Jeweller who arranged ring for Dodi accused of lying

A jeweller who claims to have arranged a ring for Dodi Al Fayed to present to Princess Diana was lying, the inquest into the couples deaths has heard.

London, Dec 7 : A jeweller who claims to have arranged a ring for Dodi Al Fayed to present to Princess Diana was lying, the inquest into the couple's deaths has heard.

Claude Roulet, ex deputy president of the Paris Ritz, told the jury that he had helped Dodi to select a ring from Alberto Repossi's shop in Paris, the night before the pair died in 1997.

He said that Repossi changed his account to the media of how the ring was bought.

He disputed Repossi's claims that the piece of jewellery was intended as an engagement ring, and that the couple had chosen the ring together.

"I know that a few days after the accident, Mr Repossi started giving different accounts of the events and that his director of communications, Gilles Montrichard, advised him against making things up," The Sun quoted Roulet, as saying.

The inquest has earlier heard Repossi's claims in which he says that a ring had already been selected in Monte Carlo, had been sent to Italy to be sized, and was due to be collected in Paris.

However, Roulet said the selection of a ring from Repossi's "Dis-moi Oui" (Tell me Yes) range was a delayed decision, and that Dodi did not even look at it.

He said that Dodi and picked the ring as it was the cheapest of a group offered to him.

Roulet, who left the Ritz Hotel in 2004, told the hearing in London that he had complained to the hotel president, Franz Klein, about Repossi's false claims.

"I remember I said to Mr. Klein, 'But why he is lying?' and Mr. Klein told me, 'Well shut up, it is not your matter,'" he said.

Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed insists that his son and the princess were about to announce their engagement, and that she was pregnant with his child.

He also claims that the couple were targets of a conspiracy, hatched by Prince Phillip.

ANI