The Verdict of the Diana Inquest, April 2008, and Aftermath

[ghost_night554]

He didn't appear drunk but heavy drinkers can drink a lot more than a casual drinker before appearing drink as their system is used to it e.g. in the days after my mother's death my brother, father and I would go out for dinner each night (my parents' house was being renovated at the time). We would drink two bottles of wine and my brother would have some beer as well. I always drove home and yet to anyone looking at the three of us leaving the restaurant I would have appeared the most drunk but I had only had one drink while the other two drank all the rest but they drink regularly and I don't. They knew that I was perfectly capable of driving but I would have appeared, to a passer-by as being the least steady - not drunk mind you but a little bit tipsy.

I completely agree with you on this subject. My mother in her younger days used to drink alot so she's told me stories in the past of how her body eventually adjusted to the alcohol. It got to the point where once she drove the car home perfectly with no one noticing anything wrong but the next morning when she woke up she couldn't even remember parking the car she had to run outside to see if the car was okay to which it was and perfectly parked I might add but she has no idea how she ended up back home or how she even got into bed. Where as I can drink one or two and appear as though I have had about 5. Of course my mom doesn't drink the way she used to so her body is more sensitive nowadays but you get the point.

I might add Mr. Mansfield as well as others such as Mr. Morgan don't seem to bring up anything new that hasn't been dealt with. For example the Pagat explained why Mr. Paul had so much money in his bank account and we've gone through Mr. Paul's links to the MI6 heck the Inquest even went through all the autopsy photos so I don't see anything new worth investigating in any of these latest books.

 

[Lighthouse]

I find it hard to believe that Diana, coming from a country where wearing a seatbelt is compulsory, could have made such a stupid and concious choice. It comes back to the old addage of "for want of a nail a war was lost".

A British poll about seatbelt compliance:

22% of drivers don't wear seatbelts | News

 

[georgiea]

I might add Mr. Mansfield as well as others such as Mr. Morgan don't seem to bring up anything new that hasn't been dealt with. For example the Pagat explained why Mr. Paul had so much money in his bank account and we've gone through Mr. Paul's links to the MI6 heck the Inquest even went through all the autopsy photos so I don't see anything new worth investigating in any of these latest books.

ghost_night can you tell me what the Paget report and the inquest explained about Mr. Paul's links to undercover groups and the excess money in his account?

 

[ghost_night554]

I believe they said he had connections with the MI6 because he worked at the hotel. He would frequently inform them when hi-profile guests visited. I believe it was done in order to protect the guests. Also the finances in his bank account was due to tips. I remember reading witness statements in the Pagat report that he used to receive large tips from the guests. I know my explanation isn't too detailed but I don't have the report in front of me right now so this is basically what I remember off the top of my head. It's very vague I know but you get an idea atleast.

Some info:
MI6 connections

The inquiry found no evidence Henri Paul was an agent for any security service and only had very limited occasional and unpaid contact with the French Security Services due to the sensitive nature of his job.

The conclusions of the 2006 Operation Paget investigation were that Paul's involvement with the Security Services was limited to low level co-operation with the French DST when high profile guests stayed at the Ritz Hotel and he received no payment for this in line with French Government policy. It further noted such involvement with national security services is common among senior security staff at upmarket hotels in major world cities.

About his finances

According to his best friend, Claude Garrec, the large quantity of cash found in his pockets, FF12,565 (approximately equivalent to £1,250 or US$2,500) could be attributed to a requirement of his job to run errands for wealthy guests at the Ritz Hotel when required. A large quantity of cash would need to be on hand to perform errands at short notice as wealthy people are known to often not carry cash. Paul also received large tips for performing these errands. His mother told of an occasion when Paul received FF5,000 (£500 or US$1,000) as a tip from a relative of an Arab Prince for shopping for some luxury textiles for her. Such four figure tips were not a rare occurrence for him during his eleven years at the Paris Ritz.

Operation Paget concluded this cash and the money in his bank accounts was unlikely to have come from any national security service as there was no evidence in his bank accounts of attempts to disguise money coming from a clandestine source and there was no opportunity for him to begin to implement any plan instructed to him in return for payment on the night of the accident. Furthermore, he was a 41 year old single man with no dependents who had worked all his adult life and owned property which he let out to tenants and this was a possible explanation for the FF1,700,000 (approximately £170,000 or US$340,000) that made up his personal wealth at the time of his death. The large number of bank accounts he had his money deposited in is a common occurrence in France, where banks will routinely open several accounts for different purposes, all to serve the one customer. [7]

 

[georgiea]

Some info: MI6 connections. About his finances

Thank you ghost_night.

 

[ghost_night554]

No problem always happy to help out!

