Doris Payne
Doris Payne is said to have stolen more than $2m worth of jewellery in her criminal career DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office

A notorious 86-year-old jewel thief previously made famous by a television documentary about her exploits has been arrested in connection with the theft of a $2,000 (£1,589) necklace.

Police in Dunwoody, near Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia, arrested Doris Payne at a Von Maur department store, in Perimeter Mall, Dunwoody on Tuesday (13 December).

Officers say the infamous octogenarian was stopped as she tried to leave the store with a necklace in her back pocket. A member of staff had apparently noticed Payne behaving suspiciously and contacted police, who arrested her upon arrival.

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Payne, who was raised in West Virginia before moving to Ohio as a teenager, is believed to have used over 22 aliases in her time - carrying out jewellery thefts across numerous continents over several decades.

A 2013 TV documentary, The Life And Crimes Of Doris Payne, immortalised her crimes.

The documentary claims that an estimated $2m (£1.589m) worth of jewellery has been stolen by Payne since she began her criminal career in her twenties.

Despite this history, Payne claimed her life of crime was behind her when approached by officers in Dunwoody, but was soon arrested in connection with another previous theft.

"In this incident, Payne concealed a $2,000 necklace in her back pocket and attempted to exit the store," Dunwoody police spokesman Mark Stevens Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Payne reportedly dresses in designer clothes to carry out her crimes and charms sales workers at upmarket department stores before pocketing jewellery when they are distracted.

"I don't dictate what happens when I walk in the store," she previously told Associated Press. "The people in charge dictate what happens with me when I walk in the store. "I don't tell a person in the store I want to see something that costs $10,000. They make those decisions based on how I present myself and how I look."

In October 2015 Payne was arrested in the same city after she allegedly took a pair of $690 (£549) Christian Dior earrings from a Saks Fifth Avenue department store. Despite numerous spells in jail for her crimes, Payne has said she only regrets "getting caught".