Maid: She resold valuables from her customers on eBay

A housekeeper who took advantage of her employers’ trust to steal their valuables was caught red-handed as she tried to resell the items on eBay to pay her bills.

“I understand that you did not steal as part of a sophisticated criminal scheme, but rather to pay your bills. However, this is a grotesque breach of trust,” Judge Michael Hayton told Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester on Tuesday, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Gold wedding ring, luxury handbag, family heirloom: Brenda Carberry, 55, took advantage of access to her victims’ homes as a housekeeper to usurp their valuables, with the aim of reselling them on eBay.

It was after noticing the disappearance of her designer Ted Baker luxury handbag and her wallet that one of her clients tracked down the 50-year-old’s eBay account, on which her perfume was already listed, reported the English media.

In another case, the thief seized a bracelet and a wedding ring, both in gold, as well as money from the wallet of a man with Alzheimer’s.

“The wedding ring had been given to the woman by her own mother and had great sentimental value for her. Her daughter discovered that the ring had been sold on the defendant’s eBay account. However, it could not be recovered”, summed up the Crown prosecutor, Edmund Potts.

In total, Brenda Carberry pleaded guilty to thefts from five different homes.

“Most of the items taken were extremely sentimental for their owners. One can only imagine how upsetting it is to have a wedding ring stolen,” the judge continued, according to the “Manchester Evening News”.

But despite his serious offenses “going beyond the threshold of detention”, the judge took into consideration the “difficult family circumstances and mental health problems”, imposing a suspended 12-month prison sentence.

The woman will also have to do 80 hours of community work and complete 15 hours of rehabilitation activities.

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