Diana Crash Probe Closed; Blame Likely to Fall on Driver

Nearly 17 months after Princess Diana’s violent death, two French magistrates completed a painstaking investigation Friday that is believed to lay the bulk of blame on the drunk, speeding driver of her Mercedes.

The probe, the most meticulous ever of an auto accident in France, turned up no trace of the white Fiat Uno that apparently brushed against Diana’s limousine right before the accident, according to numerous press leaks.

Nor was any proof found to support repeated claims by the billionaire father of Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, who also died in the accident, that the crash in a tunnel by the Seine River was the result of a plot against the British princess and her Muslim companion.

Nine press photographers and a press agency motorcyclist who had been pursuing the princess are still under investigation on possible criminal charges of manslaughter and failing to aid the victims of an accident. They were questioned by Investigating Magistrate Herve Stephan for a final time Friday.

Initial suppositions were that the paparazzi might have caused or contributed to the accident by crowding limousine driver Henri Paul, the third person killed in the Aug. 31, 1997, crash. Yet autopsies showed that Paul, a security guard at the Ritz Hotel, had been drinking heavily and taking antidepressant drugs.

It was recently discovered that one of the photographers, Fabrice Chassery, had made three calls on the day of the accident to the owner of the car rental firm that had furnished the Mercedes.

According to investigators, Stephan wanted to determine if the photographers had been tipped off in advance about the princess’ route.

All parties in the case, including the families of the victims and the crash’s sole survivor, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, now have 20 days to ask Stephan and the second investigating magistrate, Marie-Christine Devidal, to make additional inquiries.

Any trials are still months away, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a press release Friday. The prosecutors will have three months to study the magistrates’ report, which runs to 5,000 pages with legal annexes, before asking that charges be brought.

Whatever their request, it will be up to Stephan and Devidal to decide whether to send any of the photographers before a court.

Investigators have found that Paul had illegal levels of alcohol in his blood and was speeding when he smashed into a square concrete pillar in the tunnel under the Place de l’Alma.

Officials at the Ritz, which is owned by Fayed’s father, Mohammed, assigned Paul to chauffeur Diana and Fayed although he did not have the special driver’s license required for the Mercedes limousine.

According to extensive leaks on the investigation that have appeared in the British press, Stephan believes that one or two of the paparazzi traveling on speeding motorbikes may have indirectly contributed to the accident by pulling alongside the Mercedes as Paul neared or entered the tunnel.

The mysterious Fiat, which never turned up despite an extensive search by French police, is also believed to have been a factor in the wreck, but to what degree may never be known.

Stephan reportedly recommended that manslaughter charges be dropped against the photographers but that three of them be prosecuted for the less serious offense of failing to come to the aid of Diana and the other occupants of the car.

One of the paparazzi, Romuald Rat, has admitted opening the door of the car and taking Diana’s pulse as she lay dying.