The daughter of a dying Broadstairs man turned detective to track down the person stealing cash from his bank account.

Zoe Finch went to the post office where the money was being withdrawn, checked out the CCTV footage and found the culprit...her father’s carer.

Now callous thief, Carla Alliston, of Newlands Road, Ramsgate, has admitted stealing £3,750 from the patient she was paid to care for.

The 31-year-old mother-of-one sobbed after she was told she could be going straight to prison.

But her tears dried immediately on hearing she had escaped an immediate jail sentence for her crime.

Canterbury Crown Court was told money began disappearing from the bank account of MS sufferer Tim Finch.

Prosecutor Keith Yardy said: “Alliston was the carer for Mr Finch who was critically ill from MS and in fact, subsequently died.

"This was a callous abuse of trust and a particularly mean offence, targeting a vulnerable and dying victim" - judge Simon James

“Alliston attended his home to care for him and had access to Mr Finch’s office where he kept his card and bank details.”

For a month, between February and March last year, Alliston withdrew cash on 16 occasions – sometimes more than once a day - from a post office in Broadstairs.

“Mr Finch’s daughter Zoe received a statement from the bank and spotted the unusual transactions – knowing her father couldn’t have used his card," Mr Yardy.

“She carried out her own enquiries at the post office and spoke to the owner who checked the CCTV and identified Alliston as the person using the machine at the relevant times.

By the time the sneak thief was quizzed by police officers in April, Mr Finch had died and his carer initially denied the offences.

Mr Yardy said it was only later that Alliston, who now works for the fast food chain McDonalds, admitted the theft and the bank reimbursed his estate.

Paul Lamb, defending, said she had been having money problems, and was behind with her rent.

“She was too proud to ask her family and friends for help and is now genuinely remorseful. She is deeply, deeply ashamed.”

Judge Simon James told her: “This was a callous abuse of trust and, in my judgement, a particularly mean offence, targeting a vulnerable and dying victim.

“The bank has since reimbursed his estate...but you weren’t to know that when you started helping yourself to his money.”

She was given a one year jail sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work for the community.