The Diana Inquest: October 2007 - April 2008


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From what I remember, there was a photographer (that followed Diana, Princess of Wales around that summer) who had a white fiat, but he proved he was not in Paris that night. He was found died in a burned car a few years later.

The fiat that probably hit the mercedes was owned by a person who was illegally living in France. He painted his fiat red right after he supposely hit the mercedes and he declined to go to the inquest.:flowers:

I knew about the photographer being found dead think the conspiracy theorists had a field day with that one but not that they'd found the person who was actually driving the car that hit the Merc

Still can't understand why they can't be ordered to testify even if it isn't a trial but an inquest.
 
Actually the car traces found on the Mercedes were found to be from a Fiat when they did testing on the paint.
 
Still can't understand why they can't be ordered to testify even if it isn't a trial but an inquest.

You've answered your own question. Its not a trial and any testimony is purely voluntary at an inquest.

To be honest,having read some of the transcripts,I can understand a reluctance to attend.
 
Actually the car traces found on the Mercedes were found to be from a Fiat when they did testing on the paint.

That's right. But Operation Paget (the british police investigation) found out that the photographer was not in Paris that night (because he was travelling to Corsica from the West of France that morning) and that his white fiat hadn't a valdi registration number and had been used only to drive around the estate again far away from Paris before they removed two of the wheels soem weeks before the accident. So it's quite impülausible that it was this car which was used.

But they found another white fiat, whose owner fit the descriptions of eye witnesses, who had the required dogs and who had changed the colour of his fiat directly after the accident from white to red while doing some reparations on the car. Still, it was too late when the french police found the owner and he presented an alibi for that night, so there was nothing they could do to charge him. Charge him with what? Having been involved in an accident? It's not as if the white fiat actually crashed the mercedes, it's probably "just" that Henri Paul on speeding into the underpass with its rather steep decline saw the white fiat in front of him too late, touched the car and that was enough to send the mercedes crashing into the pillar. French and British police could not find evidence that the white fiat of whoever drove the car was responsible for the crash, only that it probably was involved. But when they traced the car they seem to think was it, it was too late and all proof was gone.

But it's quite unlikely that it was the white fiat of the photographer when compared to the information about that formerly white then red fiat from Paris, which in all probability does not exist anymore, given the time. And would you be willing to testify at the inquest when you are not forced to do so and tell Al-Fayed that it was your car which made the mercedes crash? Even though you're innocent? I'm convinced Al-Fayed would see to it that this man pays for that anyway.
 
As I remembered, the press began to complain about Diana after she died. I didn't remember reading any Diana's manipulation stuff when she was alive. But Diana did complained a lot of the press, of course when she was alive.

James Whitaker who was one of the first reporters to be in Diana's camp did an interview with PBS the year before she died when he talked about Diana's dealings with the press and spoke of how manipulative she was. He stated it rather matter of factly.

What I remember is that Diana only complained when the papparazzi approached her physically close when she wanted to be left alone. She didn't complain when they got too close to her and she wanted to talk to them and be photographed. Her rather famous statement about "You're going to be surprised at what I do next" was given to the papparazzi I believe and she wasn't angry when they approached her then.

The press began getting bad press from hounding Diana and so they started talking about Diana's relationship with them. That's when we heard about the reporters on the royal beat prepping the young Diana to be the ideal mate for Charles so he would propose and we heard about Diana's meetings with Richard Kay when she would give him information.

I think it was obvious that she was using the press as a tool and a weapon against Charles and the press was using her as a tool to bolster their sales. I think the lesson from all of this is that when you use someone else for your purposes, you lay yourself open for them to use you for theirs.
 
> snip


I think it was obvious that she was using the press as a tool and a weapon against Charles and the press was using her as a tool to bolster their sales. I think the lesson from all of this is that when you use someone else for your purposes, you lay yourself open for them to use you for theirs.

Sorry for shortening your post ysbel.:unsure:

Some words are just worth repeating,imho.:flowers:
 
You are perhaps right, TheTruth, I thought the color of the Fiat was red but I am not sure.

