A woman was forced to play detective to catch the thief that stole £2,000 worth of jewellery from her home after police dropped the case. Angela Rees had suspected her cleaner – Billi-Jo Pratt – was responsible for the valuables going missing from her home in Broadstairs, Kent. But after officers dropped the case due to a lack of evidence, she decided to find more proof to convict the 27-year-old.
Pratt, from Folkestone, appeared before Margate magistrates this month and admitted the offence.
The court was told Ms Rees noticed the jewellery was missing on April 10 last year – two days after Pratt had visited the property to clean.
Among the stolen haul – which was worth £1,825 – were gold earrings, a sapphire pendant set, a yellow sapphire ring and other jewellery items.
The police were called and after quizzing Pratt, she denied knowing who had taken it and even blamed Ms Rees’ boyfriend for the disappearance.
Officers told Ms Rees there was insufficient evidence to charge Pratt and the case against her was dropped.
But a dissatisfied Ms Rees started making her own inquiries which led her to Carthew Jewellers Pawnbrokers shop in Queen Street, Ramsgate.
She asked shop staff if they had seen the jewellery and was told they had purchased it.
They also had CCTV footage from the sale, which showed Pratt in the shop selling the items.
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In court last Thursday, Pratt pleaded guilty to theft from a dwelling. Ian Bond, defending, said the jewellery was returned to Ms Rees.
He added that Pratt had recently fled her home because of domestic violence and was homeless at the time of the theft, with very little money to live on.
He said she had no previous convictions for dishonesty and regretted her behaviour which was “out of character”.
Pratt 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 – must also 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.
“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.”
