ALCOHOL may have been planted in Henri Paul’s flat to ensure it was believed that he was drunk when the Mercedes he was driving crashed, killing him, Dodi and Diana, the inquests heard yesterday.
Henri Paul inside the Ritz hotel
The sensational suggestion was made as it emerged that in two searches of Henri Paul’s empty flat after the crash, there was a significant difference in the amount of drink present.
The jury heard that a first search was carried out in his flat on September 3 1997 – four days after the fatal crash in Paris – and a quantity of alcohol was found.
Yet during the second search by French police six days later, more alcohol was found in the flat just minutes from the Ritz where Paul worked as acting head of security, the jury was told.
Lord Justice Scott Baker told the hearing: “More alcohol was recorded as discovered on the second search than on the first. There is no obvious explanation for this. You must consider whether there are any sinister implications.”
It has been “publicly and erroneously put about” that Paul was unfit to drive through drink and drugs on the night to cover the real cause of the crash, the jury was told.
Lord Justice Scott Baker told the jury: “You will hear evidence about the results of the tests carried out from samples said to have been taken from Henri Paul’s body after his death, which certainly suggested he would have been just over twice the limit for alcohol in the blood that is allowed in this country.”
Paul had drunk some alcohol on the night of August 30 and was said by friends to drink on occassions but had never showed signs of being drunk.
He had ordered two Ricards – an aniseed spirit – at the bar in the Ritz Hotel after returning to work after 10pm that night. Bar bills suggest he ordered the two drinks, although Diana and Dodi’s bodyguards, who were with him at the time, said later that they did not remember him doing so.
Lord Justice Scott Baker told the jury there was “no doubt” that Paul had been prescribed a variety of medications shortly before his death, including Aotal, or Acamprosate, which causes a dislike of alcohol, because he had been “worried” about his drinking, and Prozac – an anti-depressent.
But the coroner said: “Responses to drugs and alcohol are, of course, very personal to the individual. Not everyone will experience or exhibit the same effects.”
He added: “You will have to consider the evidence about alcohol and drugs and whether individually, or in combination, they played any part in the way the Mercedes was being driven or why the driver lost control.”
Yet no witnesses in the hotel who saw Paul said they thought he had been drinking. Lord Justice Scott Baker said: “You may think that if it had been noticeable, no one would have wanted to be driven in the car by him.
“Furthermore, all his passengers spent some time with him before they set off.” CCTV also shows him walking down some stairs, bending down and balancing while trying to tie his shoelaces, the jury was told.
Read More – ‘No evidence to suggest Henri Paul was drunk’ [Article from 04/10/07]
