The driver of the car which crashed killing Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed was not drunk, an inquest has heard. Jurors have already been told that Henri Paul ordered drinks in the Ritz Hotel's bar in the hours before the smash. And blood tests showed he was over the drink-drive limit when he crashed into an underpass pillar.But Dodi's father Mohamed al Fayed - who believed the couple were murdered - insists the Frenchman was not drunk and the samples had been switched.
And now Sebastien Trotte, a former barman at the Paris hotel, has told the hearing Mr Paul drank two 4cl measures of Ricard - aniseed spirit.
He had been waiting with bodyguards in the Bar Vendome pending the couple's departure in August 1997. an Burnett QC asked Mr Trotte: "Did he appear to you to have had too much to drink?"
Giving evidence through an interpreter by video link from Paris, he replied: "No."
Mr Burnett asked if he appeared "in any sense drunk?" to which Mr Trotte said "no".
The former barman said Mr Paul - who also died in the crash - and the bodyguards "were all a bit nervous".
He added: "Mr Paul had been called back from his home and they were waiting for the signal for Princess Diana and Mr Fayed to leave." (Sky News)
