A mother of four who burgled her neighbour's home has been given community work and a stern telling off for her actions.

Just when crime, Cote d'Azur style, was beginning to look a little low-rent, along comes a big, old-fashioned jewellery heist to restore the louche glamour.

Three teenagers have been referred to the police youth aid service in relation to a brazen theft from a Wellington cafe after Sunday's magnitude 6.5 earthquake.

Thieves have found a new way to steal petrol and have been targeting cars in upmarket Auckland areas in a month-long crime wave.

A Wellington cafe which was struck by brazen thieves after the magnitude 6.5 earthquake has been flooded with messages, calls and emails about the "low-life" offenders.

Brazen thieves made off with a safe containing cash from a cafe in one of Wellington's landmark downtown buildings.

A police car was rammed by a stolen a vehicle during a high-speed pursuit in Coromandel this morning.

A woman who stole nearly $450,000 from a prominent Auckland couple could not be sentenced as planned today as the presiding judge knew her victims.

A man who "combed" Auckland looking for frail and vulnerable elderly women to con has been labelled a "menace" and sent to prison - again.

When Jenny Kidd realised her elderly aunt had been ripped off to the tune of $21,000 she was horrified - and then angry.

Internal Affairs Minister and Napier MP Chris Tremain has requested a report into how a British killer managed to obtain a New Zealand passport issued in the name of a severely brain-damaged Hastings man.

A brazen thief distracted staff and stole money from a young Greytown boy's fundraiser for his sick grandfather.

Like all the best fabled morality tales this one begins in a walk-in wardrobe.

Police are defending a decision to ask the family of a Christchurch handbag theft victim to organise security camera footage in a bid to identify the offender.