A CALLOUS carer was caught stealing cash from a terminally ill pensioner – after the man’s daughter set up a camera trap.
Anthony McKnight was privately employed by the family to help frail Kenneth Samuel with everyday tasks such as washing and shaving at his home in Haddington.
Mr Samuel’s daughter Caroline began noticing that her father was either “misplacing or losing” small sums of cash before she became suspicious and set up a ‘dog cam’ in the corner of the room.
The footage showed McKnight helping himself to a sum of money while he was supposed to be looking after his 84-year-old patient in June last year.
The shocked family called in the police and 36-year-old McKnight, of the town’s Hepburn Road, appeared at Edinburgh Justice of the Peace Court to admit the theft.
The private sector carer was sentenced to pay a £110 fine and told he must also pay £100 in compensation after he pleaded guilty to stealing cash from the pensioner on a single date.
Disgusted Caroline, an award-winning florist, has revealed that she believed her dying father knew McKnight was stealing from him and that he passed away just weeks after his carer had been arrested.
Following the incident, the family took to social media to post a picture of McKnight (below) and to warn other potential victims of the offence involving their late father.
She said: “This is Anthony McKnight of Haddington. In June of last year, he was employed by my family to help shower and shave my 84-year-old terminally ill father.
“My father started to lose money, we assumed he had misplaced it, or was becoming forgetful.
“As the money continued to go missing, we decided to switch the ‘dog cam’ on.
“Sadly, we discovered Anthony was stealing from my father.
“[Last] Tuesday, Anthony McKnight pled guilty to stealing from my father. He was fined £110.
“We hope that by publicising this, any other possible victims of Anthony McKnight will come forward.
“My father passed away a few weeks after Anthony was caught.”
McKnight pleaded guilty to stealing a quantity of cash from an address in Haddington on June 21 last year when he appeared at Edinburgh JP Court last Tuesday.
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