Paparazzo offered Diana crash images for £300,000, jury told

A photographer phoned a British tabloid newspaper from the Paris underpass where Princess Diana lay fatally injured after a car crash and offered exclusive pictures for £300,000, an inquest heard today.

Romuald Rat, the first photographer to arrive after Diana and Dodi Fayed's Mercedes crashed in the Alma tunnel, sent pictures of the princess to the Sun picture desk that night.

The jury in the inquest into the couple's death heard a Channel 4 interview with Kenneth Lennox, from the paper, in which he said he had been at home on the night of August 30 1997 when he got a "slightly panicked" call.

"The French-speaking photographer Romuald Rat said he had got photographs of Diana being involved in a car crash and I could have them exclusively for the UK for £300,000," Mr Lennox said in a transcript read to the jury.

"He said it was a serious crash. Dodi looked to be very badly injured. Diana looked to be very lightly injured, did not look too severely hurt at all.

"And he would get the photographs over to my electronic picture desk right now. I didn't waste time. I had to see these pictures, but in principle I said yes to buying them."

The photographs he received "jumped off the screen" at him, he recalled. One showed Diana sitting in the well of the back seat with a trickle of blood on her face.

However, this picture was not among photographs taken by Mr Rat in the tunnel that were later recovered by French police, the jury heard.

Mr Rat had been driven to the scene by the motorcyclist Stephane Darmon, who gave evidence today via video link from Paris.

He claimed Mr Rat had tried to "do something positive" for the crash victims by moving others away from the car.

But Richard Keen QC, representing the family of Diana's chauffeur Henri Paul, said Mr Rat had been trying to keep other photographers away from the scene.

"What Mr Rat was protecting was not the victims of this crash, but the £300,000 exclusive that he had just telephoned into the Sun from the tunnel, is that not the case?"

Mr Darmon replied: "I don't know what to say to that."

Earlier, Mr Darmon had agreed with Michael Mansfield QC, representing Dodi's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, that paparazzi "would stop at nothing" and some had been "irresponsible" to get the picture they wanted.

Mr Mansfield asked him: "The behaviour of the paparazzi in the tunnel that night was irresponsible wasn't it?"

He answered: "For some of them, yes, I totally agree with you, for some of them, when they photographed the people inside, yes, you are right."

Mr Mansfield said: "They overstepped the mark, using words you have used in the past." Mr Darmon agreed.

Mr Mansfield went on: "Some paparazzi will, do you agree, stop at nothing in order to get the picture they want?" He answered: "Obviously."

Under cross-examination by Mr Keen, Mr Darmon said he had been with Mr Rat since lunchtime on August 30, when he took him to Le Bourget airport to photograph Diana and Dodi arriving in Paris from Sardinia.

"He told me he had a scoop if he was lucky enough to be alone," he said.

Mr Keen also questioned Mr Darmon's claim that Mr Paul looked like an alcoholic, and that he recognised the signs from his father.

The lawyer said: "It is very convenient, isn't it, Mr Darmon, for you to suggest that the driver of the Mercedes was an alcoholic and that therefore he was responsible for the crash and not you? Would you agree?"

Mr Darmon replied: "I do not know what to answer to that."

French and British police investigations have concluded that Mr Paul, who also died in the crash, was drunk at the wheel.

The inquest continues.

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