Naomi Campbell: 'I handed diamonds to the police'

THE charity official to whom Naomi Campbell gave her alleged blood diamonds said he had passed them to police in South Africa.

Campbell told the war crimes trial of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor on Thursday that she had received the diamonds as a present after meeting Taylor in South Africa, but gave them to Jeremy Ratcliffe to hand on to charity.

Mr Ratcliffe yesterday admitted to the International Court at The Hague he had "just kept" the three small uncut stones until recently, after telling Campbell it might be illegal to export them.

Campbell told the court she gave the stones to South African-based Mr Ratcliffe in 1997, hoping they could benefit a good cause. He was director of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. He said he did not tell the fund about the stones.

Mr Ratcliffe said: "I took them because I thought it might well be illegal for her to take uncut diamonds out of the country."

He said Campbell had suggested the stones could benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, "but I told her I would not involve the NMCF in anything that could possibly be illegal".

Mr Ratcliffe said he had handed the stones over to South African authorities.