Carer caught on camera stealing 'for Mother's Day'

A thieving carer has avoided jail, despite being caught live on camera stealing from a 92-year-old woman.

Lorraine Cenci, 44, left the elderly widow on the toilet as she rifled through her handbag and took two £20 notes from an envelope inside.

Unbeknownst to her, however, her victim's niece and nephew-in-law were watching from outside the SureCare care home as footage was streamed to their car.

After money had gone missing on three earlier occasions, the suspicious family had set up a hidden camera disguised as a speaker and placed the cash in the handbag as bait.

"We were like the MI5 trying to work out the right position for the camera," niece Debi Riley, 52, tells the Daily Mail.

"My aunt doesn't know about it and she's not going to know. She would never trust a carer again if she found out. It would absolutely mortify her."

Cenci, a mother of three, told the court that she'd taken the money to pay for a Mother's Day dinner.

But, said district judge Julia Newton, "It was an abuse of trust on one of the most vulnerable members of society.

"This is an extremely serious offence. 'You have taken advantage of a situation involving one of the most vulnerable persons in society. You took advantage of the employment to pay for a meal."

She ordered Cenci to carry out 80 hours unpaid work and pay back the £40, along with £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

This theft is just the latest in what's becoming an epidemic, with recent research indicating that there are as many as five thefts in care homes every day.

While care assistants are required to pass criminal record checks by the government's Disclosure and Barring Service, this can of course only check for past convictions - and many crooks are clearly slipping through the net.

Many relatives, like Ms Riley, resort to hidden cameras to try and catch thieves red-handed. It's a slightly tricky area legally, but no family has ever been prosecuted for doing it, and the Care Quality Commission published guidance last month.

"Decisions about using surveillance are extremely difficult - there is always a balance to be struck between protecting people and respecting their right to privacy – but this information will help families to the make the right choice for them," says care and support minister Norman Lamb.