by Gulliver

A forensic science graduate caught a care assistant thieving from her sick grandmother - with the help of a camera hidden inside a teddy bear.

Emma Sampson, 21, set out to nab the thief after her grandmother, 75-year-old Thelma Sampson, noticed that money was missing from her home in Walton, Liverpool, England.

The forensic science graduate cleverly put her science skills to work and called in the help of teddy and a hidden camera.

Emma and her dad Robert devised the scheme after his mom Thelma, who has end stage leukemia, noticed £40 had gone missing from her purse.

When asked by her family was she sure about the missing money, Thelma told them: "I may be dying but I know how much money I had in my handbag."

The family decided to write down the serial numbers on three £20 notes in the purse and buy a camera from a local DIY store.

Since the camera lens was just like the eye of the teddy bear in the house, Emma put the camera inside the cuddley toy and the family waited.

Sure enough the plan worked and Thelma's carer Yvonne Allen, 28, of Halewood, Liverpool, was revealed on film to be the thief. The footage was shown to the police and Allen was arrested.

The extraordinary role played by private eye teddy was revealed when the greedy Allen was hauled before the courts and jailed for six months on two counts of theft.

75-year-old Mrs Sampson has since got a new care assistant.

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