Caught on camera, carer stealing 90-year old's cash: Sneaky home help is jailed for raiding frail widow's handbag



Angela Brownson took £530 from Ruth Darling while she was in the shower

Carer paid to feed, wash and medication so woman could stay in her home

Brownson was spotted buying luxuries in supermarket by a cleaner



Family agreed to secret camera which caught her stealing from handbag



A care worker who stole from a partially blind pensioner has been jailed after she was caught on camera rifling through her handbag.

Angela Brownson, 54, visited Ruth Darling daily to assist with household tasks – but helped herself to cash from the 90-year-old’s purse when she was in the shower.

The carer was caught on a secret camera installed by a suspicious cleaner after Mrs Darling’s family noticed £6,000 had gone missing from her account.

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Criminal: Brownson stole from Mrs Darling four times, shown here again stealing from her purse while she showered

Immoral: The woman, brazenly wearing her nurse's uniform, rifles through the pensioner's belongings in search of cash, left, before pulling out the cash and pocketing it



Brownson has been jailed for 48 weeks by magistrates in Peterlee, County Durham, for four thefts totalling £530. However large sums of Mrs Darling’s money are still unaccounted for.

The deception left the widow suicidal and afraid to live in her own home. She has since moved to a care home.



Mrs Darling’s family were tipped off to Brownson’s stealing after cleaner Victoria Williams, 46, noticed the carer – who started looking after the pensioner in January last year – filling her supermarket trolley with expensive Prosecco while out shopping for ‘one of her oldies’.

Jailed: Care worker Angela Brownson, pictured outside court, stole from a partially sighted 90-year-old but was caught in the act by a secret camera

A surveillance device disguised as a pen was then set up in Mrs Darling’s bedroom. Brownson was caught rifling through the pensioner’s handbag and taking money from her purse in July when her client was in the shower.

Brownson had been brought in because Mrs Darling needed help in the shower, but that was the moment the carer seized the opportunity to steal from her.

Mrs Williams told the Daily Mirror: ‘In December Mrs Darling became so frail that the only option left was for her to go into a care home, which is something she was determined she wouldn’t do.

‘Her only wish was to see out her days in her own home and Angela Brownson robbed her of that.



The stress and anxiety caused her to stop eating and she lost four stone in weight, she stopped sleeping because she was worried Brownson was going to come back and break into her home.

‘[Brownson] will serve her time in prison but what she suffers in jail will be nothing in comparison to the effect she’s had on poor Mrs Darling’s life.’



Brownson, of Ferryhill, County Durham, denied all the charges against her but was convicted following the trial.

Mike Clarke, defending, said that Brownson still refused to accept her guilt, but had been affected by the revelation at the hearing last Friday that Mrs Darling had been forced into care.

Alarm bells: A cleaner had seen Brownson buying Prosecco at the supermarket and the family agreed to set up a secret camera which showed her rummaging through her bag while she showered

Shocking moment: Ann Brownson takes cash from the purse from the 90-year-old woman she was meant to be caring for

Prosecutor Sarah Traynor told the court: ‘The defendant was seen stealing money while Mrs Darling was in the shower, which is exactly when she required assistance because of her mobility issues.’

Brownson worked for Consett-based firm Kelly Park Caring Agency, which is accredited by Durham County Council and registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).



Director Paul Sanders said she was fired as soon as the accusations came to light.

A CQC spokesman said they monitor all adult social care to ‘ensure services are safe, caring, effective and responsive to people’s needs’, and that ‘when care fails, our existing powers include issuing a warning notice, restricting services, removing registration or issuing a fine or prosecution.’