Crime victims sifted through hundreds of gems as the police displayed a £1 million haul of seized jewellery.

Sussex Police found about 1,200 items of jewellery during a raid on an address in Worthing and held an exhibition on Saturday to reunite victims with their lost heirlooms.

Dozens of people visited Centenary House police station in Durrington Lane, Durrington, and many found items belonging to them.

Esther King, 90, of Lancing, was searching for a diamond engagement ring given to her in 1938 by her late husband Daniel.

She was burgled in December by two men who claimed they were investigating a water leak.

While they distracted her a third man stole the ring from her bedroom.

Her daughter Pamela Rose, 59, said: "She was so upset by this. My father died very young, when he was 45, and the ring was the only thing she had left to remind her of him."

Gina Dimiasi, 35, of Worthing, was at the exhibition looking for jewellery stolen during a burglary at her home on December 30.

She found a bracelet but could not track down items that had been given to her by her mother and grandmother.

She said: "I was looking forward to finding my mother's engagement ring. I thought if I could find it I would be happy but it wasn't there.

"The burglary made me angry because of what it did to my children. My daughter couldn't walk around the house on her own afterwards and she'd scream if I wasn't in the same room.

Jean Hayes, 66, also found a bracelet at the exhibition but could not find other items stolen during a burglary at her Worthing home on December 1.

Mrs Hayes said: "The bracelet I found was something I bought in the Seventies, but I couldn't find a lot of the stuff I was looking for, like my mother's engagement ring and a watch my father gave me when I was eight.

"I'd left my own engagement ring on a table because I was going to get it fixed and they took that too."

Detective Sergeant Tanya Jones said between 100 and 120 people had visited the exhibition and at least eight had found items belonging to them.

She organised the exhibition as a result of finding jewellery worth £1 million during a single raid.