Britain's Princess Diana was killed after a "photo opportunity" went tragically wrong, the inquest into her death heard yesterday.
Record producer Jacques Morel claims there was a plot by photographers to "block" the Mercedes Diana was travelling in as they were desperate to get a picture of her and her lover Dodi Fayed as they left the Paris Ritz hotel.
However, as they followed the car into the Pont d'Alma tunnel on August 31, 1997, it crashed into pillar 13, killing Diana, Dodi and driver Henri Paul.
Witnesses say there was a car in front of the Mercedes purposefully blocking it so the driver was forced to slow down and motorbike paparazzi could take pictures of the couple, who were rumoured to be set to announce their engagement.
Morel - who was driving through the tunnel with his wife at the time of the fatal crash - claims the plot was co-ordinated by James Andanson, aphotographer who was later found mysteriously dead in his burnt-out car.
When Nicholas Hilliard, one of the counsels for the coroner, asked Morel ifthe paparazzi's plan had gone tragically wrong, he replied, "Absolutely."
Another witness, chauffeur Olivier Partouche, told the jury, "In front ofthe Mercedes was a car, dark in colour. Clearly this car was trying to makethe Mercedes slow down. The object of the manoeuvre was to make it possible for the paparazzi to take photographs."
On the night of the crash several photographers were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and failing to assist at the scene. They were formally cleared of all charges in 1999.
Dodi's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, has always maintained the couple werekilled in a conspiracy plot engineered by the British establishment becausethey didn't want them to get married.
The jury must decide whether Diana and Dodi died as a result of an unlawful killing or if it was just a tragic accident.
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