Police look for new Di clues
2005-02-16 20:14
London - British police searched for fresh clues on Wednesday into the death of Princess Diana as they created a new, improved reconstruction of the 1997 car crash in a Paris tunnel.
Overnight on Tuesday, British and French police closed the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel, where the tragedy unfolded, while photographers and surveyors used cutting-edge laser equipment to film the scene.
The footage will be converted into a three-dimensional computer model of the crash to be used in inquests into Diana's death as well as her partner Dodi Fayed, who also perished along with their driver Henri Paul.
"The images and photos have been completed," said a police spokesperson at Scotland Yard.
"They will be brought back here to be put together."
The model, which used the latest technology that was unavailable at the time of the crash, will help to give investigators a clearer picture of what happened on August 31, when the princess was driven to her death in a speeding Mercedes after leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
Conspiracy theories
The only person to survive was her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones who was severely injured and has no memory of the event, which sparked a wave of conspiracy theories about whether or not it was an accident.
The inquest into Diana's death has been suspended while the British police conduct their inquiry, which was launched last year and is expected to last several more months.
"We want to make sure it is as thorough as possible," the spokesperson said, explaining why the police had not set a deadline to conclude their work.
An official French report into the drama concluded that it had been the result of the driver who they said had been drunk, was driving too fast and was not qualified to be behind the wheel of the powerful armoured limousine.
However, Fayed's father, the Egyptian tycoon and Harrods-owner Mohamed Fayed, has insisted the death was the work of the British intelligence services worried about the princess's relationship with his son, a Muslim.
The driver's parents also dispute the notion that Paul had been drunk. There are claims that a sample of his blood had been switched before it was tested by experts.
As part of the exhaustive British inquiry, the wreckage of the car that the victims had been using is expected to be transported to Britain from a forensic laboratory near to Paris where it was taken after the crash.