Teddy bear spycam!
The 'carer' is caught red-handed!
Sunday 28th September 2008
She might have been 75, but my gran, Thelma Sampson, was as bright as a button.
So when she said £40 had gone missing from her purse, I didn't doubt her.
'I had £50, now there's only £10,' she insisted to my dad, Robert, 47, mum, Cathy, 51, and me. 'It was in my purse upstairs, then the new carer came. It was after she'd left I noticed the money had gone,' she told us.
Dad and I looked at each other. He'd been his mum's part-time carer for the past two years, cooking for her and doing her housework. Then 10 days ago, in July 2008, we'd had some terrible news.
'Gran's been diagnosed with end-stage leukaemia,' Dad had told me.
It was serious.
Liverpool Primary Care Trust had organised for a carer to come and do the things Dad couldn't do for her. Only now, after the carer's very first visit, £40 had gone missing.
'I'm going to give her a piece of my mind,' I fumed.
'Calm down, pet,' Dad said. 'We can't go round accusing people without proof.'
'Oh come on,' I huffed. 'Gran had £50 when her carer arrived and £10 when she left. It's obvious.'
'Your dad's right,' Gran sighed. 'You can't accuse people willy-nilly.'
'What if we had proof?' I said, my brain whirring into action.
Just a couple of months earlier, I'd finished a degree in Forensic Science at the University of Central Lancashire. And there wasn't a single episode of CSI I hadn't seen. If anyone was qualified to catch the thief in the act, it was yours truly.
'I've got it,' I said suddenly.
I told Mum to go home, while Dad and I drove to Taskers DIY store. Gran's carer, Yvonne Allen, 28, was due back later that afternoon, so we had to act fast. Hours later, we all met up again at Gran's. Mum had done as I'd asked and brought along a large, pink teddy she had knocking around, while Dad and I had bought a £45 video camera from Taskers.
Carefully, I unpicked the stitching at the back of the bear's head and cut out his right eyeball with a knife. Then, I inserted the camera into the back of his head, lining up the eye-hole with the lens. I put the spy-cam teddy on the dressing table in Gran's bedroom, being careful to hide the wire.
'Now, Dad, empty your wallet,' I said. 'If this Yvonne is a thief, we need to tempt her.'
Dad had £80 on him. I wrote down their serial numbers, then put the notes into Gran's purse.
Then I set the camera running. The trap was set.
'Phone me when Yvonne's been,' I told Gran, kissing her goodbye.
'Yes dear,' she nodded.
Then, I made myself scarce. Three hours later, we got the call.
'Yvonne's just left,' Gran said. 'I made sure she had some time alone in my bedroom by asking her to nip and get my cardigan.'
Quick as a flash, Mum, Dad and I were round there.Dad opened her purse.
'She's taken £60!' he cried.
We rigged the camera up to the computer and watched the grainy figure of Yvonne fishing around in Gran's handbag and lifting £60 out of her purse.
'Gotcha!' I said, punching the air.
We called the police, who came straight away, took statements from us all and examined the tape. Poor Gran was beside herself.
'Why would she do such a thing?' she wept. 'She knows I'm really ill.'
The next day, Yvonne was arrested on her way to work. She had £40 of the money she'd stolen the day before on her. The police were able to identify the notes in her purse from by the serial numbers I'd written down. Gran's ex-carer Yvonne Allen appeared in Liverpool Community Justice Centre a month later. Gran was too weak to make it to court, but Mum and Dad were there as Yvonne Allen admitted two counts of theft and was jailed for six months. She claimed to be in debt, but, in reality, she had hundreds of pounds saved up for a trip to Las Vegas. She agreed to pay back the rest of the money she'd stolen from Gran.
Now, two months on, with the help of a new carer, we're all determined to make sure that however long Gran has left, she feels happy and secure. As for me? I'm hoping to join
the Navy. But if that fails, I reckon me and that pink teddy would make one hell of a crime-fighting duo!