Thoughts and advice pls on trusted cleaner stealing money

That is why he have police. In a civilised country we don't do either sackings and slander on unproved suspicion, or lynch law.

The police are there to help. Just read Lionpop's post.

Quote " lionpops Sun 20-Nov-16 09:45:39
You contact the crime prevention officer at your local police station and they will arrange for a camera to be installed. You can not speak to the cleaner she will deny it or give some sob story. If you sack her before you have the evidence she will just go on to steal from other vulnerable people.
I give this advice as a retired police officer."
Could anything be any clearer or make any more sense than this advice?????
What more is there to say?

I would go to the police. Its despicable to steal from anyone, but to actively seek jobs with access to vulnerable people, and their homes is vile. No doubt she will, if not stopped, just move on to another victim.

Or is it like those situations where people are talking and not listening to what's being said because they just want to jump in with their own story?

I sometimes wonder if everyone actually reads all the posts as it would seem not!

If the police will really set up the camera for you, and lionpop's post seem to suggest they will, then that is the obvious solution.

Simples!

I would ask the Police for advice on collecting evidence. They don't want to find that they spend all that money on recording equipment, time on it etc, to find that they still don't have enough. She really should be caught and charged to curtail her activities. The next soul might be a vulnerable person.

Could they mark all the notes unobtrusively, pop out to give her time to do it again, check notes then if any missing, demand to see what is on her bag. If evidence is there, call Police.

Set up the camera, not as police evidence but so that YOU can be really sure. You are going full steam ahead with the assumption that the cleaner is guilty. Find out.

My eldest grandaughter tuse to come and visit and I found out she was taking money and other stuff. When I confronted her she pushed me into a wall. I calledt the police and she was charged with assault and stealing from me. She was charged and an order banning her from contactingme or coming into our town was put in place.

I had a cleaner who, it turned out, was systematically stealing from us. We saved 50p and £1 pieces (20+ years ago) - never counted them but knew there was a good sum. Checked and counted one day - a little disappointed in the total but kept adding to it and about a week later checked again. Less than the sum when we first counted!
So we set a trap. Chose a time when no one other than ourselves and the evil Mrs Mop had been in the house and sure enough, money went missing.
My problem was that she was married to a violent thug and I was totally confident that if I'd confronted her, his retaliation would be frightening. So I put a weeks money (ouch) in an envelope with a note saying that my circumstances had changed and I would no longer be needing her.

If you have any doubts about anything at all you need to do something to put the matter to rest. I would be most unhappy to find that my friends had recommended I welcome a thief into my home!

Quote from Edmund Burke:
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

You must contact the police.

My very elderly father had cleaner who was stealing from him. To prove it he went out to collect his pension whilst she was there, put in in his desk, and looked in the drawer an hour later - it was gone. He confronted her, she denied it, but eventually gave him the money back and left. Only when she had gone did we discover that my mother's jewellery had also gone (my mother had dementia, Parkinson's and depression, and was in a nursing home, so her jewellery was kept in a box in her dressing table at home). We contacted the police, but they said no evidence to investigate. I dread how many other people she has robbed.

There are small safes available you can get for home use. My mum had one, got it when money started going missing - she too had carers. Just make sure they don't ask the carer to open it for them and give them the number!

It's a horrible situation. She must be " let go" straight away, no doubt. And friends who took her on at their recommendation must be warned but told that the cleaner is purely a suspect, then they won't be slandering her. It depends after that whether or not they are totally certain and how they feel about telling police, they have to live with their decision. If she works for an agency , it must be told, but they could say they are not happy about having her in the house when they re not there and leave it at that. And no money in house unless in a safe with a code. Ever.
A camera is good if they can cope with the consequences. And if they get proof they can decide what to do. I use an agency, and any small problems are quickly dealt with but I take photos as back up. Not for missing money, but for other things, not major. The agency always wants to know any problems straight away.

We had a similar situation with an elderly relative who lived with us we employed a young woman to help with his care and because had dementia we used to put small amounts of money in his wallet as he became agitated if he didn't have money on him. We became aware that money was going from his wallet whenever he had a bath. The carer was the only person who assisted him. So we contact the police who marked the notes in his wallet with some invisible ink. We then checked his wallet after his next bath and found the notes had gone. The police arrested her when the money was found in her pocket and she went to court and placed on probation. Fortunately our elderly relative didn't understand what was happening and died shortly after.

Ah... had to re-read Merlot you were
quoting someone else's take on it.
Sorry!

Merlot She took £600, but who knows how much she has helped herself to from others in the past or from OP's recommendations who are using her now. £600 is a lot of money IMHO for anyone, it's not petty theft.

Like Luckygirl I lost to a builder friend my mother's diamond ring which was well hidden. He must have really dug through my wardrobe and drawers daily to find the box. I was too upset to confront him, but he knew we knew as we never had him back again and our boys cut off contact.

I do not trust builders now, which is sad as my youngest is in that line of work as a contractor. He has particularly cautioned me that when scaffolding goes up on adjoining buildings, we must make sure all our tenants keep their windows shut and locked all day whilst they are out. You would be surprised at what a 'casual' scaffold worker can do with that kind of access, even if it's passing info onto others actually who do the theft so he's not involved.

I had a similar situation with a cleaner. Over a few months she took jewellery which was hidden in a drawer rolled up in tea towels. Couldn't prove it was her but we trusted her so much she had a house key.
Husband went round and confronted her and got the house key back. She started crying saying it wasn't her but she was the only one who had been in the house apart from us.
We didn't go to the police as we had no evidence,but I think she's now working as a carer.
We now have a safe attached to the wall.Horse and bolted spring to mind.

I know a carer who was 'looking after' an elderly blind woman. She made the woman change her will to leave her house to her and she got neighbours to witness a new will that left £80,000 to the carer. The woman died in, to us, strange circumstances on Boxing Day when the NHS and Social Services were hard pressed and no one was taking any notice of anything. Some carer. Some care.

People who care or clean or look after vulnerable others are in a position of great trust and these jobs will be a magnet for the unscrupulous. It is the job of others to monitor these trusted employees to protect the innocent and prevent future suffering.

Get some webcam 'proof' and put the matter in the hands of the police. You owe it to all the others this woman will rob is she is not named and shamed. As for her daughter, it's unfortunate, but she should be thinking about her own daughter herself.

Absolutely right Barmyoldbat, and to be certain, make a list of the numbers on the notes so she cannot say they were hers.

Can't believe some of these posts, she is a thief, have a meeting with her, talk to her, whatever next. The police need to be informed and she needs to be stopped.

Please follow lionpops advice.