An Exeter cleaner who stole a £2,000 specially-made wedding ring from a client’s home has been slapped with a 12-month suspended jail sentence.
A 35-year-old woman has been handed a suspended prison sentence after stealing from the homes she was cleaning, writes Isabelle Pinnock, OPCC court reporting scheme.
Keisha Bird, of Briar Crescent, Wonford, Exeter, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by employee from August 2023 and again from September to December 2023.
The court heard that Bird, a self-employed cleaner, was working for a company called Made to Clean at the time of the offences.
Between June and August, she had been cleaning a home in Exmouth.
The client and her husband said Bird had made a good impression, so they recommended her to their daughter.
Bird began working in August and within a couple of weeks, the victim noticed missing items, including a bespoke wedding ring worth £2,000.
She told her mother, who said she had also noticed things going missing.
When Bird returned to clean, the victim confronted her, but she denied the accusations.
In a statement read to the court, the victim said: “The biggest thing in all this is the loss of my wedding ring.
“For her to take it like this is devastating… It was the fact that we trusted her to come into our house.”
While investigations were ongoing, Bird continued to work for the company, but it wasn’t long before another customer began to suspect that she had been stealing.
The client took before and after photos and saw that items had gone missing.
She confronted Bird who confessed that she had been stealing in a “moment of madness”.
She returned some of the items and no charges were made.
The court heard Bird had been stealing a variety of household items, including candles, toiletries and laundry products.
Some of the items were recovered, and the wedding ring was found during a search of the defendant’s property.
Stephen Nunn, mitigating, cited health complications and noted that Bird admitted the offences in interview and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
“The temptation was too much,” Nunn said.
“It seems when under stress and pressure combined, she steals.”
The defendant has five previous convictions, including for theft by employee, the court was told.
Sentencing, District Judge Smith said: “You were in a position of trust and responsibility, allowed into people’s homes to clean for them, and you have breached that trust in a very significant way.
“They let you into their home, everything that is special and sacred to them, and you have disregarded that, taking especially sentimental items.”
Bird was handed a 12-month custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months.
She must pay a total of £957.78 in compensation and attend up to 20 rehabilitation activity days.
