Caught red-handed: Carer filmed stealing money from pensioner's purse in her own home
This is the moment a carer was caught stealing cash from a pensioner after a camera was installed by her suspicious employers.
Sheryvone Brooks was recorded taking a purse belonging to 85-year-old Evelyn Nicholson from a kitchen drawer, removing £30 and pocketing the cash.
Bosses at Gateway Health and Social Care Dudley had put in the camera after Mrs Nicholson's family became concerned about money going missing, Dudley Magistrates Court heard.
Brooks, aged 19, of Foxmeadow Close, Sedgley, had been one of her victim's primary carers for around six months. She pleaded guilty to a count of theft.
Magistrates committed her for sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court on March 18. The court heard the camera had been installed at Mrs Nicholson's address in Stourbridge.
Brooks was recorded stealing the money on January 6 this year. Miss Lynda Gudgeon, prosecuting, said the footage had been reviewed by the company.
"It showed the defendant sitting down at the kitchen drawer removing the purse and taking out the money before putting it in the pocket of her tracksuit," she said.
"The purse was then put back in the drawer. The family had become concerned about money going missing from the purse.
"She admitted what she had done and said she had needed the money for Christmas presents."
Mr Timothy Talbot-Webb, defending, said his client was of previous good character and had repaid the money. In her words what she did was stupid. It was also opportunistic," he said. "She knew it was wrong."
Magistrates said while the amount of money taken was 'minor', Brooks had breached the trust of an elderly and vulnerable person she was supposed to be caring for. They refused jurisdiction and committed the case to crown court.
Mrs Nicholson's eldest son Robert Smith, 65, said his mother had been heartbroken when she found out Brooks had been stealing from her."She was devastated and it has affected her health," he said. "My mother said if Brooks had come to her and told her she had financial difficulties she would have given her the money. The family is understandably very angry about what happened."
Mr Smith praised the response of Gateway Health.
A spokesman for Gateway said Brooks had been dismissed.
