Naomi Campbell could face charges over 'blood diamonds'

Possession of an uncut diamond is a criminal offence in South Africa with penalties ranging from a hefty fine to ten years imprisonment for repeat offenders.

Campbell gave evidence at the war crimes tribunal of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor last week in which she said she was given the "dirty-looking pebbles" by two men who knocked on her door in the middle of the night following a dinner in Pretoria hosted by Mr Mandela.

She said she did not know where the stones came from, but handed them to Jeremy Ractliffe, the then head of the Mr Mandela Children's Fund, the following day suggesting he "make sure children benefit from them".

He has since admitted that he had kept the diamonds – which he suspected might be illegal – hidden in a safe ever since to protect the reputations of Campbell and Mr Mandela.

The prosecution in Mr Taylor's war crimes tribunal at The Hague allege that the diamonds given to Campbell came from the Liberian leader and were "blood diamonds", which he traded to fund a brutal war carried out by insurgents in Liberia's neighbouring Sierra Leone.