Shropshire bodyguard Trevor Rees, the sole survivor of the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, today said he agreed with the verdict of the inquest following the fatal smash in Paris.
Mr Rees, from Oswestry, today said: “I agree with the jury’s verdict, and welcome the end of the inquest process. I hope that this now represents a point from which everyone involved can move on.”
It comes as Princes William and Harry said they hoped that the long-awaited conclusion of the inquest would put an end to speculation she was murdered.
The young royals said last night they agreed with the jury’s verdict that Diana died because of gross negligence by both her driver Henri Paul and pursuing paparazzi.
After 10-and-a-half years and inquiries likely to cost taxpayers well over £12 million, the 11 jury members concluded yesterday that the “People’s Princess” was unlawfully killed by bad driving.
The panel returned joint verdicts of unlawful killing through grossly negligent driving - or gross negligence manslaughter. They added that the fact they were not wearing seatbelts contributed to their deaths
After sitting through evidence from 278 witnesses, the jury of six women and five men took four days to reach the majority decisions.
Diana, her lover Dodi and Mr Paul were killed when their Mercedes crashed into a pillar in the Alma underpass in the early hours of August 31, 1997.
Dodi’s father, Mohamed al Fayed, today expressed his disappointment at the verdicts and his spokesman made it clear they could still mount a legal challenge.
Thanking the jury, William and Harry said in a statement: “We agree with their verdicts, and are both hugely grateful to each and every one of them for the forbearance they have shown in accepting such significant disruption to their lives over the past six months.”
2 Comments
The only bit they got right was the verdict of unlawful killing, but please dont blame the driver Henri Paul. He was a professional and as such would no way compromise any one under his protection. Lets hope thats the end of the matter now people of England must be fed up with the whole thing R.I.P.
‘He was a professional and as such would no way compromise any one under his protection’
Nope - the evidence showed that he was over the legal alcohol limit, and driving far too fast - not very professional.
Those that died weren’t wearing seatbelts, and at the time they were being pursued by motorcyclists who were also driving too fast, all to get a set of rather dull photos.
As the verdict showed, all of the above were to blame, and it was pretty clear to everyone except Al Fayed and the Daily Express that this was the case all along. I baffles me why we wasted so much public money on this nonsense.