A WOMAN whose disappearance sparked a massive police hunt has admitted being involved in burglaries while officers were trying to track her down.

Kariss Clarke, 23, from New Waverley Road, Basildon , was thought to have been kidnapped after a man witnessed her being beaten and bundled into a black Jaguar in Seaview Avenue, Vange, at 9.30pm on Friday, April 13.

The incident, reported by a man who was also assaulted after he tried to intervene, sparked a two-week missing person inquiry, involving the Essex and Kent Serious Crime Squad.

But Clarke and boyfriend Jimmy McCann, 30, of no fixed home, have admitted carrying out two burglaries after her disappearance. The pair were arrested in Forest Gate, East London, in late April and charged with two burglaries which they admitted at a recent hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

They both admitted entering a property in Cranley Drive, Ilford, with the intention of burgling it, but no property was stolen.

McCann and Clarke also pleaded guilty to a burglary in Springfield Drive, Ilford, the following day, where cash was taken.

The pair will be sentenced next week and remain in custody.

During the search for Clarke, police were called to Canvey marshes after a member of the public reported a sighting, leading officers to conduct a day-long operation trying to find her.

The black Jaguar, which was stolen during a burglary near Ongar, was dumped in Basildon two days after she went missing.

A 23-year-old Basildon woman was questioned in relation to this theft, but freed from police bail, while a 30-year-old man remains on bail as inquiries continue.