Caught on camera, a carer jailed after taking war medals
A CRUEL carer who snatched war medals, cash and jewellery from the elderly has been jailed after police set up a spy camera in a victim’s home.
Sonia Maisonave, 51, targeted vulnerable clients to feed her gambling habit.
Ipswich Crown Court heard how officers set up the secret camera over suspicions that she was stealing.
Maisonave, of Lowestoft, Suffolk, was arrested after she was caught taking £70 from an envelope containing marked banknotes.
Police searched a bedroom cupboard at her house and seized jewellery, medals and an iPad.
Maisonave admitted six offences of theft between September 2011 and June 2016 and was jailed for 20 months.
Judge Rupert Overbury told her: “As a carer for elderly and infirm people you were in a significant position of trust. People relied on you to go into their homes and do your job honestly – and you didn’t.”
The judge said her victims were suffering from serious illnesses, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis.
The victims included a 96-year-old who had lived alone since the death of her husband, who served as a RAF pilot in the Second World War.
She only realised a pocket watch, medals and cufflinks had been stolen when she was alerted by police following Maisonave’s arrest.
Maisonave also stole war service medals and jewellery from a wheelchair-bound pensioner and his wife who suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Another woman, aged 94, lost rings, including a wedding ring, after Maisonave stole them, said prosecutor Gerard Renouf.