The French police chief who led the investigation into the car crash that claimed the life of Princess Diana has recalled how “obsessed” she was with finding out the truth about what happened, the Daily Mail reported.
Brigade Criminelle chief Martine Monteil scoured for evidence when she arrived at Pont de l'Alma tunnel in the early morning hours of August 31, 1997, according to a new documentary series.
“We saw signs of braking. Pieces of red light from another car. On the side of the car were traces of paint. I even found some tiny pearls. They belonged to the Princess,” Monteil said.
Her testimony is featured in the first episode of a four-part documentary series entitled "Investigating Diana: Death in Paris."
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy that also claimed the lives of Princess Diana’s rumored boyfriend Dodi Fayed and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class, Henri Paul, the docuseries examined the incident and its potential causes.
Fayed and Paul died instantly, whereas Diana sustained severe injuries and was treated at the scene before being rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest. Princess Diana died at the age of 36, with some media claiming the erratic behavior of the paparazzi chasing the car contributed to the crash.
Following the accident, two inquests were held. One took place in France weeks after the crash, and the second was conducted in Britain in 2008.
Monteil recalled in the documentary how she was one of the first police officers to visit the crash site, which was littered with debris, including from a second car involved in the accident. With the site immediately treated as a crime scene, French police were determined to uncover the truth as they gathered testimony from "‘unreliable witnesses and fallible memories."
The paparazzi who had chased the princess's car at high speeds from the Ritz hotel were taken into custody and asked to reconstruct their route. They also testified to what took place moments before and after the crash, describing people who might have crossed paths with the car or motorcycles.
According to Brigade Criminelle officer Eric Gigou, it was a “race against time,” because “human memory is volatile and over time memories fade.”
The French inquest ruled that Diana's death was "accidental." It was determined that Fayed’s driver Henri Paul had been driving too fast to escape the paparazzi, as well as being under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs.
Six members of the paparazzi are said to have been charged with manslaughter for their role in pursuing the car, with the charges later dropped.
The British inquest in 2009 ruled that the royal was unlawfully killed due to "grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles [the paparazzi] and of the Mercedes driver Henri Paul."
Conspiracy Theories
The series also explores several high-profile conspiracy theories surrounding the crash. The various speculations were examined as part of the British inquiry, Operation Paget, launched in 2004.
Thus, Egyptian businessman and billionaire Mohamed Fayed, the father of Dodi, who was then the owner of London department store Harrods, claimed that British intelligence operatives were shadowing Diana during her Paris stay.
He even suggested that the crash had been planned by MI6 and the Queen's late husband, Prince Philip. Speculating that the Princess had been pregnant, the elder Fayed said that the royal family “could not accept that an Egyptian Muslim could eventually be the stepfather of the future King of England.”
However, there was no sign of pregnancy during the postmortem examination.
Operation Paget’s report also revealed evidence that Princess Diana herself believed "efforts would be made" to arrange for her to be involved in a car crash.
She had ostensibly voiced her fears to her lawyer, Victor Mishcon, and private secretary Patrick Jephson on October 30, 1995.
"The Princess of Wales apparently believed that there was a conspiracy and that both she and Camilla Parker Bowles were to be 'put aside,'" the Operation Paget report stated.
Each chapter of the final report concluded that all allegations made since the crash of conspiracy were without foundation and evidence pointed to the death of Diana being the result of a tragic accident.