A FORMER serviceman discovered his medals had been stolen when he went to put them on for a Remembrance Day service.

Allan Lofts, 78, also found his father’s medals from the First World War were missing.

A court heard how he called police and told officers he thought his daughter Julie Lofts may have been responsible because she had stolen from the family before.

Lofts, 45, of Mountbatten Drive, Colchester, told police she had stolen the medals and sold them at a shop in Colchester.

Officers later recovered some of the medals worth around £3,000, but not all of them.

She admitted theft when she appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday and was given an eight-month jail sentence, suspended for six two years.

Judge David Turner said: "This was a disgraceful, thoughtless and cruel behaviour.

"Stealing your own father's and your grandfather's medals was extraordinarily mean-spirited.”

Scott Wainwright, mitigating, said the problems Lofts faced stemmed from her drinking and her mental state.

He said: "She is waiting to hear if her father will have anything more to do with her. She has not seen his since this incident took place."

As well as the suspended jail sentence, Lofts was also given 12 months supervision and told to go on an alcohol treatment course for six months.