Cleaners ‘scoped out’ the Ashton-on-Ribble house they worked in before stealing wedding rings, family photos and jewellery

A pair of cleaners who burgled the house they worked in, stealing £11,000 of sentimental jewellery and electrical items, have been jailed.

Samantha Addison, 47, and Lisa Power, 40, were employed as cleaners at a family home in Victoria Parade, Ashton-on-Ribble in March 2020.

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Two days before the burglary on March 11 they were seen on the driveway of the property, but when the householder asked what they were doing, they made up an excuse and left.

It later emerged they were “scoping out” the house in preparation for the burglary which followed.

On March 11 the householder left for work but received a phone call from her son, who said he had returned to the house to find a patio door had been smashed.

A Macbook Pro and iPads had been stolen along with jewellery including a wedding ring and an eternity ring.

In a victim personal statement, the householder said the burglary was “unforgivable” and said she worked hard for her possessions.

Her daughter said she felt “violated, vulnerable and frightened in her own home” and was devastated to discover her laptop, containing thousands of irretrievable family photographs, had been stolen.

Power, formerly of Mersey Street, Ashton, was jailed for 36 months for the burglary, alng with other offences, at an earlier hearing.

Addison, of Calder Street, Ashton, appeared for sentence on Friday 27 November.

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The court was asked to consider the impact of a prison sentence on her teenage daughter.

But the Honorary Recorder of Preston Judge Robert Altham said: “The fact remains this was a well planned, targeted and carefully executed burglary which has caused lasting harm to other people.

“The court has to send out a clear message – if that happens, you go to prison.”

Addison wept as the judge jailed her for two years and three months.