Thief dumped £4000 cash in rubbish tip

Published 17 Feb 2010 11:14

A CLEANER stole £6000 from a safe in her elderly employer's home - then dumped £4000 of it in a tip when she heard police had been called.

Janet Blyth (52), of Craigleith, Fishcross, appeared at Alloa Sheriff Court on Thursday and pled guilty to forcing open a lockfast safe by means of a key between 18 December last year and 6 January this year, at an address in Dollar, stealing £2000.

She also admitted a further charge of stealing another £4000 and 390 Euros between 12 and 14 January this year from the safe at the house she worked in.

Depute Fiscal Jim Graham told the court that the victim of the theft was an elderly lady who was suffering from the degenerative condition Parkinsons Disease.

Her husband, who was suffering from cancer, had died shortly before Christmas and, anticipating his own death, had withdrawn the £6000 from an account and placed it in the house safe so his wife could pay bills.

Blyth had worked for the family for several years as a part-time cleaner and had been given a set of keys for the house and also the code for the alarm.

Victim

Mr Graham added that the elderly victim employed a secretary who dealt with the day-to-day affairs and paid bills for her employer. She had checked the money in the safe, which came to £6000 in cash, along with 390 Euros in cash. She separated the money into bundles and placed it in an envelope.

A few days later the elderly victim told Blyth that she didn't have enough money at the time to pay her weekly wage and that she would have to take the money from the safe, proceeding to take the key to the safe from its hiding place.

Just as she was about to open the safe Blyth declined the offer and told her employer that she would get her wages at a later date.

Six days later the secretary went to the safe and noticed that two £1000 bundles were missing. Although she told her employer the matter wasn't reported to the police at this point.

When she checked the safe again several days later she noted that the remaining £4000 was still there but decided to contact the police to say that £2000 had been stolen.

Theft

When police attended the house it was discovered that the remaining £4000 and the 390 Euros had been stolen from the safe.

Police enquiries went on to suggest that Blyth and her husband were in financial difficulties with debts of £40,000.

Blyth agreed to her house being searched and officers found £300 in a bedroom drawer which she said her husband had saved for an exhaust for his car.

However, on being taken to the police station Blyth admitted to police she had taken the money.

When she heard the police had been called in, she placed the £4000 and the 390 Euros in a plastic bag and threw it into the household waste skip at Forthbank.

The money was recovered from the skip, which had to be brought back from Polmaise, and a further £620 in cash was found by police officers in Blyth's home.

Defence solicitor Alison McKay said that Blyth was extremely regretful about her actions having worked for the elderly woman for four years during which time she had a good working relationship with her and was a trusted employee - so much so that she had a key to the property and knew where the key to the safe was kept.

Ms McKay said that in the first incident Blyth had taken the safe key and, out of curiosity, had opened the safe, saw the £6000 in the envelope, removed £2000 and took it home with her leaving the remaining money in the safe.

Blyth spent approximately £1000 of this on general household expenditure, including shopping and petrol for the car, and Ms Mckay went on to say that although Blyth and her husband were declared bankrupt in 2009 they didn't have the £40,000 of debt described by the Crown.

The defence solicitor said that on the second occasion the envelope with the remaining £4000 had been lying on the floor in the boxroom of the Dollar house and that Blyth picked it up and kept it in her car.

But when she discovered that the missing money had been reported to the police she panicked and dumped the remaining cash in the tip in Alloa.

Devastated

Ms McKay added, "My client is a family woman who has been married for 26 years.

"Her family is close and they are all devastated by what has happened particularly because it was so out of character.

"She has lost the job she loved but realises it was down to her own stupidity."

Sheriff David Mackie deferred sentence to 18 March for reports but told Blyth, "This matter is too serious to be dealt with by a fine.

"Not withstanding the fact that fortunately most of the money has been recovered and the balance can be repaid, it was a breach of trust of the worst kind.

"Although the financial loss to your former employer may be minimal, she will be left with a complete loss of confidence in anyone coming to her house as a cleaner again."

Tweet

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @alloatiser