London, Oct 31 : A photographer tried to sell pictures of a dying Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed to an English tabloid for 300,000 pounds, the inquest into her death has heard.

The jury was told that Romuald Rat, a French photographer who was among the horde of paparazzi that had been chasing the princess’ Mercedes since she landed in Paris the previous day, called British newspaper ‘The Sun’ from the crash scene inside the Alma tunnel.

The newspaper’s picture editor Kenneth Lennox told the court that Rat made the sale while still standing in the Paris tunnel where Di and Dodi Fayed's car had crashed in August 1997.

He added that the pictures “leapt off the screen” when they were wired through from Paris.

Lennox further revealed that the first photo was of Diana sitting in the back seat. She had a trickle of blood on her face.

The second was of a doctor attending to Diana with an oxygen mask which had smeared the blood.

“The first photo I opened up was of Diana sitting in the back seat . . . She has a trickle of blood on her face,” Times Online quoted Lennox, as saying.

In his statement after the deaths, Rat told cops: "I took a few photographs without going up close. I did not take any photog raphs of the injured." (ANI)