From: bern.boergeenreclame@planet.nl   
      
   "rich"  schreef in bericht   
   news:HkpQi.21167$NE2.5581@newsfe3-win.ntli.net...   
   > Diana jeweller: It WAS an engagement ring, but police made me change my   
   > story   
   > Last updated at 10:53am on 8th October 2007   
   > A jeweller who claimed to have sold Dodi Fayed a ring for his engagement   
   > to Princess Diana has accused police of putting him under pressure to   
   > change his evidence.   
   >   
   > Alberto Repossi, who is expected to be a key witness in the inquest into   
   > the couple's death, said that he had been intimidated by Scotland Yard   
   > detectives from the official inquiry into their fatal car crash.   
   >   
   > At the centre of the extraordinary claim is a £130,000 star-shaped ring   
   > with five diamonds that Mr Fayed was allegedly planning to give the   
   > Princess on the night that they died.   
   >   
   > Mr Repossi told the Italian newspaper La Stampa yesterday that he had   
   > given British detectives written proof that it was an engagement ring.   
   >   
   > However, officers from the inquiry team led by Lord Stevens of   
   > Kirkwhelpington, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, then   
   > pressured him to alter his testimony to state that it was not for an   
   > engagement, he claimed.   
   >   
   >   
   > The jeweller's evidence is likely to form a key part of the inquest.   
   >   
   > Lord Justice Scott Baker, the coroner, has said that the issue of the   
   > couple's alleged engagement was one of 20 key areas to be examined.   
   >   
   > Mr Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, has claimed that the couple were   
   > killed on the orders of the British Establishment after learning that they   
   > were to announce their marriage and that the Princess was pregnant.   
   >   
   > Mr Repossi claimed that the late Princess personally chose the ring from   
   > the Dis Moi Oui (Tell Me Yes) collection during a visit to his Monte Carlo   
   > shop in early August 1997.   
   >   
   > Mr Fayed then collected the ring from his Paris shop, close to the Ritz   
   > hotel, just hours before the couple died on August 31.   
   >   
   > "I had given Scotland Yard the actual copy of the receipt given to Dodi's   
   > secretary on which was clearly written 'engagement ring'," Mr Repossi told   
   > La Stampa.   
   >   
   > "I am probably the only witness to the fact that Dodi and Princess Diana   
   > were going to get engaged."   
   >   
   > The jeweller claimed that one of four tapes used to record the third   
   > interview was blank, as if it had been erased.   
      
   Yeah, right.   
      
   > He said that at the final interview the detectives asked him to change his   
   > statements so that it would not appear that the Princess and Mr Fayed were   
   > about to announce their plans to marry.   
   >   
   > "They said, 'It would be better for your reputation if you changed your   
   > version of events'."   
      
   I think Fayed made him change his mind. Fayed pays Tomlinson, so why not pay   
   Repossi?   
      
   > Although Mr Repossi's comments will be seen in some quarters as evidence   
   > of an attempt to cover up the death of the Princess, they appear to   
   > contradict his previous statements about the ring.   
   >   
   > In September 1997 he said that he did not know if Mr Fayed intended it as   
   > an engagement ring. The following April Mr Repossi said that he was   
   > convinced that it was not.   
   >   
   > Other witnesses also have different accounts of the couple's visit to   
   > Monaco on August 5, 1997, when they are said to have visited Mr Repossi's   
   > shop.   
   >   
   > John Johnson, a bodyguard, told Lord Stevens's inquiry that they did not   
   > visit a jeweller, while René Delorm, Mr Fayed's butler, insisted that they   
   > had visited a shop, which he assumed to be Repossi's, for about 15   
   > minutes.   
   >   
   > Lord Stevens's inquiry viewed CCTV footage of Mr Repossi's Paris shop on   
   > August 30 and found that Mr Fayed was in the shop for about seven and a   
   > half minutes.   
   >   
   > "When he left it appeared on initial viewing that he picked something up,"   
   > the inquiry reported. "After closer viewing, it was clear that the item he   
   > picked up was in fact his own sunglasses. He did not take any jewellery   
   > with him."   
   >   
   > It concluded: "The evidence is that the 'Tell Me Yes' ring was not   
   > selected as an engagement ring by the Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed   
   > together."   
   >   
   > But a senior source close to the inquiry told The Times: "There is a video   
   > of what actually happened in the shop, which has been handed over to the   
   > authorities.   
   >   
   > "That will clear up some of these allegations. The claim that there is a   
   > copy of a receipt in which it states clearly that it is an engagement ring   
   > is under dispute.   
   >   
   > "Mr Repossi has changed his story several times. Any allegation that he   
   > was put under any pressure by Scotland Yard officers to change his story   
   > is firmly denied."   
   >   
   > Michael Cole, spokesman for Mr Al Fayed, said: "Mr Repossi will in due   
   > course need to come to the inquest to give a full account of everything he   
   > knows on oath before the jury."   
      
   Changing stories. Hmm, not a reliable witness one would say. BTW, didn't he   
   sign the statement he gave to Stevens?   
      
   B. B.   
      
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