A Norwich care home worker struggling with debts stole a £2,000 gold wedding ring that has been passed down as a family heirloom. 

Linda Daglass, 47, was caught when bank notes with serial numbers noted were placed in a purse following a spate of thefts at the home on City Road. 

When police searched her home they found the 1930s 22 carat ring that had belonged to the mother of a home resident and had been stolen in May last year.  

Daglass, of Cranage Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.

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Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told she had claimed she couldn’t bring herself to sell the ring which she said was found in the washing machine. 

But the court was told she had been struggling with debts for many years and still owed £40,000.

Rob New, mitigating, said she had worked as a cleaner at the home and had limited access to residents. 

Magistrates sentenced her to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months saying it had been a “significant breach of trust and responsibility”.