A cleaner from Canterbury stole more than £1,500 worth of jewellery from a client and spent it on drink and drugs.

Charlie Cooper was taking party drug MDMA and downing two bottles of wine a day when he stole the items from Vandra Henderson’s Whitstable home late last year.

The 20-year-old admitted one charge of theft when he appeared before Canterbury magistrates.

Chairman of the bench Carole Kincaid told him: “This was a very serious offence in which there was a breach of trust.

“The jewellery you stole not only had a financial value, but also a sentimental value. You have also let your family down.”

Prosecutor Julie Farbrace said Mrs Henderson, who is in her late 50s, had her home in Thurston Park cleaned every two weeks by Cooper’s father.

In October and November, Cooper helped him out and it was around this time that jewellery went missing from her bedroom.

She alerted the police, who discovered that Cooper had sold the pieces to a jeweller in Margate.

Miss Farbrace said: “He would stuff the jewellery in his trousers and said he stole because he had no money. Jewellery worth £1,519 is unaccounted for.”

Nigel Numas, defending, said Cooper is now unemployed and had moved to Suffolk Road on Canterbury’s Spring Lane Estate.

“This was not part of a long course of offending,” Mr Numas said.

“At the time he was suffering from problems with drink and drugs. He was drinking two bottles of wine a day and taking MDMA.”

Magistrates gave Cooper a 12-month community order with 240 hours unpaid work. He must pay £1,519 in compensation to Mrs Henderson, plus £85 prosecution costs and a £60 victim surcharge.