Campbell was given 'dirty stones'

Model Naomi Campbell says she was given "dirty-looking" stones after a dinner attended by ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor which she was later told were likely to be diamonds.

She was testifying at Mr Taylor's war crimes trial about allegations he gave her "blood diamonds" as a gift in 1997.
Prosecutors had said her evidence could help link Mr Taylor to the stones, which he is accused of using to fund civil war in Sierra Leone.
Mr Taylor denies the charges.
He says he never sold or traded diamonds for weapons.

Ms Campbell, who was late appearing in the courtroom, swore on a Bible before beginning her testimony.

Ms Campbell said she was given two or three unprocessed stones after a celebrity dinner in South Africa, hosted by former South African President Nelson Mandela and attended by US actress Mia Farrow and others, including Mr Taylor.
Before meeting him, she had not heard of Mr Taylor or of Liberia.


She said she was sleeping in her room that night when there was a knock at the door.
"Two men were there and gave me a pouch and said: 'A gift for you'," she said.
Wearing a demure cream dress, Naomi Campbell was cool and confident as she gave her evidence, but her evidence is very different from the clear testimony the prosecution wanted from their star witness.

It is critical for their case that they link Charles Taylor to the diamonds - the jewels that fuelled Sierra Leone's brutal civil war.
The men did not introduce themselves. She said she put the pouch next to her bed without looking inside it, and went back to sleep.
"I opened the pouch the next morning when I woke up... I saw a few stones in there, they were very small dirty-looking stones," she told the court. There was no explanation and no note, she said.
"The next morning at breakfast I told Ms Farrow and [her former agent Carole White] what had happened and one of the two said 'That's obviously Charles Taylor', and I said 'I guess that was'."
She said that at the time, she was not aware of any laws on unprocessed diamonds.

She gave the stones to Jeremy Ratcliffe of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund because she wanted them to go to charity, and said when she spoke to Mr Ratcliffe on the telephone in 2009, he said he still had them.
for more information about the case  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10875811