Donna Watkins, 23, who was living in Thamesmead at the time, was robbed by a woman she and her boyfriend had met on holiday. She had asked to stay with Donna for a few days while she was flat-hunting.

Donna came home one evening from her job at Guy's Hospital to find the woman had gone, taking all her jewellery given to her for her 21st birthday.

She alerted the police but, at her mother's suggestion, the two of them decided to tour local pawn shops for the jewels.

At the first one, in Woolwich, they found not only the missing jewellery, but CCTV footage of the woman pawning them.

Police at Bexleyheath took the jewellery for evidence and it was put in the store at the police station.

It was only after repeated phone calls that Donna learnt the woman had only received a caution for the theft. She then started asking for her jewellery back. It was then that police dropped the bombshell that her jewels had gone missing.

"I hadn't got a clue what to think," Donna told the News Shopper. A claim was made to the police for compensation. "I kept ringing Chief Superintendent Younger to find out what was going on but I couldn't reach him," she said.

Eventually, she rang New Scotland Yard, only to be told her jewellery had been found again. She went with her father last week to collect it. But she is angry and claims she was kept in the dark by police about what was going on.

Chief Supt Younger said Donna should have been told about the caution. "It is now standard for a first offence of theft where the person pleads guilty to get a caution. This should have been explained to her."

He said the jewellery was recorded as missing because an officer temporarily in charge of the store didn't log the jewellery back in after it was taken out. As a result, it was put back on the wrong shelf and couldn't be found.

"We have got more than 6,000 items in store," said Mr Younger. He ordered an audit of the store to find the missing jewellery and it turned up -- together with several other "missing items."

He said the officer concerned had been disciplined. "Mix-ups do occur but we have apologised to Miss Watkins," he said.