LONDON, (AFP) — French diplomatic protection police could have prevented the 1997 crash which killed Princess Diana, had they known of her presence in Paris, the inquest into her death heard Thursday.
The formal investigation heard that an unidentified French officer made contact with British officials at the hospital where Diana died in the early hours of August 31, asking why his service had not been informed.
"He described himself as being a member of of the French equivalent of the Diplomatic Protection Group in the UK," said Keith Moss, effectively number two at the British embassy at the time.
"He came over to me, introduced himself and asked me whether we knew that the Princess of Wales had been in France and if we did know, why hadn't his service been informed.
"He then went on to say that, however informal, if a contact had been made with his organisation, through embassy facilities I suppose, then they would have conducted -- if you like -- discreet surveillance or security coverage during the time of her visit."
A lawyer for Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Diana's boyfriend Dodi Fayed who also died in the crash, asked Moss if the French officer had said words to the effect that this incident would possibly not have happened."
"That was the inference of what he was saying, yes," said Moss, adding that he passed the remark on to British ambassador Michael Jay, but that it was not recorded in an official statement at the time.
Diana, Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul were all killed in the crash as they tried to flee photographers pursuing them from the Ritz hotel in central Paris in the early hours of August 31, 1997.
A French and separate British investigation both concluded that the crash was caused by Paul being over the legal alcohol limit and driving too fast.
Mohamed al-Fayed, the millionaire owner of Harrods department store, maintains they were killed in a British establishment plot as they did not want to see the mother to the heir to the throne marry a Muslim.
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