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Attempt 'to slow down' Diana car Attempt 'to slow down' Diana car
(10 minutes later)
A vehicle was trying to slow down Princess Diana's Mercedes car - before it crashed in a tunnel - so paparazzi could get pictures, a court has heard.A vehicle was trying to slow down Princess Diana's Mercedes car - before it crashed in a tunnel - so paparazzi could get pictures, a court has heard.
Witness Olivier Partouche told an inquest into her death that the dark car was in front of the princess' as it entered the Pont d'Alma tunnel.Witness Olivier Partouche told an inquest into her death that the dark car was in front of the princess' as it entered the Pont d'Alma tunnel.
It formed a "compact group" with motorcyclists around the Mercedes, Mr Partouche told the jury.It formed a "compact group" with motorcyclists around the Mercedes, Mr Partouche told the jury.
He was addressing the court by video link from Paris.He was addressing the court by video link from Paris.
He told London's High Court on Wednesday that the dark car was a "Ford Mondeo-style" saloon car. The princess and Mr Al Fayed died, together with driver Henri Paul, when their Mercedes crashed in the tunnel on 31 August 1997.
"I was just of the impression of a kind of a group, with in the front of the group, the car, and the motorcycles just behind at the same speed," he said. Mr Partouche, who was working as a chauffeur at the time, was standing at the side of the road on the approach to the underpass when he says the couple's car travelling "very, very fast".
Mr Partouche told London's High Court on Wednesday that the dark car was a "Ford Mondeo-style" saloon car.
He said the car was in front of the Mercedes and that, following the Princess' car, were "a number of motorcycles".
"I was just of the impression of a kind of a group, with, in the front of the group, the car, and the motorcycles just behind at the same speed," he said.
In a statement made to police two hours after the crash, he said the car had been travelling at 150 km/h (93mph) but, on Wednesday, he said he thought it was slightly slower than this.
In that statement, he referred to the dark car as "the blocking vehicle" and said "clearly this car was trying to make the Mercedes slow down".
"The object of the manoeuvre was to make it possible for the paparazzi to take photographs," he added in the statement.
But in a later statement made to a French magistrate, Mr Partouche said: "The vehicle in front of the Mercedes did not perform any dangerous manoeuvres on the road to prevent it getting past."