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Caught on Facebook: Nanny who stole jewellery and clothes from couple tagged herself in incriminating pictures

A wealthy couple who noticed clothes and jewellery were going missing, discovered the culprit was their nanny - after they spotted her wearing their possessions on Facebook, a court heard.

Parents Becki and Bradley Cannings were left baffled after designer goods, bracelets and earrings began gradually going missing.

But Becki, 29, was left devastated after her mum spotted the family nanny Pascale Sherwin in pictures on Facebook - wearing her stolen clothes and jewellery on nights out.

She looked at Sherwin’s profile page and was stunned to see the images - some of which she had even been tagged in.

Bradley, 40, and Becki employed the qualified nanny - known as Sasha - to look after their two-year-old daughter Olivia, in 2012, but never suspected her as the thief as she was considered as 'one of the family'.

After finding the incriminating pictures, Becki took them to the police - but was told more evidence was needed.

The couple then decided to set up four cameras in the house and one outside and collected three days of footage that caught Sherwin in the act.



Police searched her home in Exeter, Devon, and found a stash of stolen clothes and jewellery.

The nanny admitted theft from employers at Exeter Crown Court and was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work.

Speaking after the hearing, Becki said: ‘Every week random things were going missing. It really started getting to me and I thought I was going mad.

 

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‘It did not add up. I started to make a list and realised just how much was going missing.

‘I hate myself for it now but I started thinking if anyone I knew would do this. I feel stupid but I never once considered it would be her. She had become part of the family.

‘Mum then looked on Sasha's Facebook account and I felt physically sick. In her profile picture she was wearing all of my clothes and was doing so in several others.

‘I was even tagged in them. I don't know if she was just stupid or rubbing my nose in it. I have never felt so violated and my whole world came tumbling down.’


Despite the Facebook evidence, she still hoped Sherwin wasn't the one stealing the belongings, adding: ‘I was still hoping it had been a big misunderstanding. I didn't want to do any of it, but it was the only way we could prove anything.

‘Viewing the footage was like sitting down to watch a horror movie.

‘We thought we would be fast-forwarding a lot but within five minutes we caught her stealing a cardigan and putting it in her bag.

‘On each of the three days she stole from us. We allowed her to build a relationship with our daughter and be part of her everyday life. This was the ultimate betrayal.’

 

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The Cannings first met Sherwin when she was working at a creche in November 2011.

She took a shine to Olivia and offered to babysit, and after a few casual shifts she started looking after the tot a couple of times a week from January, 2012.

Becki said: ’We had her checked and she was highly regarded and professionally trained as a nanny.



‘She just seemed like a lovely girl and would update us hourly by text of photos of her with Olivia.

‘She helped me get ready on the morning of my wedding and was at my daughter's naming ceremony.

‘By summer she was working longer, we had upped her pay and she had all the freedom in the world.’

 

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In March 2012, belongings started to go missing around the house, but it wasn’t until after the couple's wedding day when jewellery began to disappear that Becki started to panic.

Judge Erik Salomonsen said it was a serious offence because it involved a breach of the trust which the couple had vested in her.

Bradley, who owns an electrical engineering firm, said Sherwin has shown no remorse or apologised for her actions.



He said: ‘It makes my blood boil that she has not even apologised and has been laughing in our face. But she will have to live with a criminal record.’

Becki said they had been badly affected by the whole episode but said Sherwin's sentencing was a way of putting a ‘full stop’ on the ordeal.

 

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She said: ‘I have so much faith in the police system - they were amazing. But this really affected us. Thankfully Olivia was so young she will not remember any of it.

‘I just wish I had not let my guard down - I was just so convinced it was not her.’