Diana driver signalled to paparazzi

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, 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."