A supposed Saudi princess claimed
yesterday that she is so wealthy she has splashed out almost £1million
on perfume in the past two months.
Her spree has created an Aladdin’s cave-style display of opulence which has to be seen to be believed, the High Court heard.
Sara
Al Amoudi is accused of being a one-time penniless Ethiopian prostitute
who posed as a princess to swindle London property developers Amanda
Clutterbuck and Ian Paton out of luxury flats worth £14million.
But
yesterday the mysterious ‘princess’ – whose age has been given as
between 31 and 45 – wept in court as she assured the judge she had never
been an impoverished prostitute, that her wealth was genuine and that
she had been on the shopping sprees to prove it.
Miss
Al Amoudi, who arrived at the London court in a Rolls Royce with
numberplates reading ‘HRH’, told judge Sarah Asplin her shopping
addiction was so serious she had sought medical help.
In
heavily accented English, Miss Al Amoudi said: ‘I have a problem with
shopping – I go to doctor. In the last two months my perfume, only the
perfume – $1.4million (£912,000). I can show you the pictures.’
Miss Al Amoudi arrived at court in a full burka and five-inch platform heels.
At
the suggestion of the judge she removed her veil in the witness box,
but still attempted to keep her face hidden from onlookers.
She
claims she had an affair with her alleged victim Mr Paton, 45, behind
the back of his lover and business partner Miss Clutterbuck, 56, and
that he borrowed and stole some £5million of pocket money she received
from Saudi Arabia.
She also insists that when six
exclusive flats in Knightsbridge and Chelsea were signed over to her
name, it was simply repayment for his thefts and loans.
But
Mr Paton and Miss Clutterbuck say she swindled them by pretending she
had millions to invest in a massive property project – allegedly
claiming to be an estranged wife of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, 88 –
and are demanding £14million from her.
Miss Al Amoudi insisted ‘in the name
of Allah’ that she was an honest woman given some £10million in cash by
her family in the past decade.
She
claimed she kept money hidden under her bed and entrusted Mr Paton with
half her cash for ‘safekeeping’, and insisted her only problems were
wild spending.
She added that in Saudi Arabia she was
considered ‘like a criminal’ because she had an adulterous
relationship, so her family had to send her pocket money in cash stuffed
into suitcases.
Miss Al
Amoudi claimed she married at 13 to a man she refused to name, saying
that he was now a threat to her life and that of her 13-year-old
daughter.
But she claimed her ‘lover’ Mr Paton took advantage of her and that now he and Miss Clutterbuck were lying about her.
When asked by Stuart Cakebread,
barrister for the plaintiffs: ‘Do you drink?’, she said: ‘I will not
answer this question because I’m a Muslim woman.’
The
court had earlier heard witness Negat Ali, an Ethiopia-born south
London furniture dealer, claim the defendant was a former prostitute
originally from Ethiopia.
She claims she came forward after seeing a picture of Miss Al Amoudi’s unveiled face in the Daily Mail.
Miss
Ali claimed she first met the ‘princess’ in 1985 when Miss Al Amoudi
was operating under a different name and was helping her mother run a
restaurant in the Yemen notorious for luring in rich men and conning
them. She said they fell out later after Miss Al Amoudi failed to repay a
£500 loan.
Miss Ali denied being a disgruntled former maid of the ‘princess’.
-dailymail
No comments:
Post a Comment