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--THE CHANGING OF THE GUARDS On April 20, Trevor Rees-Jones quit his $37,000-a-year job with Mohammed al Fayed's security force, saying he had to "move forward" with his life. Fellow bodyguard Alexander ("Kes") Wingfield followed suit in June. Since then, the two bodyguards and their lawyers have adopted a more aggressive stance toward the Ritz-Fayed side, giving the impression that Rees-Jones, a civil plaintiff in the investigation, may be preparing a damage suit against al Fayed's hotel.
On June 30, Rees-Jones' lawyer Christian Curtil wrote to Stephan asking him to re-examine the Ritz's responsibility in the accident, specifically requesting new interrogations of senior hotel officials and a manager of Etoile Limousine. The lawyer's move could lead the judge to widen the probe and put Ritz and Etoile officials under formal criminal investigation along with the paparazzi. Though Rees-Jones' amnesia makes it difficult for him to testify, he has a powerful ally in Wingfield. On July 3, at his own initiative, Wingfield met with Stephan and delivered a potentially incriminating account of the role of al Fayed's organization. Though he made no mention of this in his initial testimony of Sept. 2, 1997, Wingfield now claims that he considered the security arrangements inadequate that night and requested six additional bodyguards from al Fayed's headquarters. Wingfield says the request was ignored, but senior al Fayed security officials deny that he ever raised the issue with them.
The bodyguard further claims that he protested against the single-car, rear-door getaway scheme but that Dodi had told him, "I just spoke to my father on the phone. He approved the plan." Wingfield also told the judge that he had quit because Mohammed al Fayed was pressing him to support his conspiracy theories. Al Fayed has turned angrily against the two men, whom he now blames for losing his son and Diana. "I am not on good terms with them," he told TIME. "I didn't want them to leave, because the investigation is still running and I need them. But they are the people who caused the devastation and the accident through their incompetence and unprofessional practices. They had rules, and they moved away from the rules. They let me down."
Al Fayed lawyers say the two men erred by not insisting on a backup car, by allowing Paul to take an indirect route down a dangerous stretch of road, and in Rees-Jones' case, by putting on his own seat belt without insisting that the others do the same. Should one or both bodyguards decide to take legal action against the Fayed camp, they can expect to face some severe countercharges.
--THE FIAT UNO Investigators have no doubt that a white Fiat Uno collided with the Mercedes near the tunnel entrance and thus played a role in the accident. Despite an intensive 10-month search for the Fiat, however, they have basically given up hope of finding it. The failure to identify the now legendary "second car" makes it impossible for investigators to establish its precise role--or definitively rule out the possibility that its driver was a photographer.