On Diana-hopefully for the last time

Perhaps yesterdays inquest ruling can finally put to bed newspaper speculation about the deaths of Dodi and Diana in Paris nearly 11 years ago.

For one paper in particular this has been an odyssey of many headlines and stories but the front page of the Express this morning does seem to vidicate the verdicts ofthe 11 members of the jury.....????

PRINCESS Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed were unlawfully killed by the criminally negligent driving of Henri Paul and pursuing paparazzi.
In a sensational inquest verdict yesterday, the jury found that both drunken Mr Paul and the photographers drove so fast and dangerously that the couple’s deaths were the equivalent of manslaughter.

Soemthing that perhaps we knew from the start???

Roy Greenslade makes the point that

The Princess Diana verdict of unlawful killing is unexpected - but it does vindicate those of us who have said consistently that the main reason for the odd sequence of events that night stemmed from her concern about the photographers waiting outside the Ritz hotel in Paris.

And I agree totally with his sentiments

In every way, their deaths were pointless. The world's press already had thousands of pictures, many of them showing the couple together. Their relationship was hardly a secret. No-one really needed to see more. Yet, for their part, Diana and Dodi need not have run away.

As I do with the Telegraph's leader this morning ,Diana inquest: Tragic waste of time and money

Now, more than a decade after the crash, the inquest has returned a verdict of unlawful killing due to the gross negligence both of Mr Paul and the paparazzi who were pursuing the Mercedes. Mr Fayed has nowhere else to go. It is tempting to suggest that he should now be required to pay the £10 million costs to the taxpayer of the inquest and of Lord Stevens's separate inquiry that also concluded the crash had been an accident.