Former bodyguard Trevor Rees said yesterday that he remembered little else of the doomed journey and denied that he was part of a murder conspiracy. The summer in 1997 saw Princess Diana become the focus of relentless media attention after she embarked on her relationship with Dodi. Fayed has persistently propounded what were found to be conspiracy theoriesat the inquest[13][14]and has repeatedly claimed that he believes his son was murdered with Diana. The events of that evening changed the bodyguard's life forever, and saw him become one of the most recognised names associated with the Princess, as he struggled to come to terms with what had happened. Princess Diana's cause of death was officially a severed pulmonary vein. Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker outlined to the jury in his opening in October that Mr Rees contends that Dodi had insisted on the plan while he "strongly advised" against it. A former dental surgeon turned film-maker, he was watching the rushes of his first feature film when he heard the sound of an accident some time after midnight on August 31 1997. ``It's Mr Dodi's idea,'' insisted Henri Paul. Email us [email protected] call 0207 782 4368 . There was nothing in Henri Paul's behaviour that raised a red flag though he was in the two bodyguards' company for a matter of five minutes. The princess's chest had been compressed in the crash, damaging both her right lung and her heart. Princess Diana, Dodi and driver Henri Paul were all killed in the horror smash but bodyguardTrevor Rees-Jones survived. Trevor asked Ren again and again, while the two were dressing, desperately trying to find out what their evening plans were. Mr Murrell, whose real name is Reuben although he is known as Ben, told the court last week that he left his job working for Mr Al Fayed after being asked to embellish his account of the afternoon of August 30. He died on 31 August 1997 in Paris, France. After that Trevor Rees-Jones remembers nothing of the car crash, which he is still trying to come to terms with. You can respectfully suggest that this plan is crap, that you need more blokes, which I did, but if they don't listen to you, then your hands are tied.''. Diana Princes of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed arriving back at the Ritz Hotel in Paris for the final time. They had no idea of the ultimate plan, if there was one, about how to evacuate Dodi and Diana away from the hotel, now besieged by photographers. No action. "I remember sitting in the car after the crash. I concluded it was Princess Diana. Investigations by French and British police concluded that their chauffeur, Henri Paul, was driving under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs; paparazzi chasing the couple are also believed to have contributed to the accident. His experience also includes working on the terror attacks on 9/11, in Bali in 2002 and the London 7/7 bombings in 2005. DrRichard Shepherd said he was inundated with questions about Princess Di's autopsy but has long refused to reveal intimate details. (Photo / Getty) Top UK forensic pathologist Richard Shepherd, who gave evidence in a major inquiry into Princess Diana's death, has revealed the incredibly rare injury that claimed her life after. In 1997, he got engaged to American model Kelly Fisher and bought a house in Malibu for themselves using money from his dad. I didn't know until the end. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. And a bodyguard. Now, as he arrived alongside the yacht, he spotted her on the rear deck. Testifying by video link from Paris, Huth said he was in his parents' apartment on the banks of the River Seine early on Aug. 31, 1997, when he heard the sound of a car crash in the Pont d'Alma. I wish I could say she would have died whatever happened, but the fact is, if she had worn her seatbelt she would have been here for Prince William and Harry's weddings, he told the Daily Mail. Eventually, surgeons realized that her heart had given out. It was an absurd throw of the dice of fate which brought together the royal outsider, neurotic and self-professed Queen of Hearts, and the feckless but good natured son of a billionaire merchant prince who would always be merely a boy in a man's world dominated by his overbearing father. Its not an easy thing to forget. It was so frustrating.'' He also carried out the post-mortems on young mother Rachel Nickell, murdered on Wimbledon Common in 1992, and Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager stabbed to death in a racial attack a year later. Rees was haunted by the guilt of his survival and would wake suddenly in the night as memories of that fateful night ran through his mind. Egyptian-born Dodi was from Mohamed Al Fayeds first marriage, to Samira Khashoggi, with Camilla being one of his four children with Finnish model and actress Heini Wathen. When he was 15, Dodi moved to London and became a familiar face on the nightclub scene. By the time Henri Paul left the bar, the barman had served the hotel's assistant head of security his second