A BROMSGROVE woman was given a shock when her boyfriend went to buy her a surprise engagement present at a jewellers, but returned with a tray of stolen rings worth nearly £10,000, a court heard.

Emma Wilson and Craig Ivers went on a day out to Evesham and visited W.G Margetson in High Street to look at engagement rings, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Owner Paul Gash measured Wilson's finger and the couple went in and out, looking at pads containing rings in the window.

Wilson then sat outside in the car while Ivers went in alone. He asked to see a particular diamond ring from a pad of 21 and when the jeweller took it off the pad to measure it, Ivers grabbed the rest and ran from the shop with the tray under his arm.

"She waited in the car for a surprise and he came out with a whole load of rings," Mr Swinnerton said.

Ivers told Wilson, who had no idea what he had been planning, to drive off and she sped away in the Renault Clio, taking him to Redditch so he could sell the 20 rings, worth £9,800, to clear a drugs debt.

A passerby took the registration number and the car was spotted later in the day, at 9.10pm, on June 19, in Birmingham. The rings were not recovered, Mr Swinnerton said.

Ivers, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to theft and Wilson, of Goodwood Road, Catshill, admitted handling stolen goods.

The court heard Ivers had 40 previous convictions for 95 offences of dishonesty and was on licence from a jail sentence at the time of the offence. Wilson had 14 convictions, mainly for shoplifting.

Julia Powell, defending both, said Wilson did not seem to get into trouble when Ivers was in prison. She said he admitted selling the rings to pay a debt, but it was a spur of the moment theft.

"He had genuinely gone with her to buy an engagement ring," she said. "He saw the opportunity and took it."

She said Ivers had spent a lot of time in probation hostels with more serious offenders but had now started to take qualifications while in prison. Wilson, Miss Powell said, was terrified of going to prison because of the effect it would have on her two young children. She was now getting clear of drugs and had found a full time job.

Wilson told the court she wanted nothing more to do with Ivers.

Recorder Denis Desmond jailed Ivers for 10 months to start immediately. He is already serving the remainder of his previous sentence, which is due to end in February.

Recorder Desmond said he was going to give Wilson a chance with a six month sentence, suspended for 12 months, and a drug rehabilitation requirement for six months. She will also be on an electronically tagged curfew between 7pm and 6am for four weeks.