A FORMER soldier who suspected items were being stolen from his elderly parents called in an ex-army colleague who specialised in covert surveillance.

Cameras were rigged up at his parents’ Deeside home which caught carer Stephanie Joanne Smith, 48, stealing a £200 pair of gold ear-rings.

In court, Smith was told it had been a serious breach of trust against a vulnerable victim when she stole the ear-rings from the Connah's Quay home of Olga Muriel Caddick, who is in her 90s.

She denied the theft in October of last year but was convicted at a hearing at Wrexham earlier this week.

But she was cleared of stealing cash and cufflinks owned by her husband Frank, who had since died.

Magistrates told her it passed the custody threshold but chairman Joanne Linfield said it had been decided to suspend the sentence in view of her previous good character.

Smith received a 20 week prison sentence suspended for two years and she was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.

She must pay £530 costs and £600 compensation although magistrates said that would in no way cover the pain and suffering she had caused.

Smith, who gave an accommodation address in Hartford Drive, Whitby, near Ellesmere Port but who, the court heard, lived with her husband in a caravan at St Asaph, had since lost her job with a care company, bringing a 15 year career to an end.

She was now due to start shift work at a factory, North East Wales Magistrates Court at Mold heard.

Prosecutor Justin Espie said since March last year the couple, in their 90s, had carers in twice a day from Hollybank House Care.

He said the family became concerned that items were going missing so they installed a CCTV system in the premises.

Within an hour footage showed Smith going through a jewellery box, taking an item and placing it in her uniform side pocket.

Smith was arrested and the caravan in which she was living was searched.

Nothing was found but the gold clip on ear-rings was found in the car.

Smith’s immediate reaction was to say the police must have planted them but interviewed the following day she claimed Mrs Caddick had asked her to get the ear-rings to look at them as a potential present for her grand-daughter.

Andy Holliday, defending, said his client maintained her stance that the ear rings had been taken at the request of the victim and that she had no intention to permanently deprive the owner of them.

She was a woman of good character who had enjoyed a 15 year career in the caring sector but that was no longer open to her.

It was a one-off offence with no great financial motivation but it was accepted that emotional harm had been caused.

Probation officer Andrew Connah said Smith continued to deny the offence.

At the time she had been suffering a great deal of back pain which had later been diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome.

It was a significant breach of trust, but Mr Connah did not recommend any probation intervention.