A callous carer stole two valuable ornaments from a dying pensioner and tried to sell them for £24,000 at auction.
Rebecca Morley, 39, helped herself to two rare 18th century figurines that were stood in a cabinet at the elderly man's house.
When he died, she waited six months before taking the objects to Bonhams Auctioneers and making up a story that they were family heirlooms given to her by a late grandmother, Devon Live writes.
When the truth was finally uncovered, Morley carried on lying and said that she had discovered them in a rubbish bag.
A judge at Exeter Crown Court branded her account as 'ludicrous' and said that the theft was 'wicked'.
But he spared her jail by imposing a suspended sentence with unpaid work.
Morley, of Lock Close, Sidmouth, admitted theft.
Prosecutor Mr Herc Ashworth said Morley was employed by Fourways Community Care as a care assistant and had been looking after an elderly man called David Griffin.
In March 2020 Bonhams were asked to produce a valuation report on items at the home.
The belongings included Meissen figurines from the Duke of Weissenfels series dating from circa 1744 and valued at between £8,000 and £12,000 each.
When Mr Griffin died in December 2020 a second valuation was made but the figures of Pierrot and Tataglia from the collection were missing.
In June 2021 Morley contacted Bonhams and brought the stolen figures in for a valuation, claiming they were given to her five years earlier.
Police seized the porcelains and quizzed Morley but she repeated her lie about them once belonging to her grandmother.
She later changed her story and said she had retrieved them from a bin bag while caring for Mr Griffin in November 2020 and had planned to give them back. She had panicked and made up a lie she could not get out of.
Morley, the court heard, has no previous convictions.
Mr Michael Brown, defending, said it was a mean offence committed out of 'utter stupidity' at a time when the family was struggling to make ends meet due to Covid.
But Judge David Evans said he did not accept her account.
Morley was sacked by her employers five days after Mr Griffin died under a cloud of suspicion and while investigations were made into a different theft. The judge said that was the time she should have come clean about the Meissen theft.
He said Morley's behaviour had been 'absolutely atrocious'.
"This is extreme dishonesty and you do not have the credit due to someone who puts their hands up.
"It was a wicked offence of theft. You stole from someone shortly before they died and tried to sell them as stolen items when you thought enough time had passed and that you could get away with it, looking to make thousands of pounds.
"Only when police presented you with overwhelming evidence did you admit it and tried to pretend you had found them in a bag near the bin. It is ludicrous.
"You quite deliberately took two of the seven figurines hoping no one would spot them missing. You must have thought your dishonest dreams had come true.
"You were trusted to go into a recently widower's home and provide the necessary care. You looked about you and stole what you thought you could take and what you stole had a high value."
But he accepted Morley was sorry and felt deeply ashamed for what she had done. She had a family to look after he was willing to suspend the sentence.
Morley was given 10 months in jail, suspended for 18 months. She must do 180 hours of unpaid work, pay £1,000 costs and be under a nighttime curfew lasting six weeks.
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