(2 Sep 1997) Eng/French/Nat
The police investigation into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales is now focused on the behaviour of the driver of the car she was travelling in the hours leading up to the fatal crash.
French prosecutors said the chauffeur, Henri Paul, had far too much alcohol in his blood to legally drive.
The French Le Monde newspaper is reporting his blood-alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit.
It's left Henri Paul's family, and his neighbours in a state of shock.
Residents of the town of Lorient in northwest France are in shock about the involvement of local man, Henri Paul, in the car crash that killed Princess Diana and her companion.
Henri Paul, who authorities say was at least three times over the French drink driving limit, also died in the crash.
His parents were not available for comment on Tuesday - they were in Paris to pick up their son's body.
Their doors were firmly closed - the street, also closed and quiet.
Locals seem reluctant to speak about the man who, having left home about 20 years ago, still visits the town on an almost weekly basis.
But the local newspaper, L'Ouest France, featured an article of the local man who has rapidly ascended to the limelight.
But the headlines of Britain's numerous daily newspapers on Tuesday morning were loud and unforgiving - largely laying the blame for the Princess' death, and those of two others in the car, on Henri Paul.
Some claimed Paul taunted pursuing photographers and possibly pushing his Mercedes over 121 miles per hour (196 kilometres) as he tried to weave around traffic.
Michael Cole, a spokesman for the Fayed family, strongly condemned drink driving but still said the pursuing paparazzi was to blame for the accident.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I condemn - absolutely - in the strongest terms - drink driving. I haven't come here to excuse the inexcusable, but when I told Mr Al-Fayed about the accident, before we knew if Dodi was dead and the Princess was fatally injured, he said this wouldn't have happened but for these photographers - it that's the word for them - photographers."
SUPER CAPTION: Michael Cole, spokesman for the Al-Fayed family
Reports in Tuesday's Le Monde that Paul may have been even more drunk than first believed appeared to bolster the likelihood that a deadly combination of factors was at play on the fatal night.
Le Monde reported a second police toxicology analysis came up with a level of 1.87 grams of alcohol per litre of blood - even higher than the initial 1.75 figure, which is the equivalent of drinking nine shots of whiskey in rapid succession.
Paul, a former French Air Force pilot, was not Fayed's regular driver, who had left earlier in another vehicle as a decoy to throw photographers off the trail.
The 41-year-old bachelor had been off-duty and was called from home to take the regular driver's place.
His neighbours in this quiet Paris suburb were also in shock on Wednesday.
The bachelor's flat was quiet and locked.
His neighbours had conflicting opinions of Henri Paul.
SOUNDBITE: (French)
"He's not used to driving, he doesn't have a car, and he drinks and the day before yesterday he was all congested the last time I saw him, Sunday... or Saturday, he was all red, he was good and red."
SUPER CAPTION: Henri Paul's neighbour
SOUNDBITE: (French)
"He seemed very correct, very polite, always nice, that's all I can say."
SUPER CAPTION: Henri Paul's neighbour
Henri Paul's body was being stored on Wednesday in this Paris morgue, awaiting transportation now that all the official tests appear to be over.
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