5.30am...and carer is caught on CCTV breaking into OAP’s home
CREEPING furtively around an elderly lady’s home in the early hours of the morning, this is the moment a callous carer’s shameless dishonesty was finally exposed.
Caroline Kelly was captured on CCTV sneaking in and out of 87-year-old Gretel Ross’s house at 5.30am – wearing her Marks and Spencer uniform – before starting her shift at the store.
The family of Mrs Ross – a former Liberal Democrat councillor for Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, for 28 years – had noticed money going missing and she told them that she was hearing ‘noises’ in the night.
They set up cameras – and caught Mrs Ross’s former council carer sneaking in and out under cover of darkness early in the morning. The cameras had been installed for only 24 hours when the footage was captured.
Mrs Ross suffered a stroke the next day and lost her independent lifestyle. She will have to spend the rest of her life in a care home.
The 89-year-old said: ‘I was shocked someone who I had trusted as a friend should repay that friendship with such dishonesty. It was a tragedy that this should happen because I still have the highest regard for all the other carers from South Lanarkshire Council who looked after me so well.’
Kelly had previously worked as Mrs Ross’s carer and lived nearby. But she suddenly cut off contact and Mrs Ross had not seen her for years.
Her family had noticed small sums of money going missing but were very concerned during the summer of 2018 when a purse containing £500 disappeared, and so set up CCTV cameras in Mrs Ross’s home.
The whole family was stunned when they saw Kelly on film. The footage even shows Kelly hopping onto one foot to avoid a squeaky floorboard.
At Glasgow Sheriff Court last month,
Kelly was found guilty of housebreaking, while a charge of stealing Mrs Ross’s keys was not proven. She will be sentenced on March 11.
When confronted outside her detached bungalow in Rutherglen, Kelly, 61, said: ‘Yes, I am very, very sorry. I just don’t know why I did it.’
Kelly claimed she was no longer working for Marks and Spencer.
However, an M&S spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the situation and are following our own internal process.’