A CARE home employee from Trowbridge stole money from an 89-year-old patient suffering from dementia.

Rebecca Merritt, 27, took money from the patient's purse over several days and was caught when managers at Trowbridge Oak Nursing Home set a trap.

Merritt, of Shails Lane, admitted theft at Trowbridge Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Stacey Turner, prosecuting, said Merritt was employed as a care worker at the nursing home in West Ashton Road.

Managers became concerned that money was being stolen from the 89-year-old by an employee at the home and set a trap by planting a marked £5 note in her purse.

The money was noticed missing and later found in the possession of Merritt. An investigation was immediately launched and police later arrested the care worker on suspicion of theft.

The 89-year-old victim, who has not been identified, could not be interviewed by detectives because of her confused mental state.

Defending herself, Merritt said she was suffering from family pressures with the recent death of her own grandmother.

She told magistrates she had been suffering from depression because of childhood experiences and was not in her right mind when she committed the offence.

She said: "I am sorry for what happened but I know even that does not help. My nan's death finished it all off and dropped me further into depression.

"I have been on medication so there is not a lot else I can say. As a result of what happened I have lost my job."

Magistrates told Merritt she had abused a position of trust and had let down people she was supposed to be looking after. She was handed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £60 towards prosecution costs.

The case comes five months after Trowbridge care worker John Jones, of Kensington Fields, was given 200 hours community service for stealing more than £2,000 from a Downs Syndrome patient. Jones, 26, admitted 13 counts of theft from the patient at a private care home in Devizes.