'I warned Henri not to drive Di'

HENRI Paul was warned not to drive Princess Di and Dodi Fayed on their last journey, the Diana inquest heard yesterday.

Francois Tendil, night security manager at Paris’s Ritz Hotel said he told Paul – his boss – it was not his job to ferry the couple around.

But Paul, who had hatched an ill-fated plan with Dodi and his bodyguards to evade waiting paparazzi photographers, ignored him. And he climbed behind the wheel of the Mercedes which took the 36-year-old Princess and Dodi, 42, to their deaths.

Mr Tendil said he saw no signs that Paul, the Ritz’s acting head of security, had been boozing. But blood tests after the crash showed he was over the drink-drive limit.

Mr Tendil said Paul became involved due to Dodi’s fury at the paparazzi, who had followed him and Di since they arrived in Paris earlier in the day. It prompted the couple to cancel a restaurant meal and dine at the hotel instead. And Dodi could see a growing crowd of snappers outside, the inquest at the High Court in London heard.

Mr Tendil called Paul, who had gone off duty three hours before, and he agreed to return to the hotel. (The Sun)