A DIAMOND thief has been jailed for seven years after a judge said that he played for high stakes and lost.

Richard Calvert, 31, targeted the best diamond rings owned by jewellers across the North of England by posing as a wealthy customer.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he would wave a fistful of notes and distract assistants by asking to see jewellery from the bottom shelf of the window, which left them crawling on their hands and knees to retrieve.

Meanwhile, he would make off with rings worth thousands, said Joseph Spencer, prosecuting.

Calvert, from Church Street, Guisborough, east Cleveland, stole a diamond solitaire ring worth £22,000 from a jeweller in Hull on December 18, 2004.

He also pocketed another ring worth £3,375 and a £395 gold ring from a Bridlington shop on January 25 last year.

A diamond worth £41,000 from a Newcastle jeweller on March 9 last year, and diamond rings worth £29,500 and £11,250 from a shop in Lancaster on March 25 were also among his haul.

Calvert also admitted other thefts in which he targeted the elderly.

Mr Spencer said that on September 19 last year Calvert called at the Stockton home of a 79-year-old man recovering from two strokes and a heart attack and he stole £130 from his wallet.

Then on October 29, he pushed his way into the home of an 87-year-old man by claiming to be selling fruit and stole the pensioner's £600 Christmas savings.

Peter Makepeace, defending, said that Calvert was driven by a drug addiction and he was disgusted with his own behaviour.

Stacey Parkin, 31, of Arron Walk, Guisborough, was jailed for 18 months after she admitted helping Calvert on some of his jeweller's shop thefts for £50 a time to pay off debts of £20,000.

Judge Les Spittle told Calvert: "You played for high stakes and you lost. You did not take the rubbish, you were after the good stuff. It's quite clear that jewellers' shops were being targeted and you were travelling around."

Calvert, who pleaded guilty to five thefts and a burglary, was sentenced to nine months recall from his last sentence, four years for the jewel thefts, six months for the theft in Stockton and two-and-a-half years for burglary at the other elderly man's home.