Ricard Pastis. The pair had first met at a 1986 polo match in Windsor while Diana was still married to Prince Charles, although nothing came from the exchange. She explained: Does it feel distant, like somebodys elses story? In fairness to Fayed, even if he had approved Henri Paul to drive his son and the princess, he could not have known or guessed that Henri Paul had consumed any alcohol, let alone a deadly cocktail of drink and prescription drugs. The two other cars will leave from the front to divert the paparazzi. [7], In 1986, Fayed married model Suzanne Gregard. As he prepares to give evidence at the High Court today, it is likely to bring back the painful memories of more than 10 years ago. Trevor believes that Dodi trusted Henri Paul, just as he trusted Dourneau who would drive the decoy car at the front. "I suppose they wanted to move the bodies, that was the reason why these guys wanted to open the car, so I told them that I was a doctor and that before the emergency arrived they did not have to move anybody inside." Police, ambulance attendants and doctors implicitly contradicted claims by Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi's father, that Diana was able to talk when she reached a hospital more than 1{ hours after her chauffeur-driven Mercedes ran into a pillar in the tunnel under the Pont Alma on Aug. 31. But he did publish a book, The Bodyguard's Story, in 2000, in which he rejected conspiracy theories about the accident. Details of Diana's last hours were compiled by two journalists from the magazine L'Express, Jean-Marie Pontaut and Jerome Dupuis, for a book published in France. Fayed took these dreamy meanderings as gospel testimony because they suited his own theories of a deep love and betrothal between his son and the princess and a deadly plot to stop it in its tracks. Then, speaking in person today, Mr Rees told the jury: My other memories are very vague. [18] The second, unveiled in 2005 and titled Innocent Victims, is a 3-metre (10') high bronze statue of the two dancing on a beach, beneath the wings of an albatross. Dodi gave orders for the driver to put the foot down and they lost the photographers before they arrived at the Ritz. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. "When you say you have lost your memory, you are telling a bare-faced lie, Mr Rees, are you?" He worked as a junior officer in theUnited Arab Emirates air force, stationed in London, but he soon moved into the film industry - producing films such as Chariots of Fire and The Scarlet Letter. The unlikely romance was now being played out behind the grey facades of two buildings, 55 and 60 Park Lane, London, well disguised above an anonymous Lexus dealership. "Even though the tunnel was tricky, it was the first time I really heard screeching from a car coming fast inside the tunnel." Dodi Fayed, as he is more commonly . When she saw her friend was dead, I think she said, "My God.' Dodi flew to Los Angeles to try and calm his American girlfriend. He changed his name back to Rees after divorcing his first wife, and, in 2002, he announced his intention to marry teacher Ann Scott. Trevor Rees-Jones told Weekend Review this week that he still cannot fathom how Henri Paul could be three times over the legal limit and yet Rees-Jones didn't notice he had drink taken. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. This happened because Rees-Jones, constantly badgered by the huge personality that is Mohamed Al Fayed, had recollected a dream to the man who paid his wages in which there were snatches of conservation in the seconds after the crash. Diana died on August 31, 1997, after suffering fatal injuries in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. He admitted that he could not identify this man, however. The book is written in the third person and based on a series of interviews with Mr Rees, his mother, Jill, and Dr Luc Chikhani, the surgeon who performed miracles in reconstructing Mr Rees's face. They took off for the hotel surrounded by screaming motorcycles, chasing and darting around the target vehicles, sometimes two to a bike so a photographer could focus the powerful zoom lens. It's just one of the explosive revelations in the new book by the former soldier and bodyguard who has maintained a virtual code of Omerta in the years since the bizarre last days of Diana. Again Trevor and Kez followed in the Range Rover while the Mercedes with Dodi and Diana was surrounded by scooters and motorbikes. ', News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Asked whether there were photographers at the scene by this time, Mr Huth replied: "Yes, there were photographers taking pictures a photographer on my side who was shooting at the car. The paparazzi, who had been waiting outside Dodi's apartment, surrounded the entrance door as the Mercedes nosed into the street. ``Where are they going?'' ``We could see the situation was winding them up, and we thought we'll just give them a bit of privacy. "As I had emergency lessons in the hospital, I knew that if you move someone that has a broken spine you will kill the person, so I forbidden them to open the door," he recalled. Dr Shepherd was a Home Office pathologist when he was called on to carry out the autopsy on Diana, one of the 23,000 or so he has performed in his career. DODI Al Fayed's life was cut tragically short when the car he was travelling in with his lover Princess Diana crashed in Paris, killing both of them. