Jeweller to pay £30k over lost diamond

A JEWELLER has been told to pay £30,000 compensation after a rare diamond was lost from a ring.

Mark Hare bought the 3.1 carat yellow diamond ring for his partner Olivia Caffey in 2017, which she called “the most beautiful and significant thing I’d ever been given”.

In March 2018, the £29,000 stone was lost in Victoria Station, London, and was not found despite a four-hour search. Yellow diamonds are among the most prized gemstones in the world

Mr Hare sued Philip Lloyd Jewellers, the Surrey-based jewellers where he bought the ring and arranged for the stone to be set.

The 58-year-old claimed that the diamond fell out because one of the claws that held the stone in place broke.

The jewellers denied liability for the loss, claiming it was of sound quality and that it must have been damaged by wearing gloves t hat “yanked” at the metal as she pulled it off.

After a two- day trial at Central London County Court, Judge Nicholas Parfitt ruled that the gold used to make the claws that held the stone in place was not of “satisfactory quality”.

The judge said that the claw may have broken when Ms Claffey removed some fluff from it, but that the ring should have been of a high enough quality to withstand this.

The judge said that even if it had been the removal of the fluff that broke the metal, it was not her fault.

“Even a significant trauma would not be expected to break a claw rather than bend it back, unless that claw was too brittle to start with,” he said.

“I find that it was more likely than not that the claw failed because at the time of sale on Feb 3 2018, the metal was not of satisfactory quality.

“The broken claw should not have happened.”

The judge awarded Mr Hare £29,000 of damages for the money he “wasted” on the diamond, with interest taking his total compensation over £30,000.