A man has been jailed after he admitted the theft of valuable vintage coins worth £161,000.

Jaroslaw Piotrowski, 30, had gone to view the coins, which included an Elizabeth I gold sovereign and a Henry VIII gold sovereign, at a property in Swanton Morley after they had been advertised on eBay.

Piotrowski, who was left alone at the house by the owner when he made a phone call, ran out of the house with the coins.

Norwich Crown Court heard he made a number of attempts to cash in on the coins after the incident in August 2014 and managed to sell five of them in Poland for about £20,000.

But he was arrested following a DNA hit from a cup he drank whilst viewing coins at the address in Swanton Morley.

The court heard that two of the coins, worth £40,000, had been recovered.

The victim in the case, who has received an insurance payment of more than £140,000 in relation to the unrecovered coins, feels 'violated' and feels he has to move on from his home where the theft occurred.

Piotrowski, of Witney, in Oxfordshire, was yesterday sentenced to 30 months in prison after having previously admitted theft of the coins.

Janick Fielding, mitigating for Piotrowski, said the theft was not premeditated and described his client as a man who had worked hard to provide for his wife and two children.

He said the offence had 'brought shame on him and his family'.

The coins stolen included a 1642 Triple Unite; two Henry VIII Sovereigns; a James Rose Royal; an Elizabeth I Sovereign; a 1692 William and Mary Five Guinea; a 1678 Five Guinea and a 1679 Five Guinea.