Carer jailed for bogus burglary

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A carer who stole £400,000 in valuables from the home of an elderly couple she was looking after in Hampshire has been jailed for six-and-a-half-years.

Winchester Crown Court heard Jewell Ryan, from Hertfordshire, stole the items while her boyfriend, Lionel Sime, faked a break-in at the Twyford home.

Ryan was caring for World War Two officer Major General Giles Mills, 85, and his wife Emily, who had dementia.

Sime, 51, from Kent, was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Winchester Crown Court was told Ryan used a catalogue of valuables compiled by auctioneers Bonhams, which she found in the couple's home, to pick out items to steal.

Conspiracy

Only £162,000-worth of the haul of paintings, jewellery, furniture, silver and medals was recovered.

The burglary took place in September 2005 when Ryan and Sime faked a break-in while Major General Mills was away.

Mrs Mills has since died and her husband has moved from the house.

Ryan, 59, from Hemel Hempstead, and Sime, from Sittingbourne, were found guilty of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to obtain property by deception.

Another man, Henry Messenger, 65, from Faversham, Kent, was found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods and jailed for six years.

A third man, Robert Moys, 57, from Canterbury, Kent, was acquitted of conspiracy to handle stolen goods.