US Network Berated Over Diana Images

A US television network has drawn condemnation on both sides of Atlantic for its broadcast last night of images of Princess Diana as she lay dying in the wreckage of her car following the Paris crash in which she was killed nearly seven years ago.

The grainy black and white photocopies showed Diana being treated by a doctor as she lay slumped in the back of the vehicle.

The pictures, shown for 10 seconds, were obtained by the CBS 48 Hours Investigates programme and were part of a confidential 4,000-page accident report compiled by French investigators.

The broadcast attracted condemnation, though some commentators said that the images - which also show Diana with her eyes closed lying in the well of the crashed car - were not as upsetting as some had feared they might be.

The doctor seen in the pictures attending to Diana, Frederic Mailliez, told the programme: "As I approached the tunnel I saw smoke in the middle of the tunnel. I went to the wreckage to see what was going on inside."

Describing Diana's condition, he said: "I can tell you that her face was still beautiful. She didn't have any injuries on her face. She was unconscious. She didn't speak at all."

It was the first time that any of the photographs, which were taken moments after the crash, had been shown in public. The princess died in hospital from internal injuries hours after her vehicle drove at high speed into the 13th pillar of the tunnel at the Pont l'Alma on August 31 1997, while being followed by photographers.

Police confiscated the images from photographers at the scene.

The CBS network, anxious to outdo its commercial rival NBC, which last month broadcast tapes recorded by the princess about her married life and confrontation with her rival Camilla Parker Bowles in the early 1990s, claimed before the broadcast that the pictures were "tasteful".

After the broadcast, Clarence House declined to comment but the Tory party co-chairman, Liam Fox, said it was likely to have caused further distress to her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

"This is truly obscene, and displays journalism of the most base sort. It is appalling bad taste and can only bring distress to those who were close to the late princess," Dr Fox said.

"Any UK broadcaster or newspaper who uses the pretext of news to reproduce these photographs would be guilty of the most grotesque and offensive behaviour."

The princess died with her companion, Dodi Fayed, the son of Harrod's boss Mohamed Al Fayed, who today also condemned CBS.

"This was a crime - the murder of two innocent people. CBS obviously don't care about the appalling effect of showing images of murder victims. They simply want to cash in on the tragedy," he said.

"It is disgraceful and insensitive of them to do this. It is devastating for me and for Prince William and Prince Harry."

Mr Fayed maintains that Diana and his son were murdered with the involvement of British intelligence agents. He has also staged a lengthy legal battle against paparazzi photographers who were following Diana and Dodi on the night of their deaths for invasion of privacy.

Diana's former protection officer, Ken Wharfe, and her chief of staff, Patrick Jephson, were also interviewed on the CBS show. They told of their efforts to hide Diana's marriage difficulties, and spoke of how she conducted her extra-marital affairs.

The report by French investigators appeared to dispel many of the conspiracy theories about the death of the world's most photographed woman. It concluded that her chauffeur, Henri Paul, was over the legal alcohol limit to drive and had taken a number of prescription drugs.

The report included results of Paul's post-mortem examination and an analysis of the car, and found that the crash had been an accident. But it also revealed that Paul had received tens of thousands of pounds in unexplained payments in the nine months before the accident.

Despite a search of his home and office, and the questioning of his friends and associates, the French investigators were unable to find the source of the payments.

An investigation by Sir John Stevens, head of the Metropolitan police, is being conducted for an inquest hearing later this year.