'Overzealous steering led to crash'

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Accident expert Tony Read, the senior British collision investigator in the case, said evidence showed that the Princess' Mercedes clipped the rear of the Fiat entering the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel in Paris in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

But he said that it was Henri Paul's "overzealous" steering rather than the "glancing" contact itself which appeared to have led to the fatal crash.

Showing diagrams of tyre tracks recorded at the scene, he said the Mercedes had gone left, then right, then left again before crashing into the 13th pillar of the tunnel at 60-70 miles per hour.

Debris suggests that the Mercedes clipped the rear of the Fiat about 10 metres outside the entrance to the tunnel - rather than inside, he said.

"It was the presence of the Fiat that required Henri Paul to steer left," he told the court.

"It was probably as a result of an over-reaction, maybe a slightly overzealous application of the left steer that meant that he had to steer to the right in order to avoid the central reservation.

"That in turn meant he had to steer left to avoid a collision with the tunnel wall and that in turn meant that he was unable to control the vehicle and collided with pillar 13."