Lord Condon, Britain's chief police officer when she died, said he had begged her to reinstate her protection.

But despite numerous meetings she had refused to change her mind.

He said: "If, as my wish, she would've had police protection in Paris, I'm absolutely convinced those three lives would not have been tragically lost."

"Her problem with protection was, sadly, that she did not have police protection. I wish she had," he added.

The princess had first indicated she wanted to have her protection removed, in December 1993, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner said.

A series of meetings had then taken place, up to January 1994, the court heard.

Lord Condon added he had attended a "critical" meeting on 14 December 1993, in which he had said he was "really concerned" the security was going to be removed.

The peer was himself involved in a serious accident the following day and then remained unavailable for about three and a half to four weeks.

He said: "I have often thought back, if that had not been the sequence of events I might have demanded face-to-face meetings with her. But I honestly don't think it would have changed her mind."

Princess Diana died after the car she was in crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris in 1997.

(BBC)

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