A woman who posed as a house cleaner and stole almost £65,000 worth of jewellery from north London homes has been jailed.

Monalisa Ion, 44, would pose as a house cleaner to obtain cleaning jobs through a new agency each time.

She would then vanish part-way through the job – sometimes hauling away a bin bag full of jewellery. 

On September 4 last year she stole £39,420 worth of jewellery from a home in Marlborough Hill, South Hampstead. 

She also stole jewellery worth £4,700 from a home in Barnet and £20,000 from a home in Harrow. 

Ion was brought to justice when she targeted a home in Farnham, Surrey, in January. 

After she made off with an engagement ring and a diamond necklace, a Surrey Police officer tracked Ion down. 

When she was arrested at her home on Foleshill Road in Coventry, her phone was found to contain photos of the stolen jewellery. 

Officers also located pawn shop receipts for the stolen items. 

On Monday (June 10) Ion was jailed for three years at Guildford Crown Court after she pleaded guilty to six counts of theft. 

Monalisa IonMonalisa Ion (Image: Surrey Police)

PC Cummins, from Guildford’s local proactive unit, said: “The homeowners trusted Monalisa to be in their homes unsupervised and this high degree of trust was broken. 

“Monalisa planned these thefts by signing up to cleaning companies and when challenged by the victims and cleaning companies she denied any involvement. 

“Her actions have caused significant financial loss and emotional upset, to all those involved as the jewellery stolen held great sentimental value, and all for very little gain.  

“This sentence demonstrates the seriousness of her offending and the impact it has had on her victims. 

“Surrey Police will continue to work tirelessly to bring those responsible for criminality in our county to justice.”