London, Dec 11: Dodi Al Fayed told a jeweller that he was planning to announce his engagement to Princess Diana, the inquest into the couple’s deaths has heard.

Alberto Repossi said that Dodi revealed the news in a phone call to insist a ring he had bought was ready on time.

Repossi claimed the couple had chosen a ring from his Monaco shop in the summer of 1997, weeks before they died.

He said Dodi asked for it to be urgently resized "because at the beginning of September their engagement would be announced".

However, Repossi disagreed heatedly with lawyers at the Diana inquest as he was accused of lying.

He said he had not told Scotland Yard investigators about the meeting because he had promised Dodi he would not speak about it.

Earlier witnesses at the inquest have expressed doubts about Repossi’s claims of an engagement. Last week Claude Roulet, an executive at the Paris Ritz at the time of the crash, told the inquest how he had assisted Dodi in choosing a ring from Repossi’s shop.

Inquest counsel Nicholas Hilliard demanded to know why the jeweller had not mentioned the call before. He also questioned why Repossi failed to mention to cops a St Tropez meeting with Diana and Dodi.

“You did not really meet her, did you, Mr Repossi? ” The Sun quoted Hilliard, as asking Repossi.

Met Police counsel Richard Horwell asked: “I suggest you have told a series of lies about what happened in August 1997. Who has asked you to tell lies, Mr Repossi? ”

Speaking via a videolink from Paris Repossi replied: “If you go on like this I am not going to answer any more questions. ” (ANI)