A pensioner's family became eBay detectives to track down her engagement ring after it was stolen by a light fingered plumber.
Christopher Kneil sneaked into the bedroom of Hilary O'Neill's home in Devon when he was meant to be fixing the bathroom and took two rings worth a total of £15,000.
He sold one on eBay to another to a jewellery shop but Mrs O'Neill's children were determined to get them back and found both the items within days of them being taken.
They were both highly distinctive items of jewellery. The engagement ring was made of sapphires and diamonds while the other included gold, rubies and diamonds clustered into the shape of a boat.
Kneil, aged 36, of Paignton, admitted two thefts and was ordered to receive 12 months supervision as part of an 18 month community order by Recorder Mr Frank Abbott at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him:"This was an unpleasant offence. It was mean. It was a particularly nasty thing to do when you had been trusted to work in the victim's home.
"It is everybody's nightmare when they have someone in to fix something that they have to trust them not to go into private areas such as a bedroom and steal jewellery of great sentimental value.
"You sold it for a pittance to jewellers. The money you got out of it was nowhere near the true value of the items. Mercifully they were recovered, thanks to the remarkably hard work of the loser's family."
Miss Beth Heaton, prosecuting, said Kneil was working at Mrs O'Neill's home in South Devon in May when he took the rings from a bedroom drawer. He sold one on eBay for £129 and another to a local jeweller for £95.
The victim was very upset because they were worth £15,000 and had great sentimental value, one being given to her as an engagement ring 40 years earlier.
Mrs O'Neill's children made their own inquiries and tracked both down. One was sold on eBay to a jeweller in Torbay and one across the counter at another shop in the resort.
Mr Martin Salloway, defending, said Kneil was under financial pressure at the time and has a history of drug abuse.
He said that since the thefts he has lost his job with his father's business and has become confined to a wheelchair by an illness caused compartment syndrome, which has led to lengthy hospital treatment and may lead to the loss of his legs.
He is now keen to work with the mental health, drug and alcohol services to address his problems.