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Dodi paused. In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana and Fayed were killed in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris. Since St Tropez the couple had been alone in Sardinia, on board the Jonikal, the second of two short breaks they'd taken since returning from France. British and French police investigations have concluded that Diana and Dodi died because their chauffeur, Henri Paul, was drunk and drove too fast through a Paris road tunnel. Dodi Fayed, Diana's boyfriend and the son of an Egyptian billionaire, was also a victim of the car crash. After the tension of the trip Dodi was trusting an ever smaller band of people. Is there any truth in that?" Forty minutes later the couple were on edge when they saw the number of paparazzi. He (Dodi) wants me to drive. The ex-soldier, originally from Oswestry, Shropshire, acrimoniously split from his former employer in April 1998, issuing only a brief statement that he wished to "move forward" with his life. Scroll down for more {9} It is the evidence of another former Fayed security man Ben Murrell that Mr Rees telephoned him that night to say that Mr Paul was drinking and he thought it was unprofessional. Independent.ie. It was not made clear whether this was the mystery white Fiat Uno believed to have collided with the Mercedes shortly before it crashed that police have been unable to trace. The sole survivor of the crash which claimed the lives of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed, has finally decided to speak. The death in 1997 of Omar's half-brother Dodi, who was killed in the Paris car crash that also claimed the life of Princess Diana, sparked a forest fire of media glare and attendant conspiracy theories about Diana's death, which still roil the internet. Princess Diana was conscious after the fatal crash in Paris last August and aware that Dodi Al Fayed was lying dead beside her in the car. Scroll down for more {4} Mr Rees said he agreed with the diagnosis. The following night Diana arrived by Mercedes with no security except her driver. At 11.40pm on that last night Trevor and Kez were at the door of the suite. Reviewing Martinos account of how the crash scene was handled, he said by videolink from Paris that an assistant had had to hold Dianas arm firmly to insert a drip, but that she had quickly pulled it out. He was, perhaps, a little too chatty but obviously Dodi had a lot of faith in him.''. She later claimed Dodi had dumped her for Princess Diana and tried suing him for $500,000 because she said she had sacrificed her modelling career to marry him. We pay forvideostoo. Why didn't you have the reception arranged?'' "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Rees-Jones was the sole survivor of the crash that killed Diana, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul. I always made sure I never said anything in all the cases of public interest I was involved with that hadn't already appeared in the press. The tough cross-examination he underwent from some of the lawyers is thought to have deterred other paparazzi from giving evidence and to have worried French authorities. The BBC reports he was the son of an impoverished schoolteacher and . [15] Contents 1Henri Paul 1.1Security service connections 1.2Blood samples 2Tomlinson's allegation of MI6 involvement 3Relationship with Dodi Fayed 3.1Pregnancy It was then that Mr Huth moved in closer to assess the state of the other victims and saw the body of Dodi Fayed, who had been captured on CCTV cameras just minutes earlier tenderly cuddling with Diana at the Ritz Hotel. Rees-Jones survived the crash, despite severe facial injuries. Had she been strapped in she would have walked away with a black eye or maybe a broken arm, but nothing more. He had his jaw hanging off. ``It's just a 10 minute drive. At traffic lights in the Place de la Concorde he saw a motorcycle pull up on the right-hand side of the car and flashes from a camera. As the two men waited outside the suite Henri Paul arrived (stinking of cigars, Kez noted) and told Trevor and Kez that the plan had been changed. The inquest jury was told that Mr Al Fayed had written in February 2006 to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who produced the Paget report into the fatal Paris crash. Mr Al Fayed believes that Mr Murrell was also turned against him by the security services, the jury has heard. Professor Andre Lienhart, who investigated Dianas medical treatment for a French examining magistrate, spelt out for the jury in detail how she was treated in the battle to save her life on the night of August 31, 1997. James Huth said he