Shocking footage shows Sheffield woman pocketing dementia sufferer's jewellery

This is the moment a callous carer pocketed jewellery belonging to a grandmother with dementia -- while she slept on the sofa a metre away.
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Caroline Bastable, 42, was paid to look after Sheila Wade, 82, who suffered with breathing problems and vascular dementia, at Sheila’s home in Barnsley.

But her son John Wade, 59, noticed food and money was going missing from his mum's home - so installed a network of cameras for nearly two weeks.

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The bank director was horrified to uncover footage of heartless Bastable pocketing jewellery from the fireplace as Sheila slept on the couch in front of her.

This is the moment a callous carer pocketed jewellery belonging to a grandmother with dementia -- while she slept on the sofa just a metre away.This is the moment a callous carer pocketed jewellery belonging to a grandmother with dementia -- while she slept on the sofa just a metre away.
This is the moment a callous carer pocketed jewellery belonging to a grandmother with dementia -- while she slept on the sofa just a metre away.

Another clip shows Bastable pulling gift boxes of perfume and toiletries from Sheila's wardrobe in her bedroom, before a second clip shows her carrying them to her car.

A clip from the kitchen reveals Bastable, of Wheatacre Road in Sheffield, raiding Sheila's kitchen cupboards and stuffing snacks, chocolates and boxes of biscuits into a bag.

Police investigated and she pleaded guilty to wilful neglect and two counts of theft, and will be sentenced on 28 February 2020.

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John said: "I started noticing money that I'd given mum for shopping was missing, and then food was going, and cigarettes.

"The real red flag was when I dropped off three pints of milk at her house before I went on holiday, and the neighbour contacted me two days later to say they'd disappeared.

"I installed home security cameras and watching the footage back, you could clearly see mum's carer pocketing cash, jewellery and perfume as mum slept on the couch.

"I felt so angry watching this woman raiding Mum's drawers and cupboards for gift sets of toiletries, stealing her Swarovski jewellery and Cartier watches.

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"Thankfully, we have all of mum's designer handbags at our home, but Bastable still got away with about £8,000 worth of stuff."

Sheila's family claim the incidents began in November 2017, when items such as food and milk began to disappear from the victim’s home.

A family friend then noticed cash, which had been hidden around the house, was missing.

A large quantity of cigarettes, hidden at the back of a cupboard, had also been taken which led to the victim’s son installing the CCTV around his mother’s property in December 2017.

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As well as the clips showing her pocketing jewellery and bagging up gifts, another shows her squirting medication from a syringe before disappearing out of sight.

She then reemerged and left the property without giving Sheila the injection.

Sheila's medication is to treat her vascular dementia and her breathing problems, and John said he received calls from his mother in the middle of the night when she 'couldn't breathe'.

Police investigating the case watched 12 days of CCTV footage on discs containing 8,000 video files to collect evidence of theft and uncovered signs of neglect.

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Police arrested Bastable on 17 December 2017 and searched her home where they found stolen items belonging to Sheila, including cash, cigarettes, jewellery and toiletries.

John said: "The only comfort that I have in this is that at least my mother was completely unaware this was happening, otherwise it would have really upset her.

"I watched the footage and saw Bastable drinking and eating mum's food and I wanted to report it then, but I decided to wait because I was convinced she'd been stealing money and possessions as well.

"That was really hard - I just wanted to stop her as soon as I saw it, but I knew I needed proof that it wasn't just food that was being taken and proof is exactly what I got.

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"Emotion does try to take over, you want to react and stop it on your own terms, but I forced myself to stay patient so that I could ensure Bastable got the punishment she deserved.

"I knew I had to do that not just for my mum, but for the other people who were under her care - this could have been happening to anybody.

"My suspicions that my mum wasn't her only victim felt justified when police brought us jewellery they had found in Bastable's house that they thought was mum's but it wasn't."

Bastable appeared at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court on November 19 2019 where she pleaded guilty to wilful neglect and two counts of theft.

She will be sentenced next month at Sheffield Crown Court.

John has since stopped using the company which employed Bastable and Sheila now has new carers.