The parents of Henri Paul, the chauffeur driving the car in which princess Diana was killed five years ago, are demanding a DNA test on a blood sample of their son taken on the night of the crash. The chauffeur was found to be drunk at the wheel when the accident, which also killed her companion Dodi Fayed, took place on August 31, 1997.
In what is understood to be their first interview, Henri’s parents told BBC Radio 4 they don’t believe the blood sample was their son’s. They are now taking legal action to force the French authorities to hand over the specimen in order that an independent test can be done.
Mr and Mrs Paul refuse to believe their son was intoxicated, and maintain the sample in question was taken from one of dozens of bodies held in the Paris morgue that night. “We want to know the truth,” says Giselle Paul. “We’re certain that our son was not a drunk.” The couple also claim that the high levels of carbon monoxide in the sample were sufficient to incapacitate someone, indicating that it could not have been his blood.
The French authorities have refused to release the sample.
Mr and Mrs Paul say they are “eaten up” by the uncertainty and accusations which surrounded their son, and that they will accept the results if an independent test proves the blood really was Henri’s.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker is supporting the couple’s request, saying that although the conspiracy theory is extremely unlikely, not having a an independent blood test done will “add to cover-up allegations”.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
