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IF THEY'D TAKEN MY ADVICE DIANA WOULD STILL BE ALIVE

Diana 'would still be alive'

Wednesday January 30,2008

By Richard Palmer, Royal Correspondant

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PRINCESS Diana would still be alive if Mohamed Al Fayed had provided her and his son Dodi with sufficient bodyguards, their inquest heard yesterday.

Kes Wingfield, one of two men employed to protect the couple, blamed their deaths on the Harrods owner and his executives for turning down repeated requests for extra back-up.

Mr Wingfield, who said he argued that eight bodyguards were needed, outlined a catalogue of security
failings in the run-up to the couple’s fatal crash in Paris in 1997.

The former Royal Marine said: “If we had been allowed to do our jobs properly, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”

He said he and the couple’s other bodyguard, Trevor Rees, were hampered by a lack of cooperation from Dodi and his father, culminating in the ill-fated plan to evade the paparazzi.

He told the inquest how Dodi overrode their objections, insisting: “It’s been okayed by my father.”

CCTV footage of Kes Wingfield (left) on the night of the crash

He told the jury: “Once Mr Fayed was mentioned in any capacity like that, argument was pointless.”

Mr Wingfield told how he and Mr Rees had argued against Dodi’s plan, relayed to them by Henri Paul, the Ritz Hotel security manager who drove the couple to their deaths.

At first, he said, Dodi wanted both bodyguards to take part in a decoy plan at the front of the hotel and leave him and Diana to travel with Mr Paul and no bodyguard. When they objected, a compromise was reached. Mr Rees would travel with them from the rear of the hotel and Mr Wingfield would go in the decoy.

If we had been allowed to do our jobs properly, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now

Kes Wingfield

The plan was the culmination of 10 days of tension, mistrust and a deteriorating relationship between Dodi and his bodyguards, the inquest heard.

Mr Wingfield told how Dodi’s unease about the paparazzi on the couple’s Mediterranean cruise meant he stopped confiding in his bodyguards and giving notice of their plans. He added: “I think he was getting paranoid and felt if he played everything close to his chest things would be more secure. As we know, that’s not the case.”

The bodyguard, who had worked for Mohamed Al Fayed for five years before the crash, told how he remonstrated with the Egyptian billionaire when he learned there would only be himself and Mr Rees on the cruise.

But Mr Al Fayed, he said, did not want the couple’s romance disturbed by large numbers of staff.

The exhausted minders found themselves working 18-hour shifts for 10 days. By the time Diana and Dodi reached Paris, they were left with no idea about their movements and were unable to provide adequate support.

But Mr Al Fayed’s lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, insisted that the Harrods boss and his head of security were never asked about extra help.

He portrayed the bodyguards as shoddy operators who neglected their duties. They had surrendered control of the couple’s security to Mr Paul, who arranged the doomed decoy plan.

He said neither bodyguard had reported the plan to Mr Al Fayed or his security staff, who would have countermanded it.

The inquest continues today.

LIARS

30.01.08, 2:21pm

So even these two bodyguards are liars are they.
It is always the same from Al Fayed blame everyone but his son and the real people responsible for their deaths.
1. Dodi and Dianne for not wearing seatbelts.
2. the Paparazzi for hounding them constantly and chasing them wherever they.

It is these reasons which killed them no other.
No matter what the verdict, which I believe will still come to the same conclusion that is was a matter of mistakes whiich led to the crash, I will not call it an accident as it was not. Al Fayed will not be satisfied.

• Posted by: KEEF • Report Comment

FAYED AND DIANA

30.01.08, 12:50pm

Make this billionaire pay all the fees in this Court case and his millionaire friend Michael Mansfield QC! Why would the bodyguards lie - they have nothing to gain - they are obviously telling the truth but I doubt they will be believed because of the status of Fayed and Mansfield. Let's hope the jury can see whose trying to get the glory from this case and throw it out as unproven that Diana was killed which, in my opinion, it is!! They have wasted too much of the taxpayers money already on this trumped up case.

• Posted by: Wooram • Report Comment