A former jewellery store manager in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after posting selfies wearing stolen merchandise and sending them to her coworkers.

Lucy Roberts, 39, frequently took jewellery home with her during the year she worked at a high-end shop, Humberside Police said, telling suspicious coworkers she “was conducting work at home and sorting stock for the workshop”.

The store has not been named.

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It was only when Roberts quit and went on vacation that her colleagues realised where the jewellery went.

She began sending her former coworkers selfies from a cruise, decked out in items taken from the shop.

“Without a care in the world, dripping in diamonds, thinking she had deceived everybody,” Detective Sergeant Krista Wilkinson said.

Police found “thousands of pounds worth of jewellery strewn around in boxes beneath the bed and in cupboards,” after searching her home, the statement says.

In total, Roberts stole almost £125,000 ($A262,000) in diamonds, gold, silver, “bespoke jewellery” and cash from her employer, Wilkinson said.

CNN was not able to determine whether Roberts has legal representation.

Police said Roberts initially denied she had stolen any stock from her employer, insisting she had borrowed some of the jewellery from a coworker and that they planted the other items in her bags, but she later entered a guilty plea for theft by an employee, receiving 28 months in prison.

Roberts was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport. Police took her into custody after finding her “wearing a substantial amount of stolen jewellery” with more pilfered merchandise in her suitcase, according to the statement.

Body camera footage from the arrest shows Roberts removing more jewellery “as she was escorted through Heathrow Airport … in an attempt to dispose of it,” police added.

The store where Roberts formerly worked said it is “pleased to finally have closure on the matter after several years”, police said.