A former care worker who betrayed her employers by robbing the elderly woman she was entrusted to look after has narrowly escaped a prison sentence.
Ann McIntyre stole the money from the 76-year-old stroke victim to pay off mounting debts, as a 10-year battle with alcohol began to take its toll.
The suspicions of the pensioner’s family were raised when they began to notice items going missing from her home in Scone.
That led to McIntyre being caught in a Tayside Police sting after investigating officers placed bank notes marked with ultra-violet material in the invalid’s purse.
The care worker was caught red-handed on October 15 after making a brief visit to Scone. During this visit, she rifled through her victim’s belongings in search of easy cash.
Officers waited as McIntyre emerged from the house five minutes later and they discovered £30 worth of marked notes in her possession after she was taken to divisional police headquarters in Perth.
The 43-year-old, of Logie Crescent in Perth, later appeared at the town’s sheriff court to admit stealing the money from the pensioner while working as a carer for a nursing agency.
Solicitor Rosie Scott said her client had struggled with alcohol and had stolen the money because she was struggling financially at the time.
“She has let herself down, she has let her family down and she has let her employers down,” the agent said. “She realises she has upset the lady who will now have difficulty trusting anybody who comes into her house.”
The court heard McIntyre now has her alcohol misuse under control and has also taken steps to address certain mental health issues.
“She feels that she is doing well, though she also appreciates that it is still early days,” Mrs Scott said.
Sentencing McIntyre at Perth on Monday, Sheriff Robert McCreadie said, “You have a previous conviction for a driving offence and another for drink-driving. That second offence illustrates to me that drink has been a problem for you for the best part of a decade.
“I am told that you have abstained from alcohol, but for you that clearly needs to be a lifelong abstention as it is clear that when you take alcohol it causes trouble for you and for others.
“Other than those driving offences, however, there is nothing in your past, and it is for that reason alone that I am not considering a prison sentence.”
He told McIntyre he was ordering her to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in the service of the community as a direct alternative to custody.
A spokesman for Blairgowrie-based Caledonian Nursing Agency confirmed McIntyre has been dismissed as a result of her conviction.