An au pair sobbed after being jailed for 14 months when she admitted stealing jewellery of sentimental value and worth more than £11,000 from a family.

Michelle Connelly Black, aged 32, of Hill View Road, Llanrhos, Llandudno, now 16 weeks pregnant, took items from Lava Zeki including her mother's wedding ring and a piece which had belonged to her sister who died in a terrorist attack in Baghdad.

"We as a family feel completely betrayed," Mrs Zeki said in a statement.

Judge Timothy Petts told Connelly Black at Mold Crown Court :"Over a period of a few months in 2017 you stole over £11,000 worth of jewellery from your employer. It's a high degree of trust. This is a family where the husband had tragically died a few years ago."

Judge Petts said the defendant had come across a jewellery box and went back to it repeatedly. Gold items were sold for scrap metal value.

"What you did was a disgraceful breach of trust shown in you by a family in need of your assistance. You repeatedly undermined the trust placed in you."

Connelly Black had become pregnant since.

Jailing her, the judge said :"You have brought this upon yourself and will go to prison as a result."

James Coutts, prosecuting, said Connelly Black had been recruited by a family living in the Wrexham area last year. Shortly after she started work, Mrs Zeki noticed 900 dollars hidden in a wardrobe had vanished.

Mr Coutts said :"There was no evidence and so no investigation carried on."

But in December £450 had gone and the jewellery box had disappeared. Connelly Black was fired and police alerted.

The prosecutor said she had been selling high quality Asian jewellery at Cash Converters at Wrexham. There were eight separate transactions worth £2,692 and at another store jewellery was sold for £800.

Mr Coutts said Mrs Zeki was born in Iraq and her late husband had been a hospital eye consultant at Bangor.

Dafydd Roberts, defending, said the benefit to his client was up to £4,000. Connelly Black had been asked to clean a spare room and came across the jewellery box. "This behaviour is out of character," counsel remarked.

She faced financial hardship and made a poor decision. "She wishes me to publicly apologise to the victim," Mr Roberts added.