A COVERT camera hidden behind a greetings card helped a super sleuth family catch a thieving carer they considered a friend.
Angela Holman worked as Eileen Forte’s carer for two years, helping the stroke victim get washed and dressed and cooking her meals.
They exchanged birthday and Christmas presents and Mrs Forte, of Riverside Close, St Paul’s Cray, considered her to be like a granddaughter.
She also became a friend of the family with the retired dressmaker’s granddaughter Tina Priestman adding her as a friend on Facebook.
Mrs Priestman, 47, said: “Nan sent her a card saying ‘To a wonderful carer’.
“As a carer she was very good and Nan thought the world of her.”
But after money started going missing from her handbag the 87-year-old’s family began to get suspicious of Holman.
Former dressmaker Mrs Forte could not believe her friend would steal from her and Mrs Priestman knew she would need proof to convince her grandmother and the courts.
This led to her setting up a covert operation to catch Holman in the act.
After making a small hole in a greetings card, the 47-year-old hid a camera behind it which was trained onto the spot where Mrs Forte kept her handbag.
Bank notes marked with Mrs Forte’s initials were then put in the bag and the camera was set to record everything which went on in the living room.
On the first day of filming the camera caught Holman, of Blythe Hill, St Paul’s Cray, taking £20 from the handbag.
She took the money while her back was to the camera so the family set it up to record for a second day.
This time it caught her rifling through Mrs Forte’s bag then hiding £40 in her top.
Mrs Priestman said: “We knew that she had taken £40 but when we watched the footage we could still hardly believe it.
“We watched in disbelief.”
Mrs Priestman called the police to her grandmother’s house and Holman was arrested on suspicion of theft.
At first the 33-year-old denied taking any money but the police found £40 marked notes in her car.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of theft at a virtual court at Bromley police station after learning she had been caught red handed on film.
Mrs Forte said: “When she was arrested I could not believe it was her.
“She was a friend, a good friend.
“It upset me a great deal.
“She used to say you’re like my Nan and I looked at her like a sort of granddaughter.
“I still can hardly believe it and I feel sickened.
“Now I have two trustworthy good carers.”
Her granddaughter added: “It needed for her to not be able to do that to anybody else and that is why we did what we did.
“She needed to be caught so no one else would have to go through what we have been through.”
Holman is due to be sentenced at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on July 21.
She was suspended by her employer Care UK when the allegations were made and has now been dismissed.
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