Diana inquest: Controversial paparazzi witness summoned

LONDON: A key paparazzi witness to the Paris car crash, which killed Princess Diana and her Egyptian boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed ten years back, has been summoned to testify at the inquest.

Romuald Rat, who had chased Diana's Mercedes through the French capital before the tragedy, had allegedly called a newspaper from the scene of the crash in the Alma underpass demanding 300,000 pounds for pictures of the dying Princess.

Rat, who lives in France, may give evidence by video link from Paris after being contacted by French officials, 'The Times' reported on Tuesday, quoting Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker as saying here.

On Monday, the coroner suffered another setback in the long-running row over paparazzi witnesses, losing his appeal against a London High Court ruling that said he could not have witness statements from paparazzi who pursued the Princess on the night of her death simply read out to the jury.

The Coroner had previously said that he would admit the statements in evidence because the paparazzi were refusing to give evidence in person and he could not compel foreign witnesses to give evidence as "the French government refuses to use its powers to compel them to do so".

It may be mentioned three High Court judges had ruled last week that doing so would be against the 1984 Coroners' Rules which permit only written evidence that is "unlikely to be disputed".

Lawyer Richard Keen representing the family of Henri Paul, the driver who was also killed in the fatal crash, had successfully argued that it would allow the paparazzi evidence to go unchallenged.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com