Jewellery allegedly taken from the home of a Jordanian princess by her housekeeper has been shown in court, where jurors heard that earrings valued at more than £28,000 were sold at auction for only £400.
Princess Firyal Irshaid, 81, claims her jewellery collection was removed from her London property and offered for sale after she left the UK in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maria Taborda Henao, 71, denies the theft allegations. The items said to have disappeared include the princess’s wedding ring, along with a bespoke sapphire and diamond ring.
Giving evidence through a Spanish interpreter at Southwark Crown Court, Taborda Henao said she had worked as a cleaner for about 35 households since moving to Britain in the late 1980s. Her former clients allegedly included the late businessman Lord Jacobs and a Belgian countess.
She had spent 11 years working as Princess Firyal’s housekeeper at her central London residence before being accused of stealing jewellery in 2020, after the princess left the country following the outbreak of Covid-19.
Prosecutors told jurors that Taborda Henao was the only person authorised to enter the princess’s home and access her possessions while she was away.
In November 2020, Princess Firyal was contacted by her friend Pierre Jeannet, a partner at luxury jeweller JAR, who informed her that two pieces had appeared in a sale at Canterbury Auction Galleries.
She then identified one of the lots as a distinctive JAR sapphire and diamond ring that Mr Jeannet had specially created for her.
Princess Firyal of Jordan alleges that jewellery was stolen from her Belgravia home by her housekeeper
Maria Taborda Henao, who worked for the princess for 11 years, denies the allegations
A bespoke ring was among the jewellery Taborda Henao is accused of taking
Princess Firyal also claims a pair of earrings disappeared from her collection
A ruby ring was among the jewellery allegedly taken and later listed at a Canterbury auction house
Princess Firyal reported the alleged theft to police, leading to Taborda Henao’s arrest.
Officers searching Taborda Henao’s home discovered the princess’s wedding ring inside a coat, a jewelled metal necklace in a kitchen cupboard and an envelope containing earrings.
Prosecutor Oliver Wellings said Princess Firyal had believed her wedding ring was lost and insisted she ‘would never have given away such an important personal item’.
The court heard that Taborda Henao’s nephew, Julian Ramirez, attended a valuation event at Canterbury Auction Galleries in March 2019. Prosecutors allege he returned in 2020, when several items he had brought were put up for sale.
Mr Wellings said Ramirez received approximately £90,000 from the auction house and paid nearly £18,000 of that money to his aunt in transfers made between June 2019 and November 2020.
When Princess Firyal came back to London in May 2021, she reportedly discovered that a large part of her jewellery collection was missing.
She supplied the court with receipts and photographs of herself wearing the jewellery, which prosecutors say helped establish that she owned pieces later sold through the auction house.
This included a ‘unique’ pair of enamel and gem-set earrings bought for £28,750 from Sotheby’s in 2011 and sold in Canterbury for £400 in 2020.
Ramirez was arrested on the same day as his aunt before being released on bail.
He is believed to have flown to Colombia in October 2023 and has not returned, jurors heard.
Ramirez, whose mother was allowed by the princess to move into the Belgravia property during the early stages of the pandemic, was said to have acted as a ‘key conduit for the sale of stolen property’.
Princess Firyal married Prince Muhammad bin Talal, the younger brother of King Hussein of Jordan, in 1964, in a marriage which lasted for 14 years.
The trial continues.
