A WOMAN took matters into her own hands after she suspected her cleaner of stealing £2k worth of jewellery from her home.
Angela Rees reported the stolen haul from her Kent home but cops soon dropped the case, saying there wasn't enough evidence.
She suspected her "trusted" cleaner Billi-Jo Pratt, 27, of theft as she noticed missing valuables – including gold earrings, a sapphire pendant set, a yellow sapphire ring and other rings and earrings.
Angela noticed the missing jewellery, worth a whopping £1,825, last April – just two days after Billi-Jo had cleaned the property, a court heard.
Police questioned Billi-Jo, who denied knowing who had taken it.
She even suggested Angela's boyfriend could have been responsible.
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So Angela had to take the case into her own hands, after police dropped her case.
She embarked on her own investigation and went to Carthew Jewellers Pawnbrokers shop in Ramsgate.
She asked shop staff if they had ever handled the jewellery, and was told they had indeed purchased it.
They even had CCTV footage from the sale, which showed Billi-Jo in the shop selling the items.
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Angela alerted police and, after further questioning, the cleaner finally admitted she had stolen the jewellery.
Agency worker Billi-Jo appeared before Margate magistrates this month, Kent Online reported.
In court she pleaded guilty to theft from a dwelling.
Ian Bond, who defended the cleaner, said the jewellery was returned to Angela.
He added Billi-Jo had recently left her home due to domestic violence and was homeless at the time of the theft, with very little money to live on.
Ian said she had no previous convictions for dishonesty and regretted her behaviour, which was "out of character".
Billi-Jo was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and attend 25 rehabilitation sessions as part of an 18-month community order.
The cleaner – who was in breach of a suspended sentence for a driving offence in 2021 – was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £95 and £85 costs.
Chairman of the bench Diane August said: "This offence was committed in a position of trust and you were under a suspended sentence order at the time.
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"We appreciate you were in difficult circumstances fleeing domestic violence and we have taken that in to consideration.
"We will not activate the current suspended sentence order as [the crime] was of a different nature."
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