Cleaner jailed for two and a half years for stealing from workplaces

A cleaner has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after he pinched jewellery from two houses he was working at.  Danny Avis was on his second day in the role for a friend’s family business when he helped himself to the gems.  

 

In one property he took a diamond ring worth almost £80,000 along with a bracelet and watch, and at the other an engagement ring with immense sentimental value.

The 25-year-old, of The Lees, Mildenhall, denied three counts of theft but following a trial he was found guilty of all charges at Swindon Crown Court .

Tim Hills, prosecuting, told a jury of eight men and four women how last summer Avis asked a pal if there was any work going at the firm.

But after his second day, Thursday August 31 last year, the two clients he had visited called to say valuable items were missing from their houses.

In the morning Avis and the boss’s daughter had been to the large home of a woman in East Grafton, where the two had worked separately.

Once they had gone it was found a £78,500 diamond ring, which the owner bought when she left a job at De Beers, was missing from a dish in her shower room.

A gold bracelet valued at £1,500 and a £4,000 watch had also vanished from the bedroom area of the property.

The same afternoon the pair were cleaning a house in High Street, Burbage, and later a £6,000 diamond engagement ring was found to be missing.

The owner told the court the platinum band had been secretly sourced from Hatton Gardens by her husband and presented on holiday when he proposed.

Although her insurers had replaced it with an identical copy she said it wasn’t the same as it destroyed the story that came with it.

During the trial the jury heard that he had been convicted of stealing from work in 2015, again on his second day.

Richard Williams, defending, said Avis, of The Lees, Mildenhall, still maintained his innocence of stealing the jewellery.

He said they were clearly impulsive acts and he could not have known the high value of the first ring.

Jailing him Judge Jason Taylor QC said “This is a case about more than financial value.  A high degree of trust was placed in you by the home owners.

“As far as material value is concerned of course you will know because you heard the evidence.  There is sentimental value which in many ways is priceless.

“There is a substantial value not only monetary but also sentimental and personal.  Implicitly you sought to lay the blame at the feet of your co-employee.”