Carer uses auction guide to select - then steal - £400,000 antiques from home of war hero and sick wife

Jewell Ryan searched the home of Major-General Giles Mills and his wife Emily for items matching those in the brochure, which he had prepared as he was planning to sell the house.

She then faked a burglary, making off with 200 items with her boyfriend while 85-year-old General Mills was out visiting.

Mrs Mills, who had dementia, was at home at the time and Ryan even rifled through the drawers in the room where she was lying ill in bed.

Mrs Mills died within two months of the burglary, but her death was unconnected with it.

Ryan, her boyfriend and another accomplice were found out after police became suspicious about her version of events.

She was charged when officers found valuable Chinese porcelain in her suitcase.

Ryan, 59, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, was yesterday jailed for six and a half years after being found guilty of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to obtain property by deception.

Her alcoholic boyfriend Lionel Sime, 51, of Murston, Kent, was convicted of the same charges and jailed for five and a half years.

Henry Messenger, 65, of Faversham, Kent, was found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods and jailed for six years.

Winchester Crown Court heard that in January 2005, Ryan got a job as a live-in carer with General Mills at his home in Twyford, Hampshire.

General Mills served with distinction in the King's Royal Rifle Corps during the Second World War and was Mentioned in Dispatches.

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He and his wife had been married for 58 years and had three children.

Ryan prepared for the burglary using the catalogue produced by auctioneers Bonhams for General Mills.

Eight months after she started working for the ex-Army officer, she faked the break-in while he was away.

Their haul included paintings, jewellery, furniture, silver and many items of sentimental value, including the campaign medals of General Mills and those of his father from the First World War.

Ryan rang 999 to report a burglary in the early hours, but the police were suspicious because there was little evidence of a break-in.

She was arrested five days later. Judge Andrew Barnett told Ryan: "This is one of the most appalling breaches of trust I have ever heard."

Only £162,000 worth of the haul was recovered. Many paintings and pieces of furniture were found in a container near Messenger's home in Faversham.

Other items were found in a bin bag in a field near the town.