A jewel thief who stole more than £10,000 worth of rings has been tracked down and convicted.

Daiana Anghel, 23, targeted stores at Bluewater and in Maidstone, stealing valuable rings and replacing them with fakes.

Officers had been investigating claims that on August 17 a woman tried on rings while in H Samuel at the Greenhithe shopping centre and when she left three were discovered stolen, with two of the rings replaced by fakes.

A month later, on September 10, a ring valued at nearly £9,000 was stolen from Cornell and Sons, a historic jewellers in Gabriel's Hill, Maidstone.

Anghel, of Tenby Drive, Luton, was tracked down and arrested by constables from the Maidstone victim based crime team on Wednesday, January 11.

She appeared at Luton Magistrates' Court charged with two counts of theft, fraud and possessing an article for use in fraud, namely more than 60 fake rings.

Yesterday, Anghel pleaded guilty and will be sentenced at Luton Crown Court on Monday, February 23.