An elderly woman has lost treasured gold jewellery after the sudden closure of a family firm.

Gina Dona-Hooker, 80, wanted her 20-year-old gold bracelet and necklace cleaned and repaired.

Her daughter, Tricia Dona-Hooker, of Upper North Street, Brighton, took the jewellery to Jays Jewellers in Western Road, Brighton, last August.

She was given a receipt and told she could collect the items within three months.

Yet when she returned to the shop six weeks later, she found the jewellers had disappeared and been replaced by a health food shop.

She has tried to track down the owners and her mother's missing 18-carat gold necklace and nine-carat filigree gold bracelet but with no luck.

Tricia said: "When I first took the jewellery in, there was no mention that the shop might be closing down.

"I was amazed when I went back and it was no longer there.

"The people at the health shop said they knew nothing about where the previous owners had gone. They seemed to have just vanished. I feel I've searched everywhere I can.

"My mother's been very upset by it all and so have I. The jewellery had real sentimental value.

"The bracelet was a present from me and the chain was from a friend from the Lebanon who has since died."

She has bought her mother a £90 gold bracelet as a consolatory replacement but is keen to track down the original items.

She complained to Sussex Police but was told there was nothing they could do.

Stephen Schoinas, who runs Health House, the shop which has replaced Jays, said he knew nothing about the building's previous occupants.

Jays Jewellers, based in Western Road for about 25 years, was run by Philip and Anna Bryman.

The pair also ran Phillip James jewellers in George Street, Hove, but this shop closed about a year ago after two years of trading.

A Hove jeweller, who did not want to be named, said: "They kept the Western Road one going for about another six months before closing that one too.

"His father used to run the business and the Western Road shop was open for years. But there do seem to have been problems over the last year and a half.

"I've heard quite a few people have been left wondering what's happened to the shop because they had jewellery with them or wanted work done on things they'd bought."

Mr and Mrs Bryman, of Hove Park Road, Hove, were unavailable for comment.

Anna and Nadia Morad and Iris Lev, all of the same address in Hove Park Road, are listed as directors of Shinegold Limited, which paid £300,000 for the freehold of the Western Road building in June 2000.

Staff at stores named Jays Jewellers in Blackpool and in Leiston, Suffolk, said they had no connection to the Brighton firm.