Gosforth care home boss turned detective to find Seascale card thief

Sandra Sullivan initially denied any wrongdoing but admitted theft and fraud shortly before her trial at Carlisle Crown Court

A care home boss turned detective to unmask an employee who stole her bank card, a court has heard.

Sandra Sullivan, 61, had just been given a job at Bradbury House in Gosforth in Cumbria, when she stole her new manager's bank card.

Her manager, Nicola Hallet, proved Sullivan was the thief by going to Holmrook Service Station where the card had been used and finding CCTV.

Sullivan was sentenced to a four-month curfew at Carlisle Crown Court.

She had initially "lied repeatedly" and denied stealing the card right up until the beginning of her trial by jury, when she admitted two thefts and two frauds.

'Unfathomable' crime

The court heard she also stole the card of another care home worker on which she made five fraudulent transactions, as well as the four on Ms Hallet's card.

Rob Wyn Jones, prosecuting, said Sullivan, of Wellington, Seascale, took the cards in April while visiting the care home to complete paperwork for her new job.

The court heard she was previously of good character but was facing eviction due to unpaid rent.

Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC told her: "I hope you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself for the offences you have committed. Why on earth you should now turn to crime like this is unfathomable."