Conspiracy or cock-up?
Sir: Mr Frederick Forsyth, who writes books in which the conspiracy • theorist is always right, accuses me of being a conspir- acy theorist in relation to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales (Letters, 13 June). I am not, in this or any other matter, a conspiracy theorist. I am a cock-up theorist. What angers Mr Forsyth is that in my arti- cle I drew attention to the hitherto ignored fact that the driver Henri Paul had an extremely high level of carbon monoxide in his blood when he died — a level normally found in survivors of serious house fires or serious suicide attempts.
Mr Forsyth says that such a level (20.7 per cent carboxyhaemoglobin saturation) is easi- ly explained. M. Paul must have taken 'one or two last faltering breaths before dying' and inhaled smoke from the crashed car. Mr Forsyth is wrong. First, M. Paul died instant- ly from a broken neck. Second, even if he had not, one or two breaths would not explain such a high level, as any forensic pathologist could have told Mr Forsyth if he had bothered to telephone one. On this basis I proceeded to hypothesise as to how M. Paul might have inhaled the carbon monoxide. If he had not been trying to commit suicide or been involved in a house fire, where did he get gassed? Did the hospital make a mistake when it tested his blood? Was the wrong blood tested? If so, M. Paul might not even have been drunk. Le cock-up, I wrote, or le complot? I do not know. But what I do know is that the question is certainly worth asking and cer- tainly worth trying to answer. Mr Forsyth accuses me of being a fantasist. Isn't that how he makes his living?
Nicholas Farrell
Hotel Florus, Paris
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