A housebound pensioner from the North-East has become the first person to give evidence to a jury direct from her living room via a video link for vulnerable witnesses.

Video evidence has been used in court proceedings in cases when young witnesses have appeared, and in links between courts and witness suites.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said before the theft case at Durham Crown Court that she believed it was the first time such a link had been used in an alleged victim's own home.

The trial centres around the theft of pensioner Margaret Jeffrey's jewellery in August last year.

The jewellery was stolen from her downstairs flat in Shaftoe Terrace, Washington.

Mark Spalding, 35, of Newstead Court, Washington, denies a single charge of stealing the jewellery, which was said in court to have been worth £450.

Barrister Anne Richardson, prosecuting, told the court that Spalding had befriended Mrs Jeffrey and stole the jewellery while he was visiting her.

She told the court: ''This trusting woman was the victim of a heartless and cowardly crime at the hands of Mark Spalding, who saw an opportunity to make some easy money and took it regardless of what effect it would have on Mrs Jeffrey.''

Shortly before activating the video link, Judge Richard Lowden, warned the jury not to be swayed by the unusual manner of the link or the reasons why it was being presented in such a fashion because Mrs Jeffrey was housebound.

Bespectacled Mrs Jeffrey, wearing a pink dressing gown, was accompanied in her home by a court official as she gave her evidence during a 34-minute link.

The system involved mini-cameras mounted on TV monitors used by Judge Lowden and both barristers linked to a video conference unit in her home 15 miles away.

The jury, people in the public gallery and journalists were able to watch the link as it happened, on separate monitors.

Mrs Jeffrey, who occasionally sobbed and had to take drinks of water as she gave evidence, maintained that Spalding had stolen the jewellery.

After a short period of cross examination by defence barrister Brian Russell, Mrs Jeffrey, who the court heard is in her 70s, told the court: ''He took my jewellery and I know he did.''