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A carer who stole money, jewellery and war medals from her vulnerable patients to feed her gambling habit was foiled by a police spy camera that was set up in one of her victim's homes.
Desperate Sonia Maisonave, 51, plundered elderly and seriously ill people she was supposed to look after for, a court heard.
Maisonave, employed by Manorcourt Care, was arrested after she was caught red-handed stealing £70 from an envelope containing marked banknotes.
Officers who searched a bedroom cupboard at her house seized a huge stash of jewellery, coins, medals and an iPad.
Maisonave, of Lowestoft, Suffolk, admitted six offences of theft between September 2011 and June 2016 and was jailed for 20 months at Ipswich Crown Court.
Judge Rupert Overbury told the evil thief as he locked her up: 'As a carer for elderly and infirm people you were in a significant position of trust.
'People relied on you to go into their homes and carry out your job honestly and you didn't.'
The judge said her vulnerable victims, who still lived in their own homes, were suffering from a range of serious illnesses, including cancer, Alzheimer's and osteoporosis.