Colombian housekeeper cleared of secretly stealing Jordanian princess's 'long lost' wedding ring

Published: 09:40 EDT, 13 October 2026 | Updated: 09:45 EDT, 13 October 2026 A long-serving housekeeper has been cleared of stealing expensive jewellery from her Jordanian princess employer before secretly helping sell it at auction.Maria Virgelina Taborda Henao, 71, was accused of using her nephew as a 'key conduit' to flog high-end items belonging to HRH Princess Firyal Irshaid worth tens of thousands of pounds.Ms Taborda Henao was accused of stealing the wedding ring given to her by then-husband Prince Muhammad bin Talal at their wedding in 1964.Princess Firyal thought the item had been lost years previously before it was discovered among other allegedly stolen items at Ms Taborda Henao's home in Fulham, west London, jurors were told.Ms Taborda Henao denied one count of theft at Southwark Crown Court. Her nephew, Julian Ramirez, has since fled the UK to Colombia but prosecutors said the pair were engaged in an 'extremely lucrative' joint enterprise.Jurors acquitted Ms Taborda Henao after two hours' deliberation.She smiled briefly as the unanimous verdict was recorded. Maria Virgelina Taborda Henao was acquitted of theft after two hours' deliberationsThe court heard Ms Taborda Henao had been working as the princess's housekeeper in Belgravia for more than a decade when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020.Princess Firyal was still in Jordan in November 2020 when she received a phone call from the House of JAR high-end jewellers in Paris saying an original item of theirs, a bespoke piece made for the royal, had been put up for auction in England.The princess then identified other items of her jewellery had been made available for sale without her knowledge, and contacted the police.Detectives arrested Ms Taborda Henao at the princess's home and later carried out a raid on the suspect's property in nearby Fulham.There, officers found items belonging to the princess including earrings and her wedding ring, the court heard.But she denied involvement. Ramirez is believed to have fled to Colombia in October 2023 while still on police bail.