Cleaner accused of stealing £30k of jewellery was also 'in row over £20k inheritance'
A cleaner accused of stealing more than £30,000 worth of goods from her employers claimed she was accused of being dishonest during a row over inheritance, a court heard.
Angela Evans, from a village near Ludlow, is standing trial accused of two counts of theft, both of which she denies.
She worked for the late William Sykes, near Bishop's Castle, and his daughter Angela Loder's family nearby.
Evans, 55 and of Bitterley, left her job after being confronted about missing items including a pair of silver candlesticks, a brooch worth £25,000, a diamond ring worth £3,000, a claret jug, a diamond pendant necklace and a silver fox.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Wednesday that Evans was accused of dishonesty by Mrs Loder's husband. However the defendant claimed this was due to the £20,000 she was due to inherit from Mr Sykes in his will.
Evans is accused of selling some of the stolen items to a jewellery shop in Tenbury Wells - a claim she has denied.
Evans admitted she had visited John Berry's shop in the past and sold jewellery, even talking to the owner about their shared love of dogs, the court heard.
But she denied even seeing the items that had gone missing from the farmhouse - and she said she was at work on the day that the items had been taken in to be sold.
The court heard two interviews conducted by Detective Constable Greg Smith in June and August 2017 in which she discussed the working arrangements at the farm.
She described the security at the farmhouse as being 'rubbish,' saying she had a key, but the interior door was always open anyway.
In a statement read out from the first interview, Mrs Evans said: "There were various people who worked there, people just seemed to come and go including a young Spanish cleaner called Adele and various farmhands who roamed the estate but it wasn't hard to access anywhere.
"As far as the job was concerned I have always been a cleaner who has respected people's privacy, I opened draws but only to clean them because what they have in there is their own business.
"David (Angela's husband) had silver ornaments in his office which I cleaned but I never saw Angela wear broaches or much jewellery at all. She did have a necklace that I moved from under the stairs as she wanted to take some items to the charity shop and I found a Gucci bag which I asked her about, there was a necklace in there but I put it safe in a pouch as she didn't want that item to go.
"I have worked at various different places before, I have had police checks and everything associated with it and never been found to do anything wrong."
The court had earlier heard she had visited the jewellers regularly over eight years and that the receipts handed over by Mr Berry to police bore the signature 'Mrs Evans'.
Questioned on this in the interview, Mrs Evans said: "I have visited John's shop before but never made an appointment to go. I have took items into sell or be repaired but they have been my own.
"I didn't sign for any of the items I am accused of and I always use the signature Angela Evans not Mrs Evans.
In the second interview with Det Con Smith, on August 16 2017, Mrs Evans said she was at work when the items were reportedly put up for sale at the shop and had timesheets to prove it.
She admitted she had an argument with Mrs Loder's husband David and farmhand Wayne Tuffin when accused of being dishonest. However she claimed it was because he didn't want her to inherit £20,000 which had been earmarked for her from the will of the late Mr Sykes, who died in December 2016.
She said: "I've never stolen anything in my life and didn't care for the accusation or insinuation. I was wound up to the point of wanting to hit them but didn't because I felt David didn't care about anything else other than making sure I didn't get the money from the estate.
"I sent a text to Angela asking how he could think that - I always had a good relationship with Angela and would never steal from her, or any employer for that matter."
