Face of the care home thief who stole £700

This is the woman who stole more than £700 from a disabled resident while working as the manager of a residential care home in Great Barr.

Sylvia Irving-Johnson, aged 53, stole the money from Pauline Smith during her employment at Little Ashmill Residential Care Home in Stanhope Way.

Irving-Johnson, who today pleaded guilty to theft at Wolverhampton Crown Court, claims she took the 62-year-old's bank card home by accident but was then pressured into spending the cash by her partner.

Judge Martin Walsh sentenced Irving-Johnson, of Nechells Park Road, Birmingham, to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and she was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Warren Stanier, prosecuting, said the money was taken in amounts of up to £100 a time between December 22, 2010, and March 17 this year. Mr Stainer said the victim suffered from spina bifida and learning difficulties.

Irving-Johnson was rumbled after her area manager visited the home at the end of March and collected the victim's post, discovering in her bank statements that there had been withdrawals.

Judge Walsh told the defendant: "The victim was utterly dependent upon the care and honesty of those with responsibility for providing her care.

"The sum of money is not great but it was committed by you over a period of time to meet the demands of a man who you had entered into some form of relationship with."

He accepted she had shown remorse. "I want to make it absolutely clear that it is only because of your guilty plea that I have been able to suspend the sentence, you have escaped going to prison today by the skin of your teeth," he said.

Miss Wendy Miller, defending, said Irving-Johnson was a woman of previous impeccable character who was in a "threatening" situation with her partner and had committed theft to make payments to him.