Paparazzo Romuald Rat claimed the Mercedes carrying Diana, "took off, like shot off", once it hit the Champs Elysee in a bid to lose the chasing pack of paparazzi.

Minutes later in the early hours of 31 August 1997, the car crashed in the Alma Tunnel in Paris, killing Diana, her lover Dodi Fayed and Mr Paul, the head of security at the Paris Ritz Hotel.

In a police statement Mr Rat, who had been following Diana all day and taking shots, said: "I did not understand why the Mercedes suddenly drove so quickly since every had gone so well during the day and a normal chauffeur knows that is not the way that you shake someone off. He took too many risks."

Police statements from several paparazzi who were on the scene that night are being read to the jury as they refuse to appear, either by videolink from Paris or in person at the London inquest.

Mr Paul had repeatedly came out of the back of the Ritz, before the couple departed, to talk to the photographers and "broadly speaking he was mocking us", Mr Rat claimed.

At one point Mr Rat recalls that one of the photographers had claimed that Mr Paul, who was later found to be over the drink-drive limit, said: "I think he has been drinking."

Robert Weekes, for Henri Paul's parents, noted: "There is no suggestion that Mr Paul's voice was slurred, that he was unsteady on his feet or that his eyes were glazed. On the basis of Mr Rat's statement you would not be able to conclude that Henri Paul was drunk."

Mr Rat was among seven photographers arrested at the scene of the crash. He admits to being a "leading pursuer" as the couple left the Ritz Hotel and probably one of the first on the scene.

But several inconsistencies, including a "down right lie" are obvious from his statements, according to Tom de la Mare, for the Ritz Hotel.