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Diana: The 18 missing witnesses in £4m inquiry

John Twomey
UK Daily Express
Thursday, December 14, 2006

EIGHTEEN key witnesses have been ignored by the £4million Lord Stevens
inquiry into the death of Princess Diana.

Their evidence to French police had raised several questions about the
fatal crash in Paris.

But detectives working on the three-year inquiry – which will publish
its findings tomorrow – didn’t interview them to gather fresh testimony.

The revelations come after the Daily Express revealed disturbing
allegations from a crucial witness in the Diana probe who claimed that
British detectives tried to pressure him into changing parts of his
evidence.

The claims by jeweller Alberto Repossi – who insists Diana and Dodi were
engaged when they died in the crash – have been dismissed by the
Operation Paget squad.

Lord Stevens’ inquiry was set up to finally discover the truth behind
how Princess Diana’s Mercedes, driven by Henri Paul, came to crash in
the Alma tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997.

Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed has spent the past nine years mounting a
determined campaign for the truth, spending millions of pounds
uncovering fundamental flaws in the original French inquiry.

He remains convinced that the pair were murdered in a plot organised by
the British Establishment, including the intelligence services.

One of the many theories put forward is that the Princess’s car was
struck by another vehicle as it entered the tunnel under the River
Seine.

And yesterday it emerged that one family which gave detailed statements
to French police – but not to their British counterparts – told how they
saw two large cars heading at speed towards the Pont de L’Alma underpass
in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Moments later, the vehicles disappeared into the tunnel and the family
heard the screeching of brakes, the “scrunching” of metal, a first
sickening impact and a louder bang followed by the haunting sound of a
jammed horn.

As the witnesses looked down into the underpass, they saw the wreckage
of the Mercedes car which was carrying Diana and Dodi slewed across the
carriageway. But there was no sign of the second car.

The family also told how a taxi, following at a normal distance, stopped
at the tunnel entrance but no-one got out.

They also recalled seeing a mystery man running straight past them and
into the tunnel. The family, which has declined to be named, was
interviewed by Captain Eric Crosnier of the Paris crime squad shortly
after the crash. The family says it has given no other interviews.

Lord Stevens will present his findings at a press conference to the
world’s media tomorrow.

The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner is understood to have
concluded that Diana and Dodi died because their chauffeur Henri Paul
was drunk and driving too fast.

Paul was also killed and Dodi’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was
seriously injured but survived.

Harrods owner Mr Al Fayed suspects British intelligence officers were
involved in “organising” the crash and covering up afterwards.

He fears the deaths were ordered because the Establishment could not
bear the thought of the mother of a future king being pregnant with a
Muslim’s child.

Last week, his lawyers forced the former senior judge in charge of the
inquest to back down over plans to hold preliminary hearings in private.
Lady Butler-Sloss said she was persuaded to reverse her decision because
of “strong public interest in the case”.

But Mr Al Fayed’s victory has only fuelled suspicions that a cover-up is
being attempted.

Statements made by the French family have been backed up by another
witness, Clifford Gooroovado, 41.

He said: “The Mercedes car was driving behind another car. The car in
front of the Mercedes was probably running at normal speed. The
consequence was that the Mercedes probably accelerated so hard in order
to pull out and overtake this car.”

Grigori Rassinier, who was also near the underpass, said in a statement:
“There were a number of cars in the tunnel and it was certainly possible
that there was one or more other cars travelling ahead of the Mercedes
at the time of the crash.”

Mr Rassinier said he had been contacted by the Operation Paget squad
last year and offered to travel to London to give a statement. But he
claims he never heard from them again.

Last week, the Daily Express revealed how Monte Carlo-based jeweller Mr
Repossi alleged he was put under pressure to change his story during
lengthy interviews with officers from Lord Stevens’ squad.

The jeweller claims – backed up by receipts and CCTV footage from his
Monaco showroom – that Diana and Dodi picked out a £230,000 emerald and
diamond band from a variety of engagement rings in a prestigious range
called Dis-Moi Oui – Tell Me Yes.

Dodi later asked for the ring to be sent to the Repossi store at the
Place Vendome in Paris, which the jeweller opened especially so he could
visit on August 30 – the day before the crash.

The fabulous engagement ring was later left at Dodi’s Paris apartment
where he had planned to present it to the princess. Detectives from Lord
Stevens’ team interviewed Mr Repossi three times and his wife once.

In the final meeting in July this year, officers told him that the
jewellery was not an engagement ring. Mr Repossi said: “They warned me
that if anyone lied to Lord Stevens then he had the power to get people
sent to prison,” he said.

“They kept repeating the warnings of the risk to my reputation and the
bad press coverage I would get. But despite all this, I was not prepared
to change what I’d said before because it was the truth.”

The inquiry team vehemently denies any attempt to put pressure on any
witness to tell anything other than the truth.

Sources close to Lord Stevens’ investigation yesterday suggested that
the 18 witnesses may not have been spoken to because their original
statements were perfectly adequate and there was no need to interview
them again.