 

[Mermaid1962]

According to Ken Wharfe, Diana sometimes engaged in risky behaviour (such as the time she jumped off a balcony in a skiing chalet in order to get out without her bodyguards). I wonder whether not wearing the seat-belt that night might have been an example of risk-taking behaviour. Diana's actions weren't always 100% sensible, and she did take chances.

In that case their judgement was not impaired by alcohol and so we come down to chocies.

 

[sirhon11234]

I very much doubt that. That night was so chaotic and they were hell bent on getting away from the paparazzi that it probably slipped their minds. Diana was a risk taker but not suicidal. She loved her sons it was a terrible mistake.

 

[MARG]

Yes of course she loved her sons. It's not like she committed suicide, she just made a very very bad decision. Hers. No one elses.

Regardless of what is going on people are creatures of habit, habits that they are not even aware of. Putting your seatbelt on is an automatic routine response when you get in a car unless you are one of those people who think they are either invincible or above the law.

 

[georgiea]

Even when Diana, Princess of Wales drove herself; I don't think she always used a seat belt. I read that in one of my books on Princess Diana.

 

[ghost_night554]

I have to agree on this part my mom tended to do that too not cause she thought she was invincible but just because when she grew up learning how to drive people she knew didn't frequently wear their seatbelts, so she somewhat ended up doing the same thing. You know monkey see monkey do sorta thing. It wasn't until we got into the year 2000 and the whole wearing you seatbelt thing became a huge safety issue that she began to wear it everytime she got into her car.

 

[Green_Gretzk]

I'm pretty sure that more people don't wear seatbelts than we think.

Sometimes, not wearing them is a thrill. For a lady who was as hounded by the paparazzi as she was, cheap old seatbelt thrills were among the best.

It was an accident, and nothing more. A Tragedy. Occhems (sp?) Razor.

 

[ghost_night554]

Oh here we go....
Something about all this makes me want to cry. It just makes me really sad I dunno why maybe it's just because it's that time of year again that provokes these emotions from me when thinking about the crash. Right well this is the only book series that actually looks interesting to me, though I don't get his obsession with the blood tests.

PRINCESS DIANA: THE 500 HIDDEN CLUES - Windows Live

I'm going to go off and rant a bit but here's my problem with the persisting conspiracy theories is that most of the time I don't get most people's arguments such as take for example why did it take so long to get her to the hospital. I mean it's been discussed hundreds of times, (and we're talking about these arguments are coming from hard core Diana fans who I know from other royal boards )it's just like have the media brain washed the public so much. How can they still be asking these questions. I mean even if you didn't read the inquest or pagat in detail that for example it is one of the few things that I'm almost certain was summarized in reports. Even if you go to wikipedia I'm sure you could find the answer. I think that's what upsets me the most and why I believe these theories are still persistent.

 

[gfg02]

Another articles about this....

PRINCESS DIANA: THE 500 HIDDEN CLUES
Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Princess Diana: The 500 hidden clues

I never know if they write it because it's true or to sell newspapers ...

 

[MARG]

Oh dear, as the old song says, "Once more round the block"!

 

[Warren]

"500 pieces of crucial evidence withheld" - that's a nice round number isn't it?
This "crucial evidence" includes French witnesses who declined to appear at the British Coroner's inquest.
Of course their evidence at the original French inquest and official reports made at the time are "on the record".

More pertinently, this story is a rehash of the contents of John Morgan's "Diana Inquest - The Untold Story" which was published five months ago. On slow news days the book is trotted out in the newspapers accompanied by a headline that's designed to appeal to the conspiracists. The Daily Express (long 'associated' with Mohammed Al Fayed) is a regular offender. Quelle surprise!

We have a thread on the book in the Royal Library, here.

 

[Jacknch]

I stopped reading the article as soon as I saw the words "fresh concerns were raised" because unless such "concerns" are raised by Diana's sons or other members of her family I cannot see whose business it is whatsoever to raise any concerns at all.

 

[ghost_night554]

I have to ask has anyone read any of his books cause from the snippets I've seen he's just re-hashing the old conspiracy theories.

 

[georgiea]

I have to ask has anyone read any of his books cause from the snippets I've seen he's just re-hashing the old conspiracy theories.

ghost_night I will download if possible, but I won't spend thirty dollars for the book.

 

[georgiea]

I downloaded both books. I will read them when I get around to them. I think both books are 600 pages each. I also bookmarked the Inquest notes. I will try to read it also. The download was $10.00 each.

 

[ghost_night554]

I downloaded both books. I will read them when I get around to them. I think both books are 600 pages each. I also bookmarked the Inquest notes. I will try to read it also. The download was $10.00 each.

