Forget that weird mobile phone sonar thing in The Dark Knight,  the future of surveillance is soft and fluffy.  A forensic science graduate has caught her grandmother's care assistant stealing by putting a camera inside a teddy bear. 

Emma Sampson, 21, and her father Robert, 46, hid a tiny camera inside one of the bear's eyes and got footage of Yvonne Allen, 28, snatching money from the purse of her patient, Thelma Sampson.   

Mrs Sampson, 75, is suffering from terminal leukaemia, and a carer from the Primary Care Trust (PCT) had to be brought in.  The next day, Mrs Sampson told her son that £40 had vanished from her purse. 

Emma, who has just graduated from the University of Central Lancashire, quickly hit on a plan - after noting the serial numbers on three £20 notes still in her grandmother's purse, she headed to the local DIY store and bought a small camera for £55.  Noticing that the lens on the camera was nearly identical to the eyes of a large pink teddy bear at her gran's house, she set up the innocuous trap, inserting the camera and placing the bear in view of the purse. 

"We thought it would be a long process but she was greedy," commented Mr Sampson.  Footage of Allen stealing was swiftly filmed and sent to police, along with the serial numbers of the purloined notes. 

Allen has agreed to pay £60 compensation to Mrs Sampson and was also sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of theft. Allen was fired from her job.  Mr Sampson has stated that his mother now has a new carer.