A Diana Crash Revelation

A former French marine was quoted on Sunday as saying his high-speed driving might have been a major factor in the car crash that killed Princess Diana and two others last year. François Levistre, 54, told Britain's Sunday People newspaper (no relation to PEOPLE magazine): "Thinking about it carefully, I now understand how I could have helped cause the crash. I was close behind the car, as much as 10 meters, and my driving may have caused it to swerve and lose control." Levistre, a truck driver by profession, said that last Aug. 31 he was speeding in a dark gray Ford Ka through the Paris underpass where the princess's car crashed. His comments came in an interview with investigators working for journalist Nicholas Farrell, who is writing a book on the crash, the paper said. But Farrell said: "In no way can it be suggested that Levistre was responsible totally for the crash... He was simply the catalyst to a terrible sequence of events."

In related news, Trevor Rees-Jones, the sole survivor of last Aug. 31's car crash, today appealed for privacy for all the families involved "to let us mark this tragic anniversary in our own way." Rees-Jones taped a statement for APTV, the Associated Press's international video news agency, saying he would make no further public comments until the conclusion of a judicial inquiry into the crash in Paris.