BRITAIN: Diana's driver gave signal to paparazzi; Inquest told of the final moments.

Byline: By LAURA ELSTON

THE Princess of Wales's driver Henri Paul signalled to paparazzi he was supposed to be evading moments before setting off on the fateful journey that ended in her death, video footage revealed last night.

Mr Paul, the acting head of security at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, also repeatedly spoke to photographers waiting for the Princess, her inquest was told.

Extensive CCTV images shown to the jury also captured the final tender moments between Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed prior to the car ride which claimed their lives.

The clips, shown in full for the first time yesterday, revealed how the Princess snuggled in Dodi's arms in the far-from-grand surroundings of the rear service exit of the hotel.

Henri Paul was at the centre of a complex decoy plan to escape a crowd of photographers waiting for the couple on the night of August 30 to 31 1997.

Up until almost the last minute, the scheme appeared to have worked - with paparazzi thronging around the main entrance while the couple awaited a car to take them away at the back.

But film from the Ritz's CCTV cameras showed how a handful of paparazzi appeared in the side street moments before the couple's car arrived to take them away.

Mr Paul is seen clearly waving at one of them, Jacques Langevin, allowing him to align his shot for when the couple leave.

By the time the car makes off with Henri Paul at the wheel, a handful of photographers are already there, some of whom pursued the Mercedes.

Just minutes later it crashed in Paris's Pont de l'Alma tunnel, killing Diana, Dodi and Mr Paul himself.

Inspector Paul Carpenter of the Metropolitan Police, who showed the video footage, explained Mr Paul's actions: "While you watch this sequence, you will see him raise his hand, as if waving to the paparazzi across the road.

"If you look at the paparazzi across the road, you will see one of them raise his camera and that is Jacques Langevin. What he is doing is he is focusing on the doorway and that is why Henri Paul waves."

It was not his first direct contact with the paparazzi that night.

During the two hours before Diana and Dodi left the hotel, Mr Paul made five separate visits out to the front, to Place Vendome, where the paparazzi were gathering.

Three times, he was shown appearing to talk to the photographers, the jury heard.

He was spotted smoking cigarillos on numerous occasions, with the puffs of smoke seen wafting up into the air.

Between his visits outside, Mr Paul had several conversations with night security manager Francois Tendil, night duty manager Thierry Rocher and bodyguards Mr Rees and Kes Wingfield as the doomed journey was planned.

Meanwhile Diana and Dodi were dining in the hotel's Imperial Suite.

The CCTV shows how they eventually emerged at six minutes past midnight to be escorted to the back door.

The footage captures the final happy moments of the Princess's life, before she and Dodi run for the car at 16 minutes and 57 seconds past midnight.

The inquest was adjourned to Monday, when it will reassemble in Paris to visit the crash site and other locations.

CAPTION(S):

CCTV footage showing Diana, Princess of Wales with Dodi Fayed inside the Ritz Hotel. Inset, Henri Paul arriving at The Ritz hotel in Paris before Diana and Dodi Fayed left on the night they all died in a car crash in the city