Trevor Rees-Jones
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Trevor Rees-Jones (also known as Trevor Rees) (born 1968) is the former bodyguard for Dodi Al-Fayed and was badly injured in the car accident that killed his charge; Diana, Princess of Wales; and chauffeur Henri Paul. Because he suffered a head injury in the crash, Rees-Jones does not recall particulars of the accident. He survived because he put on - it was said - the seatbelt.[1] However, a December 2006 Operation Paget technical examination said that none of the occupants of the car were wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision.
Curiously, Rees-Jones and his mother both came by the same last name by different routes. After Trevor's father died, Jill Rees married Ernie Jones. Years later, Trevor Rees married Sue Jones, who was unrelated to his stepfather. In each case, both spouses hyphenated their names.
Rees-Jones suffered serious head injuries in the crash. His face was literally flattened: numerous bones were broken or crushed. His face was reconstructed from family photographs by a world-class maxillofacial surgeon Luc Chikhani, using about 150 pieces of titanium to hold the bones together and recreate the original shape.. Within a year, his face was nearly back to normal. Some, but not all, of the expenses of the surgery and hospital care were borne by Mohamed al-Fayed, Trevor's employer.
Following recovery from the injuries sustained in the crash, Trevor Rees-Jones moved to north Shropshire, and for some time worked in a small family-run sportswear shop in the town of Oswestry, on the Welsh border.
Rees-Jones wrote a book (ISBN 0-446-61004-6) about his experiences, with the help of a ghost-writer, Moira Johnston. The book was reconstructed from Rees-Jones' partial memories and those of his family and friends. He decided to do the book because many bizarre stories had circulated about the fatal crash and because Rees-Jones' former employer, Mohamed al-Fayed, had accused him of not doing his job properly.
Following the end of his marriage to Sue Jones, Rees-Jones subsequently reverted to using Rees as his surname, under which name he is described in the papers relating to inquest proceedings into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed.
[edit] References
- ^ "Bodyguard put on seat belt just before Diana car crash. CNN.com September 21, 1997.