Paparazzo refuses to appear at Diana’s inquest

PHOTOGRAPHER Romuald Rat yesterday refused to appear before the inquest of Diana, Princess of Wales, branding claims made against him there “a lie”.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker told the jury on Monday that Mr Rat had received a summons from French officials to give evidence by video link from Paris but had given no indication he would agree.

As the court assembled yesterday morning, the coroner confirmed Mr Rat had since been in contact to say he was not prepared to give evidence “either today or any day”.

The inquest has heard claims that, rather than stopping to help the princess at the scene of her fatal car crash in Paris, Mr Rat telephoned from the tunnel offering exclusive pictures of Diana in the wreck of her Mercedes for £300,000.

But in an email to author Martyn Gregory, Mr Rat described the allegations as “defamatory”.

He highlighted how the French court of appeal had found seven years ago he had indeed stopped to help.

“This allegation is a total lie and defamatory and I will be very attentive in respect of my honour,” he wrote to Mr Gregory, author of the book Diana: The Last Days.

The allegation came in an interview given by Kenneth Lennox, the former picture editor of The Sun, to the makers of a Channel 4 documentary.

Mr Lennox said he was woken by a phone call on the night of the crash offering him pictures of Diana in the car for £300,000 and identified the caller as Romuald Rat.

But giving evidence in person yesterday, Mr Lennox said he accepted it could not have been Mr Rat as he had already been arrested by French police at the time of the call.

The refusal of the paparazzi who pursued Diana on the night of her death to attend to give evidence has created a legal headache for the coroner over how to deal with their crucial claims.

On Monday he lost an appeal against an earlier High Court ruling he could simply have the photographers’ statements to police read to the jury without calling a witness.

Lawyers for the family of Henri Paul, the driver on the ill-fated journey, objected that doing so would deny them the chance to challenge the paparazzi claims.

The coroner announced to the jury: “The short answer is no Mr Rat.

“At a late stage yesterday information was given in writing, but too late to do anything in court, that he was not prepared to give evidence by video link or at all.”

The allegation Mr Rat made the call was aired when a transcript from Channel 4 was read: “He would get the photographs over to my electronic picture desk right now. I did not waste time, I had to see these pictures, but in principle I said yes to buying them.”