Channel 4 to broadcast Diana crash photos

Channel 4 has insisted that it will broadcast photos of the car crash in which Princess Diana died, in spite of a plea from her sons.

The private secretary to Prince William and Prince Harry wrote to the channel saying that the Princes felt that showing the graphic images of the crash would be a "gross disrespect" to their mother's memory.

The pictures are due to be shown in the documentary 'Diana: The Witnesses In The Tunnel', which will be broadcast on Wednesday night.

The letter, written by Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, asked Channel 4 to remove several images from the documentary, including a number of images of the crashed car in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris and one which showed the Princess being given emergency treatment by a medic in an ambulance.

The letter, which was sent on June 1, requested a response from Channel 4 by June 4.

A statement issued on Tuesday by Clarence House said: "As of this morning, Clarence House had not received a reply from Channel 4. In publishing the letter, the Princes reluctantly feel that they have been left no choice but to make it clear publicly that they believe the broadcast of these photographs to be wholly inappropriate, deeply distressing to them and to the relatives of the others who died that night, and a gross disrespect to their mother's memory."

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said that they believed that there was a "genuine public interest" in the crash, while company chief Julian Bellamy stressed that no images of the victims of the crash were shown in the footage.

Princess Diana, 36, died when the Mercedes she was travelling in crashed in the Pont De l'Alma tunnel in Paris in August 1997.

Dodi Al Fayed, 42 and driver Henri Paul were also killed in the crash. They had been driving away from pursuing paparazzi after leaving the Ritz Hotel.

(KMcA/SP)