A FORMER soldier was cleared of switching a £7,000 ring for a cheap copy but was jailed for snatching a gold bracelet while distracting a shop assistant.

Danny Laird was acquitted by a jury of swapping a platinum engagement band for a similar Marks and Spencer piece at Nicholas Jewellery in Colchester High Street.

But the 35-year-old had previously admitted taking a bracelet from Boreham Christopher in Dovercourt High Street.

He went into the shop just after noon in February last year and told the shop worker he was interested in looking at bracelets and chains.

Laird tried one on worth £1,900 and said his wife told him to look for a hallmark so the assistant asked if he wanted an eyeglass to inspect it further.

He agreed and as she turned around to get it Laird had disappeared with the bracelet.

She followed him shouting and saw him drive away in a black car.

He was arrested the following day.

The bracelet has never been recovered and Laird told police he threw it out of the window on the A120.

Ipswich Crown Court heard how Laird had toured Northern Ireland as part of the Royal Infantry and was discharged in 2004 with an exemplary service record.

Shortly before the bracelet theft he had convictions for making off without payment from petrol stations.

The previous year he was given a suspended sentence in a French court for facilitating illegal migration.

Judge Martyn Levett said shops in small communities relied on people being honest and jailed Laird for six months.

He said: "Something has happened in your life.

"After being given the suspended sentence - which I do not have the ability to invoke - within ten months you began driving away from petrol stations without paying for your fuel.

"Harwich is a place I know well and a fairly rural community.

"If shops are able to thrive because of the economic downturn they rely on the honesty and integrity of customers.

"You gave a story to the sales assistant and as soon as her back was turned you ran away."

Judge Levett said part of Laird's story - where he told the shop assistant he had come into money - was similar to the theft he had been acquitted of in Colchester.

He jailed Laird, who lived in Layer Road, Colchester, at the time, for six months and ordered £1,900 in compensation be paid.