PURTON handbag thief Jayne Rand was told yesterday she has to pay back more than £117,000 from the proceeds of her crime spree.

Mother-of-two Rand, of Clardon Lane, was caught by staff at the David Evans’ House of Fraser store in Cwmbran while stealing her 905th handbag.

The arrest brought to an end to a three-year spree of stealing hundreds of handbags from shops around the country, which she then sold on eBay.

Judge Tom Crowther QC, sitting at Cardiff Crown Court decided she now has six months to pay back the £117,171.70 she made from her three-year theft spree.

She has to make the pay-back from her assets including a portfolio of properties, the court decided. Rand is said to have ran a business selling the stolen handbags on eBay, where she made 838 sales – selling the stolen goods to buyers who had no idea how she got them.

She previously pleaded guilty to the charges of shoplifting and converting criminal property between December 2009 and December 2012.

The bags were from a variety of high-profile designers including Radley, with some worth £175 to £200 each.

During her sentencing at Newport Crown Court in October last year, the court heard how Rand would enter a handbag shop without a bag, pick up one from the display, walk around with it on her shoulder and finally leave still carrying it. Sometimes she had to remove the tags but often this was not necessary, the court was told.

During the previous sentencing hearing, the court also heard how Rand would occasionally steal a bag to order.

But Andrew Taylor, defending at the time of sentencing, said Rand felt she had to steal the bags as the property business she ran with her husband was in difficulties following the recession.

He said she believed her thefts might be able to keep the ship afloat. Rand was becoming addicted to shoplifting. He told the court: “She almost became immune to the feeling of wrong-doing that should have been visited upon a person in her predicament.”

The 49-year-old was again defended by Andrew Taylor, and appeared at the court for the proceeds of crime hearing yesterday.

David Thomas, prosecuting, told the court that Rand was sentenced in October last year to serve two 18-month prison sentences concurrently.