Teddy cam catches thieving caregiver

WALTON, England, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A British woman pleaded guilty to theft after a camera planted in a teddy bear caught her stealing money from a terminally ill woman she was hired to care for.

Yvonne Allen, 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and was sentenced to six months imprisonment at the Community Justice Center after the family of Thelma Sampson, 75 -- who has been diagnosed with a terminal case of leukemia -- videotaped Allen stealing $120 from the Walton, England, great-grandmother in July, the Liverpool Echo reported Monday.

Sampson's son, Robert, said his sister, Emma, had suggested the teddy bear camera after the family became suspicious that the caregiver had been stealing money.

"The first day when the carer came in we realized £40 ($80) had gone missing," Robert Sampson said. "I went out to Tasker's and bought a surveillance camera and put it into the eye of a teddy bear and put it in my mum's bedroom."

"The next day the carer came back and after she left we saw that a further £60 ($120) had gone missing," he said. "When we checked the video we saw her go into the bedroom and take the money."