Ritz manager let Diana driver keep drinking because 'he had direct relationship with Fayeds'

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Thierry Rocher, night manager of the Ritz Hotel, Paris, revealed that Dodi Fayed had personally devised the doomed plan to sneak the Princess out of a side door away from the paparazzi.

This led to Mr Paul being behind the wheel even though he was only the hotel's deputy head of security and not a professional chauffeur.

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Plan: Dodi, with Diana in a Ritz lift before fatefully leaving, 'devised the backdoor exit scheme'

But details of the scheme were blurted out by Kes Wingfield, one of Dodi's British bodyguards, in front of a crowd of photographers, the court heard.

Henri Paul: 'Drinking while on duty'

Mr Rocher said it was clear Mr Paul had been drinking while on duty on the night of the crash that killed him, Dodi and the Princess in August 1997.

Receiving the message from Dodi about the car plan, Mr Paul insisted on finishing his drink — a Ricard spirit.

Yet Mr Rocher kept silent, because, he told the court, he believed it was not his place to comment due to Mr Paul's "direct relationship with the Fayed family".

The court heard that Diana and Dodi had been pursued by a growing pack of paparazzi since their arrival in Paris after a holiday in the Mediterranean.

The couple visited the hotel, owned by Dodi's father Mohamed Fayed, in the afternoon and returned just before 10pm after cancelling a restaurant booking.

Mr Rocher said Dodi was "nervous and irritated" and angry about the "mess" with the paparazzi outside the hotel when they arrived.

The court heard that the decoy plan was hatched to fool the photographers and enable the couple to escape unmolested after they had dined.

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Last moments: The Mercedes, driven by Henri Paul, draws away from the Ritz

A chauffeur-driven limousine and a Range Rover were to wait at the main entrance on the Place Vendome while a third car — to be driven by Mr Paul — would whisk them away in a Mercedes by the back door on the Rue Cambon.

The court has heard that a handful of paparazzi worked out what was happening and pursued the couple as they left soon after midnight.

Minutes later the Mercedes crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel. The hearing continues.