The informations georgia gave in this post explain why we confused the specific color of the car.
 
The only thing I'm still confused about is why did no one else see Henri Paul consuming more alcohol I mean you'd think someone would have...all the other accounts witnesses have are denied by bar managers in the inquiry so where in the world did he find the other drinks.
 
The only thing I'm still confused about is why did no one else see Henri Paul consuming more alcohol I mean you'd think someone would have...all the other accounts witnesses have are denied by bar managers in the inquiry so where in the world did he find the other drinks.

I agree, it's rather strange. But he might have also drunk before getting in the hotel or perhaps his medications were responsible of the very high alcohol substances in his blood. Moreover, it was said that the coroner took the blood samples from the chest cavity and not from the heart has it had been previously said. It was explained that the reliability of these samples was far from being good. That might also be a factor to the confusion we're experiencing ...
 
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I agree, it's rather strange. But he might have also drunk before getting in the hotel or perhaps his medications were responsible of the very high alcohol substances in his blood. Moreover, it was said that the coroner took the blood samples from the chest cavity and not from the heart has it had been previously said. It was explained that the reliability of these samples was far from being good. That might also be a factor to the confusion we're experiencing ...

According to the testimony at the inquest, blood samples were taken from 2 locations in Henri Paul's body. First blood samples were taken from his chest cavity, not from his heart as the chest cavity was full of blood and the technicians actually used a ladle to remove it and fill the speciman bottles. Later blood was taken from the femoral artery ( at the top of the leg) which according to the forensic scientist's testimony is the best place to take blood for testing and where in the UK it's normally taken from. This blood sample showed a high concentration of alcohol.

There are several hours unaccounted in Henri Paul's life from when he went off duty to when he was recalled. It is quite probably that he had something to eat, several glasses of wine, a liqueur with his coffee, added to the 2 Riccards that he drank at the Rtiz bar which are known could all have easily put him in the functioning drunk stage.
 
The only thing I'm still confused about is why did no one else see Henri Paul consuming more alcohol I mean you'd think someone would have...all the other accounts witnesses have are denied by bar managers in the inquiry so where in the world did he find the other drinks.

I've never entirely bought into that explanation either. A person who's impaired, either from alcohol or drugs or both, is going to show some signs. And considering the high profile of the two persons he was driving for, surely someone would have noticed this, warned him off (or at the very least, informed Al-Fayed that his driver wasn't fit for duty) and replaced him. To not do so makes it look very much like some member of staff wasn't doing their job properly. Why not just leave it at excessive speed resulting in loss of control, rather than embroidering it with the impairment story?

In any case, its all moot isn't it. It doesn't bring the dead back to life and if its in someone's best interest to keep the facts buried along with them, if indeed there's something to hide, John Q Public will never know. Let the dead rest in peace.
 
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The only thing I'm still confused about is why did no one else see Henri Paul consuming more alcohol I mean you'd think someone would have...all the other accounts witnesses have are denied by bar managers in the inquiry so where in the world did he find the other drinks.
Alcoholics are masters at having a sip or three without anyone noticing. He may have had a drink or two at home, on his way back to the hotel, for the time he was unaccounted for, in the gents, etc. One of our staff was an alcoholic and when she died, we found small bottles of alcohol hidden in the most unexpected places around the house. IMO, he didn't appear drunk until the night air hit him, as is often the case. :flowers:
 
Alcoholics are masters at having a sip or three without anyone noticing. He may have had a drink or two at home, on his way back to the hotel, for the time he was unaccounted for, in the gents, etc. One of our staff was an alcoholic and when she died, we found small bottles of alcohol hidden in the most unexpected places around the house. IMO, he didn't appear drunk until the night air hit him, as is often the case. :flowers:

Plus the adrenaline his body produced in that nightly chase scenario - adrenaline brings out the effects of the alcohol which can be controlled normally by a seasoned drinker when doing only ordinary things. Plus I saw a reconstruction of the accident on german TV and it really didn't take that much to let a car crash when speeding into this underpass. The commentator said that in Germany it wouldn't have been allowed to build a street like that without strict speeding controls. That's because there was a really steep decline into the underpass and if you speeded on the street before the entrance to this underpass, the car was catapulted onto the decline and easily could loose the footing on the street, touch the side of the street and be crashed into a pillar. The pillars are dangerous as well, because a car can crash right into them while with a closed wall separating the lanes it could slither along the wall and thus absord much more energy of the crash than on crashing into the pillar.
 
