How 84-year-old millionairess caught maid on camera stealing from her

It was a country house mystery worthy of the shrewd intelligence of Miss Marple herself.

When thousands of pounds went missing from a locked library drawer, suspicion inevitably fell on the domestic staff.

But without the talents of a crime-solving spinster to call on, millionairess Mary Jane Pugsley, 84, took matters into her own hands.

She bought a video camera disguised as an iPhone docking station and hid it in the library of her £2million mansion before leaving £2,000 in a locked drawer.

When she later ran footage from the device, she was stunned to see trusted housemaid Helen Kupiec helping herself to half the cash.

The 60-year-old who cleaned Shiplake House near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, later  confessed to stealing over £8,000 after Mrs Pugsley confronted her with the recording.

She claimed she took the cash to pay off almost £30,000 of credit card debts and bank loans racked up by her drug addict son.

Mrs Pugsley, whose late husband Robin once owned the construction firm Bison, was shocked by the betrayal and told a friend she would have given the cleaner the cash if she had asked for it.

The widow has lived in the eight-bedroom property since the 1980s.

Hidden behind large wrought-iron gates on the banks of the Thames, it is staffed full-time by a security guard, four cleaners, a head gardener, a personal assistant and head of household.

Kupiec, a married grandmother, had worked for Mrs Pugsley for three years before the thefts began.In September, the millionairess returned from a trip abroad to find £4,000 was missing from an envelope she had placed in her library, Oxford Crown Court was told.

The next time she went away £2,000 disappeared from another envelope which had contained £2,600.

‘Suspicious of what was going on Mrs Pugsley bought a camera disguised as an iPhone docking station,’ said Jonathan Stone, prosecuting.

She then hid the motion-sensitive camera in the library, where she put £2,000 in an envelope labelled with the sum inside.

When she returned from London later that day, £1,000 had gone, and the figure on the envelope had been amended.

Armed with footage of Kupiec taking the money, Mrs Pugsley confronted her on November 16 and gave her a chance to explain herself before calling the police.

Kupiec admitted stealing the cash, returned her latest haul and promised to pay back the rest.

When she was interviewed by police she said she had found the key to the drawer and had used the money to pay off her son’s debts and to buy food and presents.

‘She was stealing to help her son and to keep the drug dealers off his back and away from her family,’ said Nadia Chabat, defending.

‘She is ashamed, she has let down herself but also Mrs Pugsley.’

Recorder Patrick Vincent gave Kupiec a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.

He ordered her to pay compensation of £7,250 as well as telling her she must carry out 250 hours of community service.

The housemaid, who received a caution in 2009 for stealing £500 from a previous employer, will have to remortgage her home in Purley, south London, to pay off the debts.

A family friend of Mrs Pugsley said she had been ‘devastated’ by the betrayal.

‘She is very trusting and discreet and she is a people person,’ the friend said.

‘The worst thing is she told me she probably would have given the cleaner the money if she had just asked for it.’


-- Daily Mail