The paparazzi blamed for the unlawful killing of Diana, the Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed will not face any charges over the deaths, French prosecutors have said.
The photographers were cleared of any blame following a lengthy French police investigation, and the process would not be repeated “simply because of the opinion of a foreign jury”, a senior source at the Palais de Justice in Paris said.
On Monday, after a six-month inquest, a British jury found the paparazzi were to blame. Henri Paul, who was behind the wheel in the fatal car crash, was found equally culpable, due to his “gross negligence” in being three times over the drink-drive limit.
Relatives of the princess and Fayed could still pursue private prosecutions against the paparazzi, but neither the royal family nor Dodi’s father, Mohamed Fayed, who has always maintained that an MI6 plot was behind the crash, are likely to pursue such actions.
Six photographers and a driver working for one of them were arrested in the Alma underpass in Paris immediately after the crash in August 1997. They were held, with three other paparazzi arrested shortly afterwards, on suspicion of “involuntary manslaughter” and failing to assist at the scene of an accident.
But in 1999, after an 18-month police investigation, prosecutors decided that none of them would be charged.
Mr Fayed lost an appeal against the decision in 2004.
However, the inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice in London heard damning eyewitness evidence about the behaviour of the paparazzi, including suggestions that a “blocking car” had been used to slow down the Mercedes carrying the princess so those giving chase could catch up. The photographers took pictures of the wrecked car before any of them called for help, and one of them got into a scuffle with a passer-by as he allegedly tried to prevent other photographers getting close to the wreck.
Some took pictures from less than two metres away, with the bodies of Paul, Fayed and the mortally injured princess clearly visible inside the car.
They carried on taking photographs when the emergency services were on the scene and as the bodies were removed.
The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, said “there may well be” even more damning photographs in existence that the photographers have kept secret.
The paparazzi drew further criticism when all of them refused to give evidence to the inquest. One of them, Nikola Arsov, said on Monday: “The inquest was a waste. They found no evidence or proof, nothing. As for blaming the photographers, it’s just wrong. It was the driver, it was alcohol, it was speed. It wasn’t us.”
The source at the Palais de Justice said: “The photographers involved in this terrible accident will certainly not be reinvestigated in France. Their conduct has been investigated in France and they were all found not guilty of manslaughter. They were also cleared on appeal.
“As far as France is concerned, this tragic matter is closed.”
Telegraph, London
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