Riddle of Strictly star Karen Hauer’s ‘stolen’ £60 engagement ring as she hands it back after shock split from husband
STRICTLY dancer Karen Hauer sent her engagement ring back to her ex after claims it was never his to give away.
She was given the £60 H. Samuel jewellery by Jordan Wyn-Jones.
The couple revealed this week they had split after just 16 months.
The ring originally belonged to Jordan’s late mum Anne.
But his dad Lee Williams has claimed the heirloom was taken without permission.
And he said he only knew it had gone when he saw Karen and Jordan’s wedding snaps on the cover of Hello! magazine.
Lee, 64, said: “That’s it then — if she’s sent the ring back to him instead of me I’ll never see it again. I totally see where Karen is coming from. She was gifted the ring and it was hers as far as she knows.
“I’m grateful she has returned it to Jordan, but it actually belongs to me — and it was taken from me without my permission.
“Jordan might be my son but he did not have the right to take anything from me without asking.
“It’s not about the money. It is purely sentimental value. Some things money can’t buy.”
Lee — who claimed Karen was the THIRD woman Jordan had proposed to with the ring — bought the gold band with a single diamond for Anne 35 years ago.
He used it to propose to her while on holiday in Spain.
They married in 1989 but split in 2002.
She remarried but died in 2003, aged 45.
After her death, her second husband returned the ring to Lee.
Dad-of-six Lee kept it in a box in his bedroom and believed it was still there until he saw Karen, 41, wearing it in Hello! magazine.
In an interview with the mag, Karen said: “Jordan proposed with his late mother’s ring.
“I know it meant the world to him for me to have it. We’ve since remodelled it together, so that it has the core of his mother’s ring, but also our flair added.”
Fitness instructor Jordan and Lee fell out after he met Karen.
Tennis coach Lee, who runs a children’s charity in Nepal, did not attend their wedding in June last year.
He said: “I vividly remember buying it from H Samuel in Brighton — and it holds so many memories.
“Me and Anne might have separated but we had a lot of good times and we shared kids together.
“That ring is extremely sentimental to me. And it’s probably only worth £1,900 now. If things were different between me and Jordan he could well have had my blessing. But the truth is, he didn’t.”
Jordan was Karen’s third husband.
She was previously married to fellow former Strictly pro Kevin Clifton from 2015 to 2018.
Before that she was wed to ex-dance partner Matthew Hauer.
Karen’s representatives declined to comment.
Jordan failed to respond to requests for comment.