Diana's driver 'drove too fast'

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A photographer who took pictures of a dying Princess of Wales has said her driver took "too many risks" on her final journey through Paris.

Paparazzo Romuald Rat told police the Mercedes suddenly accelerated in a bid to shake off pursuing cameramen.

The inquest heard that minutes later Henri Paul crashed the car in a tunnel, killing him, Diana and Dodi Fayed.

A French investigation has already cleared the paparazzi of causing the crash, in August 1997.

Mr Rat and other paparazzi have refused to attend the inquest into Diana's death.

'Too many risks'

In his police statement read out to jurors, Mr Rat said: "I did not understand why the Mercedes suddenly drove so quickly, since everything had gone so well during the day and a normal chauffeur knows that is not the way that you shake someone off."

He added: "He took too many risks."

The inquest has heard that before the couple departed, Mr Paul had repeatedly came out of the back of the Ritz to talk to the photographers.

"Broadly speaking, he was mocking us", Mr Rat said.

At one point he recalled that one of the photographers had claimed that Mr Paul, who was later found to be over the drink-drive limit, said "I think he has been drinking".

Graffiti accused the photographers of being "assassins and cowards"

But this was challenged by the lawyer acting for Mr Paul's parents, who said there was "no evidence" to suggest that Mr Paul was drunk.

Mr Rat was among seven photographers arrested at the scene of the crash. He admits to being a "leading pursuer" as the couple left the Ritz Hotel and probably one of the first on the scene.

He said he arrived on a motorbike, to find smoke coming from the tunnel. He then ran to the Mercedes firing off around two photographs "as a reflex" as he went.

Mr Rat insisted he lost the Mercedes as it sped off through Paris, only catching up with it in the tunnel.

The Mercedes had been too powerful for the paparazzi to keep pace, he claimed. But several inconsistencies, including a "downright lie" are obvious from his statements, according to Tom de la Mare, lawyer for the Ritz Hotel.

'Working in concert'

The jury was told that because the Mercedes was later found to be under-powered, it may have been possible for Mr Rat's motorbike to keep up.

Mr de la Mare said there was also evidence from mobile phone records that the photographer may have been "working in concert" with a colleague.

And Mr Rat's original claim that he only took photographs after a doctor had begun to help was also now proved to be false, Mr de la Mare continued.

Mr de la Mare suggested that many of the paparazzi had indulged in a what he described as "concoction of lies" in their version of that night's events to try to avoid incriminating themselves.

The jury heard that images of the crash were being marketed all over the world within hours of the collision - but were immediately pulled when the deaths were confirmed.