found driver Henri Paul dead, his head trapped in an air bag, and "panicking" survivor Trevor Rees lying beside him with his jaw "hanging" off. Dr. Richard Shepherd is the top forensic pathologist in the UK, and he investigated the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. At this point, Mr Huth said, two unnamed men appeared at the car and tried to open its rear door. Now Kelly Fisher was threatening to sue for breach of contract. He also examined the drowned bodies after the Marchioness tragedy in which a Thames pleasure boat sank with the loss of 51 lives in 1989. REUTERS/Files. Days after The Sunday Mirror published photos of Dodi and Diana, Kelly enlisted attorney Gloria . About 71 results for Dodi Fayed . In that newspaper interview he spoke of the ``last words of Diana'' in which she called out for Dodi with her dying breaths. This was a terrible plan. She must have felt pain. 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[15] Fayed's former spokesman, Michael Cole, has said that the couple became engaged before their deaths. ``It was dingy and there was no-one there.'' But he was informed at 3.45am UK time that the Princess had died of her injuries. So why had Dodi chosen Henri Paul to drive? Getty Princess Diana died following a car crash in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997. The car was travelling at up to 70mph - twice the speed limit - and Paul was three times over the drink-drive limit. Mr Rees answered: "That is not true." He was taken, along with the Princess, to La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris and in the following weeks, underwent extensive reconstructive facial surgery. Driver Henri Paul was also killed in the crash. As Trevor went downstairs to find Henri Paul, Kez was alone with Diana and Dodi and gave it one last try. the security lads at the villa joked as the holiday progressed. ven Dodi Al Fayed dog omedelbart vid kraschen och han hade inga frhjda kolmonoxidniver i blodet. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed , better known as Dodi Fayed , was an Egyptian film producer and the son of billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed. Kelly Fisher sued Dodi Fayed for ending their engagement and getting together with Princess Diana. He is (a) a father grieving for his son; (b) a world-class social climber robbed of ultimate legitimacy by a cruel fate; (c) a passionate whistleblower exposing an . ``I was absolutely gobsmacked when I found out that they'd been alone on holiday together.'' Who was Dodi Fayed? The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. These were nice conversations.''. Mr Rees replied: "I am aware that has been said, sir, yes." The princess's chest had been compressed in the crash, damaging both her right lung and her heart. which listed the cause of death as internal hemorrhaging due to a major chest trauma and a phenomenon of deceleration which caused a rupture of the left pulmonary vein. [6], Through his family's production company, Allied Stars, Fayed was an executive producer of the films Chariots of Fire, Breaking Glass, F/X, F/X2, Hook, and The Scarlet Letter, and an executive creative consultant for F/X: The Series. She may not have been a rocket scientist, but then neither am I. [10] She dropped the lawsuit shortly after Fayed's death.[11]. "I approached the car and I saw the legs of a man. The Mercedes arrived and Henri Paul stepped towards the car to switch with the driver. Rumorsmostly from Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayedwere circulating that Diana was. Diana died in a high-speed car accident. Citat: The driver unfortunately had his head inside and it was not moving. The inquest is expected to last up to six months and cost up to 10 million pounds ($20.9 million). For other inquiries, Contact Us. Season five of The Crown introduces viewers to Dodi Al Fayed, who tragically died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Mr Murrell, who gave evidence by video link last week, is being recalled today and is listed to appear before Mr Rees. Through the smoke pouring out from under the car bonnet, Mr Huth said he also could make out the body of Dodi Fayed, wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots, slumped between the front seats of the mangled Mercedes. Diana died on August 31, 1997, after sufferingfatal injuries in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. He has also written another book on this topic which is "not supportive" of Mr Al Fayed's claims, Mr Burnett said. While he spent his days with his royal guests, sipping Dom Perignon as four top chefs served up their specialities, Kelly was secreted away on one of the family's other vessels. Soon she disappeared back to America, even though she would later claim that her marriage to Dodi was to have taken place on August 9. Trevor shot back to Henri Paul, ``No f****** chance is he leaving without a bodyguard no way in a million years it's going without me. After learning of Dodi's romance with Diana, Kelly phoned her ex to vent her fury. It was part of