RUSHES: Operation Paget inquiry: Lord Stevens press conference / full transcript

Operation Paget inquiry: Lord Stevens press conference / full transcript; - The Princess of Wales was not with him at that time and we believe she never saw that ring / I do not know whether Dodi was going to ask her to marry him that night / I cannot say what the Princess of Wales’ response would have been / However, we have spoken to many of her family and closest friends and none of them has indicated to us that she was either about to or wished to get engaged / Her last conversations with friends and confidantes were to the contrary / Prince William has confirmed to me that his mother had not given him the slightest indication about such plans for the future - At around 10.20pm Dodi Al Fayed passed a message to Henri Paul through the night duty manager / Another car would now be required to take the couple back to his apartment in rue Arsène Houssaye / This car was to depart from the rear of the Ritz Hotel / The car, the driver and the point of departure all therefore changed within a very short space of time - This left no opportunity, in my opinion, for anyone to put into action any plan, particularly one that would have required so much preparation and so many people to effect it / At around 12.20am on Sunday 31 August 1997 the Princess of Wales, Dodi Al Fayed and Trevor Rees-Jones left the Ritz Hotel in a Mercedes driven by Henri Paul / As we now know Dodi’s chauffeur driven car and backup vehicle were to depart from the front of the hotel shortly afterwards - The French investigation traced and identified many eyewitnesses, including drivers and their vehicles / There may be other eyewitnesses who have not come forward but I am confident that on the evidence, we have a full and comprehensive picture of events can be constructed - We know that the car travelled at excessive speed during the final part of the journey while against being followed by the paparazzi / We know the route it took / We can say with certainty that the car hit the kerb j...