A NURSE who lost thousands of pounds worth of jewellery and a £26,000 BMW has hit out after the man found with some of her possessions avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Daniel Cornell, of Stour Close, Ramsey, was initially charged with burgling the goods from Katherine Clark’s home in Fernlea, Colchester.

But he admitted to the lesser charge of handling stolen goods and was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court to eight months in jail, suspended for two years.

Mrs Clark returned to her home after a holiday in May to find she had been burgled.

She said: “We were away on holiday and came back to find the house in a mess.

“It was completely ransacked.

“All the doors and windows were locked up, but they had jimmied a way inside. The burglar got away with £11,000 worth of jewellery and a BMW, which was worth £26,000.

“During the Gulf War I worked in Saudi Arabia and I had some gold from there.

“They found the car keys and took the BMW which had been parked outside.”

The family have received some jewellery and iPods back since the burglary, but other items of jewellery, including Mrs Clark’s gold from Saudi Arabia and a charm bracelet with trinkets collected by her mother when she travelled around Europe, are probably lost forever.

Mrs Clark, a theatre nurse at Colchester General Hospital, told the Standard: “We have accepted it is gone and never coming back.

“We got a key to the car back and I have genuinely spent time cycling around looking for it.

“I went around everywhere with the key fob trying to see if it is there.”

She added: “You try to believe human nature is good, especially with my work at the hospital, but it does rock your faith.”

As part of his sentence, Cornell, 41, has a curfew to stay in Stour Close between 8pm and 6am for the next two months.

He must also carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

Mrs Clark said: “We are just appalled at the sentence.

“What will be the point in him doing community service?

“I work as a theatre nurse at Colchester General Hospital and me and my husband work hard for everything we have.

“I want him to be banned from Colchester.”