Forensic pathologist who worked on Princess Diana’s inquest says ‘one click would have saved her life’

The UK's most experienced forensic pathologist, who worked on Princess Diana's inquest, has revealed that one small action would have saved her life.

Dr. Richard Shepherd is known for performing high-profile autopsies and has worked on notable investigations, including the death of Stephen Lawrence, as well as victims of 9/11 and 7/7, the sinking of the Marchioness, and the Hungerford massacre, just to name a few.

The expert, whose new series Body In The Water premiered this week, has performed more than 23,000 post-mortems and has even overcome post-traumatic stress disorder, which was triggered by the devastating Bali Bombings in 2002.

However, the case Dr. Shepherd gets asked the most about, understandably, is the death of Princess Diana in August 1997.

For those unfamiliar, Diana, the Princess of Wales, was just 36 years old when she died following a car accident in Paris, France.

The royal was travelling through the Place de l'Alma underpass in central Paris in the back of a Mercedes-Benz S280 with Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed.

The forensic pathologist who worked on Princess Diana's inquest has revealed the one action that could have saved her (Tim Graham/Getty Images)

The duo were being driven in the armoured vehicle by Henri Paul, who was later found to have been intoxicated by alcohol and under the effects of prescription drugs while behind the wheel, and were also joined by Dodi’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones.

Diana was initially conscious and talking after the crash, but she soon fell into cardiac arrest and during surgery, medical staff were able to identify that the problem was a small tear to a vital vein - a pulmonary vein.

Aside from this, she only suffered just a few broken bones and a small chest injury. Although it was a small injury, it was in the wrong place - and it was so rare that he'd never seen it before in his career.

As a top pathologist, Dr. Shepherd was asked to review the autopsy and give evidence at the inquiry, something he described as being 'like standing in the middle of a thunderstorm'.

Speaking to Tyla, he revealed that all it would have taken to save Princess Diana was just 'one click' - her seatbelt.

No one except Rees-Jones, the sole survivor, was wearing one when the devastating crash took place.

Dr. Shepherd explained: "I was [surprised by Princess Diana’s death] because it really was an exceedingly unusual injury, because she was alive. She was talking. And when they got to the car, they sort of said, well, she's the least injured person in the car.

Dr. Richard Shepherd has worked on some of the most high-profile autopsies in the world (Tim Graham/Getty Images)

“The guy in front of her, her bodyguard, Trevor Rees Jones, was really quite severely injured. He'd managed to just get his seat belt on, but his face had hit the dashboard, so he had very bad facial injuries and fractures."

Dr. Shepherd continued: "He was really quite bad with damage. Henri Paul and Dodi were both dead in the seats next to her. So, you know, they were dealing with Trevor Rees Jones because she was stuck down behind his seat, but she was talking and apparently okay.

"So it was slow, one of these insidious injuries that finally got her."

He added: "It was so tragic that if only she had worn a seatbelt, she would have walked out. She may have had a broken rib. She may have had a broken arm, but she would actually have walked out of that crash.

"It's a bad crash, admittedly, but it's not that bad and Mercedes are designed to take these bumps. How tragic is that - the one one click that would have saved her life?”

An official Metropolitan Police investigation found that, as well as Paul being under the influence of alcohol, the vehicle was being chased through Paris by paparazzi, eventually ruling the car crash an unlawful killing.

Diana's death led to a global outpouring of grief and media attention, as well as wild conspiracy theories that began swirling around how she died - the most notable being that the royal family were involved.

However, Dr. Shepherd's message to them is a simple one - they're wrong.

"It was so tragic that if only she had worn a seatbelt, she would have walked out" (Bettmann/Getty Images)

"Well, I'm afraid I would just shrug my shoulders and say, well, you're wrong," he said, "You know, and the point is it's always possible to take 20 facts and knit them together into some sort of story."

He referenced people asking for details to be explained, for example 'Why was it the 13th pillar in the tunnel?'

The pathologist's response is simply: "Well, that's random, you know, it is just one of those things. And if you are a member of the 'Prince Philip Assassination Squad', you wouldn't deliberately crash them into the 13th pillar. You’d do something else. So it just doesn't hold water in the context of what was going on.

"Henri Paul was drunk, Henri Paul wasn't skilled at driving, Henri Paul was determined to outrace these people, possibly with Dodi in the back going, 'Just go faster, just go faster'.

"You know, you can imagine the situation that was evolving, and a bad driver, part drunk in a car at that speed, is not going to end well."

Body In the Water airs from 16th September on Tuesdays at 10 pm on the TRUE CRIME channel, with episodes available to stream on WATCH FREE UK following linear broadcast, and via TRUE CRIME UK on ITVX.

Dr Richard Shepherd is also about to visit theatres up and down the UK with his new show - Dr Richard Shepherd -Time of Death - More Unnatural Causes. You can get tickets here.