DIANA DRIVER HENRI PAUL'S MOTHER SAYS SHE KNOWS "HE WAS NOT DRUNK!"

Henri Paul's deeply upset elderly mother insists her son was not a drunk and branded the inquest's verdict "not the truth!". It is a view echoed by tens of millions of people across the world.

Gisele Paul, who is in her mid-70s, said: "I had hoped that the jury would see reason but I am really not surprised that they have condemned Henri as the other two inquiries did. They should have taken into consideration the statements and the evidence that showed the tests carried out on Henri's blood were flawed and should have been dismissed as 'evidence'. My son was not an alcoholic and he was not drunk at the wheel of the Mercedes. The verdict of the jury is not the truth."

Mrs Paul demanded: "How could my son have driven the Mercedes with 1.8grammes of alcohol and 20 per cent carbon monoxide in his blood? It's ridiculous. The jury saw footage of him at the Ritz on the night of the accident. He bent down to tie his shoelace and spoke to the princess and his boss's son. He was doing his job competently and he was not drunk. Anyone could see that."

Gisele Paul and her husband Jean have always maintained that the blood sample which showed Henri to be three times over the limit and contained a massive level of carbon monoxide did not come from their son or was "cooked" to achieve false high readings, a fact confirmed by Professor Atholl Johnson at the quasi-inquest.

Mr Paul said the inquest was "sewn up" by the time he and his wife gave their evidence. He added: "The general impression we got when we went to Paris to give evidence to the inquest by video link was that somehow the whole affair had already been sewn up." And when the 'verdict' was announced, protestors outside the court shouted "it's all an MI5 cover-up!" It is clear that the quasi-inquest has not budged public opinion one inch.

The jury verdict to which they were directed by Lord 'Justice' Scott-Baker from the opening day in a tirade of bias, came as a crushing blow to the Pauls' hopes that their son's name would be finally cleared of what they and their lawyer have called "an atrocious slur".

His parents claim they were told by Lord Stevens, who conducted the Paget 'investigation' into the crash, that their son was not drunk on the night he died. The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner told the inquest that he meant the driver was not - as had been reported earlier - "as drunk as a pig" but more correctly "under the influence of alcohol". But most people reject Lord Stevens 'report' as a complete whitewash.

Mohamed Al Fayed insists Mr Paul's blood tests were flawed, and Professor Forrest said that the Paris laboratory that did the tests committed such serious errors - including storing blood in an ice cream tub - that it would not have been allowed to operate in the UK. Mystery over the toxin levels found in the Paul's body also remains.

Blood samples showed such high levels of carbon monoxide that Mr Paul should have had severe headaches and nausea. Tests carried out hours after the crash showed the levels of carbon monoxide in Mr Paul's blood ranged between 12 and 21 per cent - a normal reading is around two and four per cent.

Yet hours before his death Mr Paul was seen on CCTV at the Ritz parking his car and walking around in apparent good health. Richard Keen QC, the barrister representing his parents, suggested the samples had been "spiked" in an attempt to "posthumously murder" the Frenchman's reputation and portray him as a drunk.

Professor Forrest admitted he could not find a logical explanation for the findings. "One is left with either analytical error or a mystery," he said. "It's either conspiracy or cock-up."