FRANCE:The "engagement" ring supposedly ordered by Dodi Fayed for Diana Princess of Wales was from a jewellers' readymade "budget" range and would have cost him less than £6,000 (€8,337), according to an inquest witness.
Emanuele Gobbo, who works at Repossi jewellers opposite the Ritz Hotel in Paris, gave evidence that the ring said to have been selected by Dodi was from a readymade range "for people on a more limited budget". Priced at about £11,500, it could have been bought at half price with the 50 per cent discount to which Dodi would probably have been entitled.
Yesterday, Mr Gobbo's employer, Alberto Repossi, claimed that Dodi - son of Harrods tycoon Mohamed al Fayed who owns the Paris Ritz - had confided in him that he was about to get engaged to Diana.
Mr al Fayed is convinced the couple were engaged and believes the car crash which ended their lives in August 1997 was an MI6-led "murder" plot to stop the marriage going ahead.
Mr Gobbo, via video link from Paris, said he was told by Mr Repossi that the shop would be opened specially for Dodi to look at some jewellery he had seen earlier in their Monte Carlo branch.
