An acclaimed stuntman who has worked on several James Bond movies has been ordered to pay £50,000 damages for the death of a cameraman killed during a car stunt sequence.
Alain Durante died during filming of a chase scene for the 1999 French car caper Taxi 2. The car was supposed to fly through the air and land in a pile of cardboard.
However, the stunt went tragically wrong when the car missed its mark and plowed into the 41-year-old cameraman. He died hours later of massive head injuries.
Veteran stuntman Remy Julienne was blamed for the accident and was initially handed an 18-month suspended jail sentence, as well as a £11,000 fine.
But the family of the victim took the case to appeal after the film firm Europacorp, which is owned by director Luc Besson, was cleared of all charges in the 2007 trial.
Following the successful appeal, the firm has now been fined £85,000. Juilenne claimed that the ill-fated sequence needed more trials to be run but was turned down by producers.
His sentence was reduced to six months suspended and £1,700 fine. He will also have to pay the victim's family £50,000 in damages.
Juilenne devised some of the greatest car stunts ever put to film including the 1969 classic The Italian Job, The Bourne Identity and the acclaimed one-way street chase from Ronin (pic). He also worked on six Bond films including The Living Daylights and Goldeneye.