From: steuart@btinternet.com   
      
         From:  cromwell   
         Date:  Sat, Mar 25 2000 9:00 am   
      
      
   The revelations in the News of the World article provide ample evidence   
   that Alberto Repossi is left with little or if any credibility.  The record   
   of Repossi's statements to the media, provides indisputable proof either he   
   is   
   badly mis-quoted, or Mr. Repossi can not get his story straight.   
      
   In one report, Repossi exclaims,   
      
      
   "My trade requires discretion. But since the British press has been building   
   on the reports, I am obliged to establish the truth and avoid controversy."   
      
      
   The opposite seems to be the case.  Repossi seems to have exercised   
   little discretion and said much that is controversial.   Repossi gave   
   numerous  inteviews to the Press after the accident in Paris.   It was the   
   UK tabloid the Sun which got the scope in it's 5th September edition.  It   
   quoted Repossi,   
      
      
   : "Dodi came to me 10 days before this tragic accident and told me that he   
   wanted me to make a ring of the like that had never been seen before.  He   
   told me how much he was in love with the princess and he wanted to spend the   
   rest of his life with her."   
      
      
   So, Repossi met with Dodi without the Princess aprox the 20th August.   
   Days later, Repossi gave a slightlty different version to the Washington   
   Post.  The   
   paper reports that,   
      
      
   "Alberto Repossi said in a telephone interview that the couple came into the   
   Monaco branch of his store unexpectedly about 10 days before the Aug. 30   
   accident. The couple was vacationing on the Riviera."   
      
      
   Now, the Post, guided by Repossi, places the couple in Monte Carlo on about   
   the 20th August.   
      
      
   Confused?  This is not surprising since Dodi and Diana were thousands of   
   miles apart! He,  placating Kelly Fisher in Los Angles.  Diana was on the   
   last day   
   of her holiday in Greece!  There is no way that Repossi could have seen   
   them, certainly not in Monaco.   
      
      
   Repossi proceeded to provide Le Figaro(April 1998)with a further account.   
   This time, the paper alleged,   
      
      
   "M Repossi, who said the couple first ordered the ring at his boutique in   
   the Hotel Hermitage in Monaco on Aug 10, three weeks before their death,   
   insisted that they never said it was an engagement ring."   
      
      
   Repossi is then quoted,   
      
      
   "But, during a second visit a few days later, I offered to create a jewel   
   that would be somewhat different, not one from my catalogue, and one   
   improving on the quality by, for example, using a crimped nail rather than   
   pierced metal. Diana seemed to like the young, modern and sober side of our   
   work that contrasted with the retro look of her royal jewels."   
      
      
   Now the meeting has been pushed back 10 days, to the 10th August and it's   
   importance has been diminished.  It is the meeting a few days later which is   
   important.  This meeting, by Repossi's reckoning, must have been 12th, 13th,   
   14th, 15th, August???  Why is this?   
      
      
   Is there an explanation?  Journalist Martyn Gregory   
   interviewed Repossi for his book Diana The Last Days.  Repossi once again   
   recounted this story to Gregory with the extra detail that,   
      
      
   "Repossi was not actually present when Diana and Dodi visited but his staff   
   briefed him on the couple 's requirements."(p. 35)   
      
      
   So Repossi told Gregory he wasn't even at the meeting.  Perhaps this   
   explains why Repossi can not make his mind up as to the date of this event,   
   10th August or 20th August.  The News of the World(19th March, 2000), takes   
   the story to new levels of absurdity.   
      
      
   Now the meeting was not in Monte Carlo at all, this is merely when the   
   couple first saw the ring.  The meeting with Repossi took place a few days   
   later, in St Tropez, when the couple are reported by witnesses and news   
   paper reports to be sailing toward Sardinia.   
      
      
   One wonders what all the fuss is about? Why the News of the World article?   
   Isn't this happening because  of the claims of TRJ and Kez Wingfield, that   
   the couple   
   never went into a jewellers on the 23rd August?  What's the problem?   
   Repossi and the bodyguards are in agreement, if the story in the News of the   
   World is anything to go by.   
      
      
   How do we know?  Because the 'Boss' has entered the fray, in the most recent   
   edition of Punch, Fayed has written in his column,   
      
      
   "But back to the latest non-engagement theory It is a shaky construction   
   wobbling on Trevor's statement that Diana and Dodi never entered a   
   jeweller's shop on August 23, 1997. That, goes the theory, proves that they   
   never intended to marry.  I agree. They did not enter the shop then. They   
   saw the ring in the window of Repossi's in Monte Carlo in August 5; later,   
   at a private meeting on August 23, Diana chose the ring. On August 30 Dodi   
   collected it from Repossi's shop in Paris. Repossi has substantiated this in   
   an affidavit."   
   (Punch March 21st - 3rd April 2000)   
      
      
   Allow me to extract the key phrase,   
      
      
   "I agree. They did not enter the shop then. They saw the ring in the window   
   of Repossi's in Monte Carlo in August 5"   
      
      
   So the bodyguards are telling the truth!!  Well there is a revelation,   
   if not a little belated.  If Fayed's allegation is correct, then this means   
   Dodi and Diana were thinking of engagement a mere 3 weeks after meeting each   
   other.  Such an idea  beggars belief!!   
      
      
   The simple fact is that one account contridicts and expands on another   
   account, various dates are provided, some of which can not possibly be true,   
   Repossi's statements conflict with his own previous statements and in turn,   
   conflict with Fayeds.   
      
      
   Last Sunday it was revealed by Repossi, that his meeting with the couple   
   took place in St. Tropez.  By Tuesday, Fayed was telling his readers it took   
   place in Monte Carlo.  The story seems to change on a daily basis, with   
   everyone loosing track.  Personally, I think Repossi and Fayed are   
   completely unreliable on the ring.  Posters can draw their own conclusions.   
      
      
   Geoff.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)