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Police retrace princess dianas last steps in paris { April 26 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/04/26/international1426EDT0612.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/04/26/international1426EDT0612.DTL
London police chief retraces Princess Diana's last steps in Paris
JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer
Monday, April 26, 2004
©2004 Associated Press
(04-26) 11:26 PDT PARIS (AP) --
London's police commissioner on Monday retraced Princess Diana's final moments in the streets of Paris in an effort to determine if she was the victim of a criminal conspiracy or a simple traffic accident.
Nearly seven years after her death, a British investigative team and French police officials followed the route taken by the princess on Aug. 31, 1997 -- from the back door of the Ritz Hotel to the 13th pillar of the Alma traffic tunnel, where Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and her driver were killed in a high-speed crash.
French authorities have ruled the crash an accident. But conspiracy theories continue to surround the wreck.
"It is my job to either prove or disprove those conspiracy theories," said Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, after inspecting the crash site.
Stevens undertook his investigation at the direction of royal coroner Michael Burgess, who opened an inquest into Diana's death in January after French legal proceedings in the case had ended.
Burgess accompanied Stevens to Paris.
The inquest came after persistent accusations from Fayed's father, Egyptian-born billionaire Mohammed al Fayed, that Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, masterminded a conspiracy to kill Diana and Dodi Fayed because he disapproved of their relationship.
Al Fayed has also claimed the circumstances surrounding the crash were covered up.
"I don't dismiss anything," Stevens said. "You just go where the evidence takes you."
Stevens repeated earlier statements that he would question Prince Charles if necessary.
In 1999, a French judge ruled the crash an accident. An investigation concluded that Henri Paul, the driver, had been drinking and was driving at high speed. In 2002, France's highest court dropped manslaughter charges against nine photographers who followed the car from the Ritz and pursued it until the crash.
Monday, the British team drove through the Paris tunnel, then backtracked to the Ritz and returned to tunnel later in the day to walk the crash site on foot. They were accompanied by Paris chief detective Martine Monteil, who headed the French investigation.
"It's been a very valuable exercise," Stevens said. "You cannot possibly get the proper indications, the evidence, the feel for things just from photographs, videos, witness statements."
Seeing the tunnel close up, Stevens said he realized it was narrower and shorter in length than he'd imagined and that the ramp dipped down at a steeper incline than it appeared to in photographs and videos.
Marks made by Diana's armored Mercedes limousine were still visible inside the tunnel, he said.
"You can see where the impact's taken place," Stevens said. Diana's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who was also in the car, survived the crash.
Stevens, who planned to return to London on Tuesday, said he hoped to complete his investigation by early 2005
©2004 Associated Press
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