Car stuntman Remy Julienne fined over cameraman death

A driver who devised high-speed car chases for six James Bond movies has been ordered to pay £50,000 damages to the family of a cameraman killed during a stunt sequence - reports Sky News.

MI6 Note: The court procedings were nothing to do with any 007 production. He last worked with the Bond franchise on the 1995 movie "GoldenEye".

Stuntman Remy Julienne, who also created chases for the 1969 caper The Italian Job, was initially handed an 18-month suspended jail sentence as the person solely reponsible for the accident that killed Alain Dutartre.

But a Paris court of appeal has ruled that a production company owned by French film icon Luc Besson is also guilty over the death of the 41-year-old cameraman.

The fatal accident took place during a chase scene in action comedy Taxi 2 during filming in Paris in 1999.

Bond driver Julienne's jail sentence was reduced on appeal to six months suspended and although his fine was cut from 13,000 euros (£11,000) to 2,000 euros (£1,700), he was ordered to pay the victim's family 60,000 euros (£50,000) damages.

The Parisian court fined Besson's company, EuropaCorp, 100,000 euros (£85,000) for its role in the death of Mr Dutartre, who was hit by a car during a botched stunt for the blockbuster.

Mr Dutartre's family took the case to appeal after EuropaCorp was cleared of all charges at the initial trial in 2007.

During the botched scene, a stunt car fitted with special foils to make it briefly lift off the ground came speeding out of a tunnel and became airborne.

Intended to land in a pile of cardboard, the car sailed past its mark and hit Mr Dutartre, who died hours later of massive head injuries.

The Taxi series of police action movies, filled with extravagant stunts and rapid-fire banter, have been huge box office hits in France.

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