Who is Doris Payne? America's oldest jewel thief arrested again for stealing items worth $86

Doris Payne, who is believed to be the oldest jewel thief in the US, has once again been charged with theft.

The 86-year-old serial thief, with a crime record dating back to the 1950s, was arrested at a Walmart store in Chamblee, Georgia on Monday (17 July) after she was caught stuffing items worth $86.22 (£66) into her bag.

Payne, dubbed the Granny Gem Thief, was charged with four counts of theft by shoplifting but was soon released on a $607 bond, NBC reported.

However, she was re-arrested on Tuesday and sent to jail on a probation violation stemming from an earlier conviction, where she had pleaded guilty of stealing a diamond necklace worth $2,000 from a department store in a suburb of Atlanta.

She was earlier sentenced to house arrest and was even banned from shopping malls in the city's area. The judge had ordered her to wear an ankle monitor. Payne was just two weeks away from completing the ankle monitoring sentence.

On Tuesday, before being locked inside the cell, Payne said that she had not stolen anything and that she had forgotten about the items and missed to pay the bills.

"Thieving was the farthest thing from my mind," she told NBC.

Payne's attorney, Drew Findling, has also claimed that his client is innocent and said that she could not steal a bunch of necessities from the big-box store, which "is a far cry from what historically people associate with Doris Payne".

"There's no brooch, no diamond pendant, no earrings. She was at Walmart. This doesn't fit into anything she has done before and we are going to look at the video and see what's going on, see if this is maybe forgetfulness," Findling said.

He added that Payne might face prison this time because of the Walmart episode.

"At her age, that would be tragic. At my office, we're treating this like her life is on the line," he said.

Who is Doris Payne?

Payne's career as an international jewel thief spanned six decades, and her most noted theft was when she swiped away a 10-carat diamond ring worth over a half million dollars from Monte Carlo during a European trip in the 1970s.

A documentary on Netflix – The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne – was released in 2013, bringing her back to the limelight. In the trailer of the documentary, she said, "I don't have any regrets about stealing jewellery. I regret getting caught".

Payne, who was raised in West Virginia before moving to Ohio, has reportedly admitted that she started shoplifting in her early teens.

"I used to go in stores, slip something into my pocketbook and give it back. It was all in fun," she had said, according to the Daily Beast.

Despite being a thief for about 60 years, with an estimated haul of about $2m worth of jewellery from all the robberies, Payne is yet to retire.