I saw those I was thinking of getting them but I was a bit hesitant. Please Georgiea when you finish reading them let us know if there is anything new

 

[gfg02]

PRINCESS DIANA INQUEST: NEW QUESTIONS

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Princess Diana inquest: New questions

PRINCESS DIANA: THE MISSING CLUES

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Princess Diana: The missing clues

 

[ghost_night554]

Oh good lord! Here we go.... Tbh the only question I've ever had about the crash that was never brought up in any of the papers I've read was who tipped off the papz in the first place? Were they just following them all day and that's how they knew they were at the Ritz? Also how did they found out Dodi and Diana were leaving from the back entrance?

 

[Iluvbertie]

From watching/listening to and reading about the inquest they were following them all day and had staked out both the front and back of the hotel but Henri Paul is also seen, in the CCTV footage from that night, waving to those at the back door.

 

[ghost_night554]

I can already disprove one of his key claims: The(alleged) second corpse in the morgue that night used to switch the blood samples.

YouTube - ‪Princess Diana Inquest: The Mercedes Driver Was NOT Drunk‬‎
If you watch this video I have posted above he says that in one photograph there are 2 full bottles of blood and in the same photo the body is lying beside those bottles but he says the body has yet to be opened.

Well I went looking in the Inquest transcripts and they had addressed this issue.

Q. In that photograph it was possible to identify two glass
17 bottles of what appeared to be blood --
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. -- which could not have been scooped from the
20 haemothorax, as Professor Lecomte suggested all the
21 samples were.
22 A. Because the chest had not been opened at that point.
10 Q. When he examined those photographs carefully and
11 critically, he identified the fact that before
12 Henri Paul was cut open on the chest to reveal the
13 haemothorax, there was a photograph of him lying on his
14 face.

So there you go. I dunno whether or not he mentioned this part of the transcript in his book or if he went into further detail but from what I read I can already disprove one of his points.

Actually even his other points such as CCTV footage and testimony showed he wasn't drunk has been mentioned hundreds of time and we've gone through how his best friend even mentioned he had become immune to alcohol so even with the amount he drank it really didn't show like it did with others. As for any claims about how long it took to get Diana to the hospital and why they chose the one they did has been mentioned so many times before that I just feel like it's all re-hash unless there's more in the book then what's been written in the papers. I'm not going to say they're investigation didn't have some flaws in them and yes I wish they had gotten more straight forward answers for some of the questions that remain instead of leaving them so open ended but what can you do? Though I don't think anyone killed Diana but then again what do I know...I will definitely get the book and read up on it see if there's anything new, which would be a first for me since I have never bought anything relating to Diana's death.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I think that common sense would suggest to some photographers that the couple might try to leave through a back exit. I don't think that there was anything particularly sinister about them showing up there. Perhaps it happens that way more often than we know, because celebrities don't often die in car accidents following a chase.

From watching/listening to and reading about the inquest they were following them all day and had staked out both the front and back of the hotel but Henri Paul is also seen, in the CCTV footage from that night, waving to those at the back door.

 

[ghost_night554]

I think alot of things that happened that night do normally happen but we just question it more so because of the results that came about in the end which was of course the death of 3 out of the 4 passengers in the car.

 

[Mermaid1962]

You're right, of course. It was a terrible accident by anyone's standards, even if it didn't happen to include the most famous woman in the world.

I think alot of things that happened that night do normally happen but we just question it more so because of the results that came about in the end which was of course the death of 3 out of the 4 passengers in the car.

 

[nascarlucy]

Today is the 13th anniversary of Princess Diana's death. I remember the day well. Early Sunday morning. I went outside to get my newspaper and saw the headline. The first words out of my mouth were "Oh, My God. I can't believe this." My mother who was still alive at the time was watching CNN, it was about 5:30 a.m. EST. She had seen it earlier but knew I would be getting up soon, so didn't wake me to tell me the news. Both of us were in total shock. By that time she had been pronounced deceased.

It would have been very difficult to do a well-planned accident because they changed their plans. Several individuals would have to be involved because one person couldn't pull this off. They would have to watching their every move without being noticed. This would be very difficult. Certain things you can't control and things happen beyond your control. But as one blogger said earlier, "Who knows?"

 

[Catherine Helvin]

The first time I heard the news of Princess Diana's death was in the early hours of that Sunday morning when I switched the radio on. I was horrified at the tragic news and my first thoughts were for her sons.

As for the notion that she was murdered: IMHO, that is absolute rubbish, what with the arbitrary nature of the crash and its uncertain outcome. No, way too great a stretch on the imagination. I've always believed that she was the victim of a tragic accident that need never have happened.