reminded me of my father, his eyes, the way he acted - that's what I thought."
French and British police investigations have concluded that Mr Paul, who also died in the crash, was drunk at the wheel.
Mr Darmon, the first witness from the paparazzi group, said he was shocked and angry at the way photographers took pictures of the couple in the mangled car.
He was reminded of a statement he gave to the police shortly after the crash in which he said that Mr Paul looked like he wanted to be "centre stage" when he talked to photographers outside the hotel. The princess and Dodi Fayed had arrived in Paris earlier in the day from Sardinia.
"He was playing a game with the photographers. He was saying Lady Di is going to be there in about a quarter of an hour. I think that he wanted to give wrong leads to photographers. He was trying to create a certain atmosphere of pressure and anticipation." Mr Darmon, the rider for photographer Romuald Rat, described driving to the Place de la Concorde, where he saw the Mercedes stop at traffic lights. It then sped away down the embankment expressway towards the Alma tunnel. He found the crashed car belching smoke and with the horn sounding.
Mr Darmon said: "I thought they were going to help the passengers of the vehicle. But I was shocked by what I could see. They were taking photographs."
Earlier, two witnesses who saw a white Fiat Uno emerging from the tunnel picked out the same possible driver from a line-up of pictures. Georges and Sabine Dauzonne identified former security guard Le Van Thanh as the agitated man they may have seen driving the car.
The jury has heard that a white Fiat Uno may have collided with the Mercedes just before it crashed. But the car has never conclusively been traced and police ruled out Mr Thanh being at the scene.