A THIEVING cleaner captured on camera stealing washing up liquid from a dementia sufferer’s home has avoided a looming court case by accepting a police caution.

Joan Edlin worked as a cleaner for 93-year-old Alzheimer’s patient Gladys Prentice.

But when Gladys’ belongings and cash started mysteriously disappearing from her bungalow, her concerned family decided to set up GoPro camera hidden in a kitchen cupboard.

Within hours of the move the family were left stunned when they saw their trusted 78-year-old cleaner putting the fairy liquid into her handbag.

Video: East News Press Agency

The family then went to police with their damning evidence and asked for more time to leave the camera running in the hope it would yield evidence of more thieving.

But officers did not want to leave the vulnerable pensioner exposed.

So Edlin, of Regent Road, in Brightlingsea, was arrested and charged.

In May, the pensioner appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court, where she denied the single count of theft. 

She argued the pair shared the bottle of washing up liquid. 

Edlin, who had no prior convictions, was due to stand trial next month but following a review of the case by the Crown Prosecution Service, she has now instead accepted a police caution.

The move means she now has a criminal record.

But Mrs Prentice’s son-in-law Steve Dowman, 59, said the pensioner, also from Brightlingsea, had been left feeling very confused by the whole ordeal.

The carpet shop owner said: “Gladys has been so distressed.

"We’ve all been so upset by this.

"She’s been in tears, more than once.

“She’s got Alzheimer’s so when things were going missing, she was getting very upset wondering what had happened.

“She couldn’t remember if she’d bought things or if she hadn’t.

"It was distressing, very, very distressing for her.

“For the first two or three weeks after it happened, she did not speak about anything else.

"We have tried to keep it as limited to her as possible.

"It’s upsetting for everybody.

“The victim support team has been out to see her a couple of times and they’re really concerned about her.”

A CPS East of England Spokesperson said: “We have contacted Colchester Magistrates’ Court to discontinue the case against Joan Edlin after she accepted a caution for theft of a bottle of washing up liquid.

"The caution was administered by Essex Police.

"By accepting a caution, Mrs Edlin accepts responsibility for the theft."

Edlin declined to speak about her despicable actions previously.

A man - understood to be her husband - said “no comment" when approached at their pair's home. 

Edlin was captured on the GoPro footage in February this year.