Ritz manager: Diana driver was drinking

LONDON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A night manager at the Ritz Hotel in Paris testified in London Tuesday that Dodi Fayed came up with a plan to get Princess Diana away from press photographers.

Thierry Rocher also told an inquest he did not stop Henri Paul, behind the wheel during the crash that killed the princess, from drinking. He said he did not say anything to Paul because of his "direct relationship with the Fayed family," The Daily Mail reported. Mohammed al-Fayed, Dodi's father, owned the hotel.

Dodi Fayed and Paul, the deputy head of security at the Ritz, were also killed in the crash in August 1997.

Wanting to shake off the paparazzi, Dodi Fayed decided to put a limousine with a chauffeur at the front entrance while he and Diana left through the rear, with Paul driving them in a Mercedes. Dodi Fayed was "nervous and irritable" about the photographers, Rocher said.

Mohammed al-Fayed insists that the crash was engineered by British intelligence. A French investigation blamed Paul, finding that he was drunk.