Paris - The car which crashed killing Diana, Princess of Wales, had no mechanical faults and clipped another vehicle before swerving into a concrete pillar in Paris, a French police report said yesterday.
The technical findings are bound to reinforce a final crash inquiry ruling due next January that the tragedy was caused by drink and speed.
The police report, after more than a year studying the wrecked Mercedes, was handed to inquiry Judge Herve Stephan yesterday. It includes findings of crash tests and tests using a computer. It is believed to be the last piece in the inquiry jigsaw before the judge is ready with his long-awaited verdict. But it will still be another two months at least before that is published.
Yesterday's report says the Mercedes was travelling at about 62 m.p.h. when it crashed in an underpass on the banks of the Seine. This is twice the legal speed limit but not as excessive as originally claimed. The car had also brushed against another car - a Fiat Uno - before it swerved and hit a concrete pillar in the central reservation of the underpass.