BRITAIN:The final pictures of Princess Diana climbing into the car in which she and her lover Dodi al-Fayed died were shown for the first time yesterday to a jury deciding if their Paris crash was an accident.
The footage, a compilation of grainy film taken from 31 closed circuit television cameras at the Ritz Hotel belonging to Mr Fayed's father Mohamed, showed the couple looking relaxed and happy, holding hands and with their arms draped around each other. The countdown to tragedy also showed chauffeur Henri Paul talking to paparazzi during five visits to the front of the luxury hotel where a mass of photographers were gathered.
He also made two trips to one of the hotel's bars.
Princess Diana (36), Dodi Fayed (42) and Henri Paul were killed when their Mercedes car crashed in a tunnel as they sped away from the Ritz, pursued by paparazzi on August 31st, 1997.
The inquest jury were shown footage by Paul Carpenter, an inspector from a London police team which investigated the deaths.
Mr Carpenter showed Mr Paul, the couple's bodyguards and hotel staff planning to trick the paparazzi at the front of the hotel by arranging a decoy limousine.
The plan was to sneak the couple out of the back of the hotel. Mr Paul goes out of the back of the building to see if their car was ready. But, Mr Carpenter said, he also appears to tip off a couple of photographers who had broken away from the main pack.
"You will see him [ Paul] raise his hand as if waving to the paparazzi across the road," he said. -