A photographer has been ordered to pay £3,900 damages for taking a photograph of Princess Diana before she died.
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British paparazzo Jason Fraser – who breached French criminal privacy laws by taking the picture while Diana was on a yacht with boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed in 1997, just days before they were killed in a tragic road collision – was also fined £2,400.
The damages were awarded to Dodi’s millionaire father Mohamed Al Fayed, who owned the boat.
Fraser, 41, was cleared of the charge two years ago before a French court reopened the case. He said he hoped the ruling would be overturned.
He said: “I remain confident and would expect a French supreme court to now confirm my continuing faith in the common sense of the French legal system.”
Publishers of France Dimanche, which printed the pictures, were also fined £2,400.
The photographs show Diana – who was labelled “the people’s princess” by former Prime Minister Tony Blair – kissing her boyfriend Dodi and confirmed their relationship.
Fraser was originally acquitted because the pair had not shown any attempt to hide from photographers. But the French court ruled their openness “could not in any way be interpreted as an implicit acceptance that their pictures be taken.”
