Bodyguard crash pics in inquest

Photographs of Shropshire bodyguard Trevor Rees, as he lay with horrific injuries at the scene of the crash which killed Diana, Princess of Wales, could be used as evidence in the inquest.

Legal teams from the interested parties in the inquest on Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, want around 60 of the 400 photographs taken at the scene of the accident, copied to use in evidence.

Mohamed al Fayed's legal team has also said the Queen should be "directly approached" to be quizzed over alleged conversations and their content with Princess Diana's butler, Paul Burrell.

The photographs were taken at the scene of the 1997 crash which killed Princess Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and the driver Henri Paul, as part of the police investigation.

Some of these images could include pictures of Mr Fayed's bodyguard, Mr Rees - formerly known as Rees-Jones - from Oswestry, who was the sole survivor of the crash.

He suffered severe injuries to his face and chest.

Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, sitting for the final time as deputy coroner of the inquest yesterday, said requests for some of the photographs to be copied should be considered but the sensitive nature of the photographs needed to be the first priority.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, who is due to stand down from her position later this month, told the preliminary inquest hearing at London's Royal Courts of Justice, she had instructed officers leading the inquiry - Operation Paget - to show interested parties the photographs but she said she did not want them circulating around solicitor's offices.

Baroness Butler-Sloss said she would decide if the images were "relevant" and if so, would rule pictures including any of the four people - Princess Diana, Mr Fayed, Mr Paul or Mr Rees - should be "pixelated".

She said: "If any photo has any one of the four people in I shall have to look at them and ask Operation Paget if it can be pixelated easily."

Baroness Butler-Sloss added: "As long as they do not show what I think is unacceptable material, my view is that they should be copied."

By Kirsty Marston