Diana thought al Fayed spied on her

Lady Sarah McCorquodale told Diana's inquest that she revealed her suspicions to her in a phone call just days before she was killed in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
Diana was calling from the al Fayed yacht, The Jonikal, where she was on a Mediterranean cruise with Dodi Fayed, son of the Harrods tycoon.
Ian Burnett QC, for the coroner, asked: "Did the Princess speak to you from the boat about bugging?"
Lady Sarah told Diana's inquest: "Yes, she thought the boat was being bugged by Mr al Fayed senior."
 

That's rather interesting. Am I the only one to think her idea of being spied on was generalized ? Her apartment and the phones being bugged was already hard to believe since there's alot of security around royal residences but now, even on Al Fayed's yacht ... I doubt it.
 
That's rather interesting. Am I the only one to think her idea of being spied on was generalized ? Her apartment and the phones being bugged was already hard to believe since there's alot of security around royal residences but now, even on Al Fayed's yacht ... I doubt it.

It does seem that she saw spies everywhere.
Her thinking this, though, certainly can't help the Fayed camp if they're using her fears about being bugged as evidence of a conspiracy since she named him as one of the suspects as well!
 
It does seem that she saw spies everywhere.
Her thinking this, though, certainly can't help the Fayed camp if they're using her fears about being bugged as evidence of a conspiracy since she named him as one of the suspects as well!

Very right and if the spying is in fact true, I'm entirely convinced that it comes from Fayed and not at all from the RF.
 

From the same article:

Meanwhile, the brother of Princess Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, sold stories about her to a tabloid newspaper, the High Court has heard.
Graham Burrell, now 41, was leaking information about the Princess to the Daily Mirror and trying to cover his tracks by getting the money paid in to someone else's account, the inquest into Diana's death was told.

Roger Milburn, an acting inspector at Scotland Yard, told the inquest jury: "Graham Burrell was actually selling stories so that is where the press leaks were coming from and this individual was cashing cheques from the Daily Mirror and Graham Burrell was taking the majority of the money - that's where the press leaks were coming from."



I didn't read the transcript yet so am not sure if Diana was still alive when the Burrell-brothers cashed in.
 
Very right and if the spying is in fact true, I'm entirely convinced that it comes from Fayed and not at all from the RF.

Sorry for posting so soon after my last post but I had to say I agree with you 100% it seems Fayed's claims are starting to unravel and show his true side. It appears that there's a pattern forming when it comes to witnesses' accounts lately., the people who still work for Fayed are saying they were enagaged she was pregnant etc and the one's who used to work for him and have now left are revealing how he started all these conspiracy theories. I don't for a second beleive any of this is done by the Establishment, especially after hearing from Mr. Rees who for the love of god almost died in that accident so I don't see why he of all people would care what the Establishment wanted he seems very true to himself, and I mean according to the transcript from the excerpt from Mr Rees book Mr. Fayed said to him when he told him that he was leaving, " what did the establishment turn you against me" umm hello?! if you're making up the whole thing how can the establishment turn him against you like what in the world did he mean by that! lol! Sorry I ramble and get caught up in making a point.
 
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Well good people Fayed comes from a part of the world where conspiracy and violence and intrigue are a fact of life. Distrust of government, which is ususally not only corrupt and rotten as an open sewer but incompetent as well is a necessary survival skill. This does not mean the conspiracy theories are true. They are totally ridiculous. And the confusions of this man are sadly pathetic.
 
