Initially questioned on suspicion of gross negligence, the photographers who pursued Diana and Dodi on the night of their deaths were later fined €1 each for invasion of privacy

In the immediate aftermath of the Paris crash, photographers and press motorcyclists were hauled in by French police for questioning over any involvement they might have had in the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

The couple died barely six weeks after beginning a romance which, especially in the quiet news season of July and August, was a media sensation in 1997. Interest in their affair was further fuelled by rumours of an impending engagement and even a pregnancy.

The couple were relentlessly pursued while sailing on Dodi Fayed's yacht, the Jonikal, and followed in southern France where grainy pictures of them kissing attracted bids of £500,000.

The pursuit was characteristically frantic when they flew into Paris on August 30 1997. When the pair arrived at Le Bourget airfield in Paris, from Sardinia, Dodi told his driver on the occasion, Henri Paul, to evade the paparazzi who awaited them.

Photographers followed them from the airport to Villa Windsor, a former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor now owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, then to the Ritz Hotel, owned by Fayed senior at the time.

The photographers' attentions prompted Dodi Fayed to abort an attempt to dine at the Chez Benoit bistro. Returning to the Ritz, Fayed apparently conceived, or at least agreed to, a plan to outwit the paparazzi by sneaking out a back entrance while the regular limousine and backup car idled in front.

Stephane Darmon, a motorcycle rider for one of the paparazzi who chased the couple's Mercedes through Paris, told the inquest that Paul had been "very joyful" as he taunted photographers outside the Ritz Hotel on the night of the crash.

"I think that he wanted to give wrong leads to photographers," Darmon said after the crash, in a statement to police. "He was trying to create a certain atmosphere of pressure and anticipation."

Darmon was one of the first witnesses to arrive at the accident scene. As his photographer, Romuald Rat, got off the bike, he opened the door of the Mercedes and said the princess was still alive.

Darmon said he expected the paparazzi to help the passengers of the vehicle but was shocked when they started taking photographs. "I did not see the car any more because the light [of the flashes] was so bright. It was continuous."

Two witnesses, Antonio Lopes-Borges and Ana Simao, also testified that photographers climbed on to the car in which Diana, Dodi and Paul lay dying and took pictures instead of helping them.

Such statements placed the paparazzi under suspicion for gross negligence. They were also investigated on grounds of invasion of the couple's privacy. Five days after the crash, French magistrates placed three more photographers under investigation for manslaughter, bringing the total number of suspects to 10.

The role of the paparazzi has also become part of conspiracy theories. Proponents of the latter point to CCTV footage of Paul on the night of the incident in which he is seen waving to photographers.

An Inspector Carpenter, giving evidence, said that one photographer sitting in his car near to where the couple would exit was in contact with other paparazzi across the road. He explained to the jury: "You will see Henri Paul exit [at the back of the hotel] and when you watch this sequence you will see him raise his hand as if waving to the paparazzi across the road. If you look at the paparazzi you will see one of them raises his camera."

The images sparked beliefs that someone in the hotel was tipping off the paparazzi as to the princess's movements. There was also speculation that a white Fiat Uno, which was believed to have collided with the Mercedes, was driven by a photographer.

In February 1998, private detectives working for Fayed claim to have found the mystery Fiat Uno. They said it belonged to James Andanson, a French photographer who had been following Diana, taking pictures of her and Dodi, in the week before her death. These claims were never proved.

What is known is that Dodi's departure with Diana shortly after midnight was seen by at least three photographers, leading to a short, desperate chase that reached its tragic end in the underpass.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker said the jury could attempt to identify photographers who might have been guilty of distracting or impeding the Mercedes, but he noted the difficulty of deciding which of the conflicting accounts of witnesses near the tunnel to believe.

He also warned the jury that the paparazzi's police statements read out in court should be treated with caution. Many of them described Paul as being drunk but the statements came after the police had announced that the driver was above the drink-driving limit.

The witness accounts also revealed marked differences among the passers-by on the night. The number of vehicles, whether they were cars or motorbikes, the number of people in them and what part they played in the crash were all points of contention. All except one paparazzo refused to attend the inquest, making it even more difficult to piece together events that night.

None of them admitted seeing the Mercedes movements directly before the crash or being close enough to have any effect on it. Rat admitted to being one of the "leading pursuers" but that he only took pictures of the crash scene after doctors arrived. The coroner told the jury that this was not true. Darmon, Rat's driver, said his speed on the motorway had been about 60mph and claimed no one had been able to keep up with the Mercedes.

Christian Martinez, another photographer who was in a black Fiat Uno, told French police: "Henri Paul was going much too fast ... maybe he swerved to avoid a vehicle that was travelling very slowly in front of him. Then he lost control of the car."

The coroner noted: "If you think that is what happened, you may like to ask how Martinez could have known that."

He also noted there was evidence some had managed to get film out of the tunnel. Serge Arnal, who also took photographs at the scene, said some of his colleagues got away before the police arrived, taking photographs with them.

Nine photographers were charged with manslaughter in France but the charges were thrown out in 2002. Only three photographers – Jacques Langevin, Christian Martinez and Fabrice Chassery – were convicted of invasion of privacy for taking pictures of the couple. Each was fined €1 in 2006.

Some took shots from less than two metres away, with the dead and seriously injured clearly visible inside the mangled Mercedes. According to the coroner, "there may well be" more photographs in existence that the court has not seen.

Last year, Channel 4 sparked controversy by broadcasting a documentary titled Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel, exploring the events of the night from the viewpoint of the photographers who surrounded her in death as well as life.