A cleaner caught with £180,000 worth of designer goods, jewellery - including a gold necklace and a diamond ring - as well as a Rolex watch, from a Mayfair hotel has been jailed for 18 months.
Graziela Camacho, 30, pulled £50 notes from her bra when she was questioned about thefts from visitors at the five-star Connaught hotel in Mayfair.
A number of thefts had been reported at the hotel and when security staff examined keys used to access the rooms they found only Camacho had been in all three rooms at the time.
One guest said she had walked into her room to see Camacho squatting on the floor with wads of notes next to her, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Adrian Richmond, head of security at the £600-a-night hotel, carried out an "integrity test", where they would check a guest room where £13,500 had been hidden.
Camacho was called in for an interview after staff found two £50 notes were missing from the room after she had checked it, jurors heard.
She confessed to the theft and pulled the notes out of her bra during the interview and was fired.
Camacho had admitted seven charges of theft from the Connaught Hotel but denied a further offence of possessing criminal property in relation to gems and luxury goods worth more than £180,000.
But she decided to admit that charge several days into her trial.
Camacho admitted she stole £15,000 in cash and various items of jewellery - but only acknowledged handling the huge haul found in her home.
The judge, Mr Recorder Jonathan Higgs, QC, told her: "It is a great tragedy for your family that you, a good woman in many ways, have come to be sentenced for dishonesty.
"This is not a one-off case of dishonesty.
"You went to work day after day looking for an opportunity to steal, to steal from vulnerable people in the sense they were guests in a hotel abroad.
"When you thought you could get away with it, you stole what you could. The amount was huge.
"I do not accept this was merely to look after your mother and son. It was pure greed."
Dressed in a beige suit and dark hair wrap and clutching a bible to her chest, Camacho wept silently as muffled sobs could be heard from supporters in the public gallery.
Scott Smith, defending, said Camacho had been in work since moving to the UK in 2009.
"Originally, Ms Camacho had in fact tried to obtain such employment as to be able to undertake legal training herself.
"Of course, that is another door that is not open to her, she accepts due to her own judgement and mistakes.
"She has a five year-old son. He is fully dependent on Ms Camacho."
The barrister said that his client had stolen out of desperation to help her mother, who is in ill health and currently looking after her young son in Portugal.
But the judge reminded him of a video played at trial of two "open mouthed" officers searching a flat which was packed with designer goods.
"This is somebody who says she had a young child, who says she has a sick mother, she needs to support people and there she is in that flat with those things," said the judge.
Two Met officers were sent to search Camacho's home in Ilford, east London, on April 3, 2019, expecting to find a few items of jewellery and a stolen Rolex.
Kemi Fapohunda, prosecuting, said: "They were not prepared for what it was that they found.
"They found a watch, they found earrings, necklace a large number of designer bags, designer shoes, and cash, not just in pounds, but dollars, euros, and other currencies.
"They were not able to seize everything they found."
Police footage shown to the jury showed Camacho had stacks of shoeboxes from Gucci and Adidas' Yeezy brands stored in large walk-in closets.
Ms Fapohunda said: "These are stolen items, or items that have been purchased with stolen cash."
Among the estimated £182,000 worth of items seized police found a gold coin necklace, Rolex watch, a diamond ring and diamond bracelets from her home, which were later identified as the items stolen from Connaught hotel guests, the court heard.
Police also found large bundles of cash at her home, some of which were found inside a teddy bear, jurors heard.
Camacho told police in interview all of the seized items were her property, except for $31,000 that belonged to her mother.
Mr Fapohunda added: "By her own admission she accepted stealing items, and cash from the hotel, which demonstrates she has the capacity to steal."
Camacho admitted seven charges of theft from the Connaught Hotel and possessing criminal property.
She was jailed for 18 months.
The prosecution will go ahead with confiscation proceedings.
