A cleaner caught on camera stealing washing up liquid from the home of a dementia sufferer has accepted a police caution.

Joan Edlin, 78, worked as a cleaner for 93-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer Gladys Prentice, but when Gladys’ belongings and cash started disappearing from her bungalow, her concerned family set up a hidden GoPro camera in a kitchen cupboard in her Brightlingsea home.

Within hours the family were left stunned when they saw the cleaner putting the fairy liquid into her handbag.

They went to police with the 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.

As a result Edlin, also from Brightlingsea, was arrested and charged and appeared before Colchester Magistrates’ Court on May 3 where she denied a single count of theft.

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 (CPS) she has now accepted a police caution instead.

A CPS East of England spokesman 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.”

Mrs Prentice’s son-in-law Steve Dowman, 59, said the victim 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 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.”

Edlin, who was captured on the GoPro footage in February, declined to speak about her actions.