Mia: Model spoke of 'huge diamond'

Naomi Campbell said she received a "huge diamond" from Charles Taylor, Mia Farrow has told the former Liberian leader's war crimes trial in The Hague.

Giving evidence to the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Netherlands last week, supermodel Naomi, 40, said she was given some "dirty-looking pebbles" after a dinner hosted by former South African president Nelson Mandela in 1997. But she said she did not know who the gift was from.

However, actress Mia told the court today that when Naomi came down for breakfast the next morning she began speaking even before she sat down. She said: "What I remember is Naomi Campbell joined us at the table but before she even sat down she recounted an event of that evening.

"And she said that in the night she had been awakened, some men were knocking at the door. They had been sent by Charles Taylor and they were giving a huge diamond.

"And she said that she intended to give the diamond to Nelson Mandela's children's charity."

Taylor, the former president of Liberia, denies war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war, including using diamonds to fund rebels.

Naomi told the court one of the other guests at breakfast made the suggestion the gift must have been from Taylor and the "dirty looking pebbles" must have been diamonds.

But asked about where the suggestion came from that the stones were in fact diamonds, Mia said: "Miss Campbell. Miss Campbell entered the room. She was quite excited and said in effect, 'Oh my God, in the middle of the night I was awoken by knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me a huge diamond'."

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