http://www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk/hearing_transcripts/010408pm.htm
10 (2.53 pm)
11 (Jury present)
12 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: The plan that Henri Paul should
13 drive.
14 The answer to the question who decided that
15 Henri Paul should drive the Mercedes may be relevant to
16 the contention that this was a deliberately planned
17 collision. One thing that is not suggested is that
18 Henri Paul was a knowing participant in a plot to kill
19 or, as is now suggested, merely to injure or frighten
20 Diana and Dodi. This was no suicide mission on the part
21 of the driver.
22 Anyone planning a collision in the Alma Tunnel had
23 therefore to ensure that a vehicle carrying Diana and
24 Dodi went through the tunnel, which was not on the
25 direct or obvious route to Dodi's flat. Leaving aside
83
1 bright flashes or blocking vehicles, it is relevant to
2 look at how events unfolded that night in the Ritz in
3 the period before departure. There is no suggestion
4 that either of the bodyguards was party to any such
5 wicked plan either.
6 There is certainly information that Dodi and Diana
7 were planning to come to Paris that weekend and that
8 Henri Paul knew of this. Didier Gamblin's
9 uncontroversial evidence, which was read to you,
10 suggested that Henri Paul was aware they were intending
11 to come at least from the Thursday.
12 He seems to have been one of, if not the, central
13 figure in coordinating arrangements and he went to
14 Le Bourget to meet them. That was hardly surprising
15 because he was acting head of security at the Ritz, but
16 he was also close to Dodi and trusted by him. Dourneau
17 and Musa were aware that the couple were coming the day
18 before and were required to have vehicles available.
19 Henri Paul went off duty at 7 pm and left the Ritz,
20 returning at about 10 pm. Although he had been closely
21 involved with the arrangements during the day, he
22 thought he had finished for the day. Dodi and Diana
23 were not expected to return to the Ritz and
24 Francois Tendil was asked to call him on his mobile in
25 the event that they did.
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1 Any journey by Dodi and Diana from the Ritz to
2 Rue Arsene Houssaye later that night did not even become
3 a possibility until they had returned to the Ritz, which
4 did not happen until about 9.50 pm. If Henri Paul was
5 the agent whose unknowing assistance was required to
6 ensure the car was in the right place at the right time,
7 there was very little time available to achieve that.
8 There would have been many much simpler ways to organise
9 an assassination, you may think. Apart from anything
10 else, the perpetrators had to ensure that Henri Paul,
11 rather than the regular chauffeur, drove the car.
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