An Italian socialite who is about to be released after 16 years in prison for ordering the murder of her husband, an heir to the Gucci empire, says the fashion house should now give her a job.
Patrizia Reggiani, known in Italy as "the black widow" or "Lady Gucci", was jailed in 1998 after being found guilty of paying a hit man £240000 to murder her 46-year-old husband Maurizio Gucci.
The couple divorced in 1991 and Reggiani was said to be furious about the other women he was seeing, and fearful that her daughters' inheritance would be put at risk if he remarried.
Her initial 29-year sentence, after a trial that transfixed Italy, was reduced to 26 years on appeal, and has been further reduced for good behaviour.
In an interview, Reggiani, 65, said she wanted to restart her life.
Her overriding ambition was to find a job with Gucci, she said - despite being found guilty of ordering the hit on one of the scions of the family.
"I dream of returning to Gucci. I still feel like a Gucci - in fact, the most Gucci of all," she told the daily paper La Repubblica.
"I have the qualifications - for years I went shopping around the world. I came from the world of jewels and it is to that world that I want to return."
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