THIS is the sickening moment a trusted young carer stole cash from a vulnerable pensioner.

Leila Denton was caught on a hidden camera installed by suspicious relatives taking £20 from frail widow Irene Houston’s bag.

The 20-year-old admitted a single count of theft at Bolton Magistrates’ Court last week.

Scroll down to watch the shocking video 

Mrs Houston, who had infections and diabetes among other ailments, fell seriously ill in the weeks following the theft and died at the age of 79.

David Kelly, one of Mrs Houston’s sons, said: “My mum put me in charge of her money because she was struggling and I used to put cash in her purse. Initially £20 went missing from my mother’s purse and we put it down that she’d been a bit forgetful and had given it to someone. A couple of days later I put some money in her purse and went back the following day and £70 had gone and we knew she had not left the house that night and we thought it was strange.

“It started raising suspicions and I started checking her purse every day from then on and £20 had gone, then £30 had gone and it actually went up to £130.”

Mr Kelly installed a fingernail-sized secret camera on a chair leg at his mother’s warden-controlled maisonette at Stevenson Court in Bent Street, Kearsley.

Within an hour and half the device had recorded Denton, of Matthews Avenue, Kearsley, stealing the money.

The video shows her waiting until Mrs Houston leaves the room before sitting in her chair and dipping into her bag lying on a wheeled tray and removing £20 from the purse.

Mr Kelly said: “Leila knew my mum was poorly. It’s terrible.

“She was a hard-working person and the fact that someone stole from her is not nice at all.”

By the time of the offence on September 4, Denton had been caring for Ms Houston for about six weeks under an NHS-funded post-hospital rehabilitation care package provided by Bolton-based Mayday Homecare.

The pensioner, a retired supervisor at a pharmacy packaging factory, was visited four times a day by carers – Denton and others – but at the end most of the visits were made by Denton, whose court case related to only the last £20 that went missing.

Mr Kelly said: “My mum, brothers and I were absolutely devastated to discover that a carer, who is in a position of trust, was stealing from my mum’s purse.

“It had taken the family over 12 months to persuade my mum to get help in the first place, but being a proud lady, she was always insistent that she could manage.

“We were over the moon when my mum agreed to allow carers and a district nurse into her home to help her with her everyday needs, so you can only imagine the terrible feeling we all had when we found out somebody was stealing from her. It was devastating.

“This ended up being extremely serious, as when the carer was finally able to gain access, an ambulance had to be called as my mum was extremely ill, and a couple of weeks later she passed away in hospital.

“Two days before my mother’s death she was adamant we carried on with the prosecution because she didn’t want anyone to be affected by it.”

Mr Kelly said Mayday Homecare and the police were fantastic in their response and the family had no complaints about his mother’s other carers.

The registered manager of Mayday Homecare, who did not wish to disclose her name, said: “I can confirm that we fully co-operated with the family and the police.

“Leila Denton was instantly suspended and immediately dismissed and we reported her to the Disclosure and Barring Service.”

The agency refused to say how long Denton, who was sentenced to a 12-month community order of 100 hours unpaid work by magistrates, had been in their employment.

Mr Kelly said £120 compensation Denton must pay will be donated to Age UK because after retirement Mrs Houston did a lot of voluntary work for what was then called Help The Aged.