Paparazzo who 'shot' dying Diana 'was just doing job'

A paparazzo who took photographs while Diana, Princess of Wales lay dying in a car wreck told police: “I was doing my job.”

Fifteen photographers were arrested, including seven at the scene of the crash in the Alma Tunnel in Paris in August 1997.

Some of them took shots from less than two metres away with the dead and seriously injured clearly visible inside the mangled Mercedes, the inquest heard.

They took photographs as members of the public tried to help, when the rescue services were on the scene and as the bodies were removed but the photographers did not call for help, the jury heard.

Asked if he or any other photographer had tried to help, paparazzo Christian Martinez told police: “No, nor did any other photographer do so either. How could we have done so, it would have been the height of arrogance to go and render first aide to people we had been following a few minutes earlier.

“I was dumbstruck by the relationship between myself and the people in that car.”

But many members of the public also just stood there, amid the commotion, and just watched, he claimed.

Mr Martinez said: “I would add that there were loads of people after I arrived doing nothing who were behaving in a holier than thou fashion and censuring me.

“There were possibly 20 to 25 people there within ten minutes.

“When the emergency services arrived there were only ten photographers and there were considerably more members of the public.

“What more did those people do than us?

“We were going about our work. Why did those people stay there and not leave or do something constructive instead of criticising us?”

As the onlookers commented, Mr Martinez told them that plenty of people are killed each day in places like Bosnia and none of them gets any attention.

Diana, her lover Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul died while bodyguard Trevor Rees, the only survivor, suffered near-fatal injuries.

Police statements from several paparazzi who were on the scene that night are being read to the jury as they refuse to appear, either by videolink from Paris or in person at the London inquest.

In their statements some of the photographers said they had been told a member of the public had called the emergency services.

Others claimed they had been told never to move a crash victim in case of doing more damage, while others said they thought that a member of the public had called the emergency services, the court heard.

Describing the atmosphere that night photographer Serge Benhamou said: “The photographers were more persistent and more aggressive than usual.

“The fact that it was Diana made people more tense than usual.”

Photographers had staked out the couple from the al Fayed Paris apartment to the Ritz Hotel and from there to the final fatal journey.

The paparazzi had swarmed around the Mercedes as it left the back of the Ritz Hotel in part of a decoy plan to try and trick the press.

The decoy Mercedes and Range Rover left the rear of the hotel between five and six minutes after the Mercedes which crashed.

Mr Benhamou recalled the only raised voices he heard in the underpass were from members of the public who were criticising the paparazzi – “but some of them were also taking photos”, he noted.

He said he did not see any photographer “giving assistance of any kind” to the people in the crashed Mercedes.

Mr Martinez, who was travelling with colleague Serge Arnal, plus paparazzi Romuald Rat and Stephane Darmon appear to be among the first identified press at the crash site. They claim the Mercedes sped away along the journey and they caught up with it in the tunnel.

But other photographers soon arrived, the court heard.

After being shown some of his images, Mr Martinez told police: “It is blatantly obvious that I was try to take photographs of Diana in those pictures.

“I think I zoomed in.

“They were taken in rapid succession. I was possibly 1.5 metres to two metres away.

“I remember taking a rapid sequence of photographs when Mr Fayeds’ body was removed.”

Mr Martinez said Mr Rat was “in a state of shock” and telling people to only take pictures of the car.

Mr Benhamou said: “Rat was panic-stricken. He realised that it was serious. I think he actually spoke to the police about it.”

He also recalled that photographer Jacques Langevin did not understand anything, he “seemed very shocked” and at first did not seem to realise that Diana was involved.