A cleaner at Wolfson College was caught stealing money from students’ rooms, after footage from CCTV cameras set up to monitor her activity revealed the theft to college staff.

Sandra Turska, who has been working at Wolfson for four years, was targeted in a sting operation at the college when students reported that money had gone missing from their accommodation.

After housekeeping staff decided to install a secret camera in one of the rooms, it was discovered that Turska had taken £50 from an envelope containing £60 that had been left in the college as ‘bait’ for her.

The 23-year-old, of Mere Way, had been trusted with a master key by her employers during her working hours which allowed her to access all of the graduates’ bedrooms in the accommodation areas. She initially claimed to have no knowledge of the crime, saying that the money she had with her was for rent payments. She later admitted that she had taken the money after being shown the CCTV footage.

Turska has been sentenced to carry out 80 hours of unpaid community service and to pay a victim surcharge of £60 and court costs of £85, following a hearing in Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on January 22nd.

Veronica Candy, defending, told the court that her client was “a very young woman in a completely frightening situation. She added: "This offence has meant she has lost her job, and she is going to struggle to find other employment because the offence involves dishonesty."

Paul Brown, prosecuting, explained that the college had some concerns about items being stolen from rooms “and so they set up their own sting operation.”

“On January 6th they set up a covert camera in one of the rooms and planted £60 in an envelope and before they put the money in the envelope they photocopied each £10 note. It was not too difficult to say who had taken the money and, indeed, when they approached Turska she had five of the £10 notes. It was not difficult for them to match those up with the notes they had photocopied previously.”

Jospeh Duan, a third year student at Wolfson, had Turska as a cleaner in his first year at Cambridge. "She was so nice, we still talked after I moved out of that block", he said. "My things were a mess and lying around in the first year, I didn't think anything was stolen. Or maybe it was [and] I just didn't notice".