history, something that was attached to my family, still to this day. Dodi began his courtship of Diana clumsily while at the same time playing a tricky and secretive game with his American model girlfriend Kelly Fisher, who after his death claimed to be his fiance. Camilla said that Netflixs The Crown has made Dodis death a subject again, as the latest season featured Princess Diana joining the royal family for the first time. I'm with three people now (Dodi, Diana and Fayed's wife Mrs Heini) on my own. Popular Netflix show cancelled after just one series - leaving fans gutted, Im 92 but still rock minidresses - I've got a 2 secret to looking young, Baby among 6 festival-goers sliced to death by glass-encrusted kite strings, Thousands of British Gas customers to get 250 help with energy bills, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. . [17], Fayed's father erected two memorials to his son and Diana at Harrods. The inquest, trying to draw a line under a decade of investigations that have sparked numerous conspiracy theories, was dealt a major blow when the paparazzi who chased Diana and Dodis car into the tunnel refused to testify. He dashed to the rear right door and blocked it for the princess as this breathtaking woman emerged from the back seat still sun tanned from the Cote d'Azur all legs and high heels in a very glamorous, skin tight short blue cocktail dress. Speaking in 2000, Mr Chikhani said: "I have never seen so many fractures on a man who was still alive." For Trevor ``this was the final straw''. Speaking to The Times magazine, Camilla Fayed, who was 12 when the tragic event took place in Paris on August 31, 1997, said it is impossible to move on. However, her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived. Pathologically there was no evidence that Princess Diana was pregnant, but some women say they know they're pregnant from the moment of conception. "I cannot think of why a car driving that fast would have to brake at that point unless there was something in its way," he said. It was supposedly dead for me," he said. I couldn't go knocking on their apartment door saying, `hey, where are we going tonight?' Confirmation of Diana's consciousness was given by the first policeman on the scene, Sebastien Dorzee, who complained of being shoved by photographers as he tried to get her out. Mr Rees was present throughout the day before the tragedy and is seen in CCTV accompanying Dodi to the Repossi jewellers where Mr Al Fayed believes an "engagement" ring was bought for Diana. I told them that I thought one was alive and described the accident," he said. Fayed was pronounced dead at the scene on his removal from the wreckage. The bodyguards did not know that Dodi had called the hotel's night manager to tell him of the earlier mess with the paparazzi. But he told the couple's inquest today: "[It was] basically a walk around Monte Carlo, it wasn't a stroll. [5] He was the first cousin of the late Washington Post Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018. Footage from the 2007 inquest into her death. , updated Top 5,000 958 Dodi Fayed was born on 15 April 1955 in Alexandria, Egypt. Mr Rees may also be able to give evidence on whether Mr Paul had been drinking. He was charming and generous, but his good intentions couldn't dislodge his reputation for . Flashbulbs started popping as photographers who had learned of the rendezvous spotted the car. It was such an embarrassingly sterile environment. It also proves that events were totally out of control from the moment the most famous woman in the world entered the Fayed circle and that the drunken, drugged up driver Henri Paul was merely the final deadly piece of a chaotic jigsaw. Minutes later Dodi popped his head out of the suite and confirmed it all. The restlessness that had begun during the last few days became almost manic during the next few hours. It may even have been the Ford Ka driven by another eyewitness, Francois Levistre, who stopped briefly after the accident but did not get out of his car and eventually fled the scene. The next job would be to get the couple back to the apartment after dinner if that is what Dodi decided to do. The princess was shaken, Dodi angry. Mohamed reportedly spends 300 days a year sitting beside his sons body for hours at his lavish mausoleum in the grounds of his mansion in Surrey. To counteract the growing tension, Trevor put the couple in the Mercedes with Phillippe at the wheel, while he and his colleague Kez Wingfield followed in the Range Rover. The Bodyguard's Story demolishes most of the outlandish conspiracy theories put forward by the Harrods boss and reveals the confluence of many different factors which ultimately brought tragedy. Princess Diana's romance with Dodi Fayed, the Egyptian-born film magnate, was just beginning when the two died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. The couple divorced after eight months. Trevor was at the back entrance and looked out. The inquest is expected to last up to six months and cost up to 10 million pounds ($20.9 million).