Well good people Fayed comes from a part of the world where conspiracy and violence and intrigue are a fact of life. Distrust of government, which is ususally not only corrupt and rotten as an open sewer but incompetent as well is a necessary survival skill. This does not mean the conspiracy theories are true. They are totally ridiculous. And the confusions of this man are sadly pathetic.

Totally I mean the man has changed the Fiat Uno story 100 times!

I don't understand the whole contraversy with the letters to Prince Phillip... I mean are they real or is everyone lying?
 
Alcoholics are masters at having a sip or three without anyone noticing. He may have had a drink or two at home, on his way back to the hotel, for the time he was unaccounted for, in the gents, etc. One of our staff was an alcoholic and when she died, we found small bottles of alcohol hidden in the most unexpected places around the house. IMO, he didn't appear drunk until the night air hit him, as is often the case. :flowers:

I thought Operation Pagat stated no one saw him going into his house that night... I wonder where else he may have had the drinks then..:flowers: I re-read it I think it was my mistake they never said he didn't go home, I guess I was just confusing it with something else, I beleive.
 
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Did Paul Burrell cash in, or just his brother?:flowers:

I have to say that I don't get it. :flowers: It's not even clear to me who has a degree in law what the inquest is actually trying to establish at the moment. It seems they were talking about the Burrell-trial, are still looking for the letters that Diana had gotten and check into the Burrell-claims that he himself was bugged as well. Or so. But I'm not really sure they are talking about press leaks which occurred before and at the Burrell-trial or if they talk about the bugging of Diana or what. I'll try to read it again, maybe it becomes a bit clearer then. :ermm:
 
This is true, but it's something that isn't mentioned very often. There were conspiracy sites up from that "part of the world" within hours after the accident.


Well good people Fayed comes from a part of the world where conspiracy and violence and intrigue are a fact of life.
 
I don't know if it's because they see their establishment/Philip case falling apart, but the questioning today by the Fayed side today seemed to come down heavily on the side of blaming the bodyguards (employed by Fayed) for not going over Dodi's head and insisting on verifying that his father had really indeed okayed the last-minute plans, even though they say they were told he had.
 
A few years back I watched a show talking about the plans leading up to the crash and they made it seem as if Dodi Ok'd the plan himself because he was sick of the bodyguards nagging him. Not saying that's what happened but it's a possibility.

As for Mr. Fayed I think he came up with the whole pregnancy thing because he had nothing so early on to backup his claims. As for the engagment who knows the ring could have been a gift or an engagement ring that's something we'll never reallly know the truth about. I dunno what he thought this inquest would prove if he didn't have any concrete evidence.
 
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Sorry for posting so soon after my last post but I had to say I agree with you 100% it seems Fayed's claims are starting to unravel and show his true side. It appears that there's a pattern forming when it comes to witnesses' accounts lately., the people who still work for Fayed are saying they were enagaged she was pregnant etc and the one's who used to work for him and have now left are revealing how he started all these conspiracy theories. I don't for a second beleive any of this is done by the Establishment, especially after hearing from Mr. Rees who for the love of god almost died in that accident so I don't see why he of all people would care what the Establishment wanted he seems very true to himself, and I mean according to the transcript from the excerpt from Mr Rees book Mr. Fayed said to him when he told him that he was leaving, " what did the establishment turn you against me" umm hello?! if you're making up the whole thing how can the establishment turn him against you like what in the world did he mean by that! lol! Sorry I ramble and get caught up in making a point.


Yes, this inquest is very different from what I have experienced "in real life". I am concerned as to the reasons why there is such a strong point in portraying the Princess as just having a summer "fling" with Dodi and a person beyond sanity mired knee deep in paranoia.

I just know "from the past" Diana's brother thanked God for taking Diana when "she had joy in her private life" (I always thought of Dodi when he spoke of this) and Paul Burrell was given prime US airtime talking about Diana's handwritten letter about her fears.
 
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