'Mary Poppins' Nightmare Nanny Nicked Pensioner's iPhone From Church

St. Mark's Church, Wimbledon

A so-called 'Mary Poppins' nanny - serving nine months for stealing from her employers' £4m Belgravia home - has admitted pinching a pensioner churchgoer's iPhone.

Emma Jane Currie, 45, who is currently locked-up in HMP Bronzefield, Surrey still maintains the lie her ex-employer ripped her off and owes her wages.

She was produced from the prison and appeared in the secure dock at Wimbledon Magistrates Court wearing a pink cardigan and pink and blue floral scarf.

She pleaded guilty to stealing the £300 phone, belonging to 82 year-old Pamela Royle, at St. Mark's Church, St. Mark's Place, Wimbledon on February 4, this year.

In June she was jailed at the Old Bailey for withdrawing £900 cash from the bank card of her employer, 41 year-old Zoe Appleyard-Ley and trying to take another £400.

Her lawyer Mr. Michael Sprack told the court: “The reason for the severe sentence was she stole from her employers and there was animosity. She was owed money by her employer.”

Prosecutor Miss Mary Atere said Currie was arrested as a suspected burglar when squatting in a Wimbledon property on March 20.

When searched at Sutton Police Station Mrs Royal's iPhone was found on her, which the victim had last seen at the church, where Currie was a regular.

"This defendant was there helping out," explained Miss Atere. “The complainant was afraid the person who had the phone would find out where she was.

“There were a lot of homeless people at the church.”

Mr. Sprack said: “My client attended the church on a regular basis and found the phone and took it. There was no hint of confrontation.

“There was no attempt to use the phone.

“My client was of no fixed abode and had been for some time. She was arrested for squatting.

“On the sentence she is serving she has two weeks to serve, but there is a possibility of a custodial sentence in this matter.

“She was working for the person who was the complainant as a nanny/housekeeper.

“There was a dispute and she was owed a large amount of money from that person. The conviction is for taking money from that person.

“Her employer had threatened her with bad references.”

Magistrates adjourned the case until September 11 for a pre-sentence report and chairwoman Mrs Catherine Gibson told Currie: “We're looking at a community order, but we are not making any promises.

“It is in your interests to co-operate. We believe you will benefit from some structure to tour life when you are released from prison.”

Investment banker Mrs Appleyard-Ley - who worked for Rothschild Ventures and Durlacher Ventures - was made to regret hiring Currie via internet site 'Gumtree' to live and work at her Chester Row property.

She told the Old Bailey of her “earth-shattering pain and sense of betrayal” at the hands of Currie.

She only realised something was amiss when Currie did not bring her a cup of tea in bed and then allegedly found her jewellery, laptop and iPad were missing from her home.

The former City high-flyer found her designer handbag containing her bank cards was gone and her car was missing from the drive.

Currie was accused of using her boss's stolen credit card to rack up bills of around £1,000 at several high street stores, including Oliver Bonas, Boots, Superdrug and Monsoon.

The court heard a total of £89,000 worth of stolen property was recovered, but another £81,000, including a Cartier watch, has never been found.

Mrs Appleyard-Ley is separated from her husband Sven Ley - a self-employed art dealer whose family founded fashion label Escada.

She hired Currie in May, 2013 to assist looking after her two children, aged four and six and assist the running of Life Neurological Research Trust, a charity launched in memory of her aunt Baroness Ziki Wharton, who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Currie was still driving around in the Mercedes ML350 - bought by the family nine days earlier - when police pulled her over near Gatwick.

After her arrest, Currie told police she took the car as her employer owed her £1,600 in wages, adding that she had worked for three weeks without a day off.

She told the court the figure included 'overtime, working seven day weeks without a break for three weeks and also holiday pay'.

She went on to claim she had consent to drive the Mercedes to the south coast to look for a mobile home to live in after handing in her notice to Mrs Appleyard-Ley on the agreement she would return.

She described the allegation she had stolen jewellery as “preposterous”, adding: “My personal feeling is that this is in the guise of getting a nice insurance claim for the person involved, the employer.”

She claimed: “This whole thing is a bit of a hoax with the jewellery because I've never seen expensive jewellery.”

Giving evidence, Currie also explained she had clothes from the Appleyard-Ley home in the Mercedes because she had been asked to take them to be dry cleaned.

She said that she had bought goods using her employer's credit card in shops such as Oliver Bonas because she had been asked to buy presents for her children's teachers and friends.

Currie made a series of allegations against her boss during the trial, claiming she took cocaine and even had Nazi memorabilia in her home.

Two days after she was pulled over she made a bogus child abuse complaint to social services, accusing Mrs Appleyard-Ley of slapping her son.

The jury had failed to reach verdicts on counts of attempted theft, three of fraud and one of attempted fraud.

Judge Mark Lucraft said: “Emma-Jane Currie you were employed by Mrs Appleyard-Ley following a posting on Gumtree.

“She met you, interviewed you and took you on as a live-in nanny, for home help and to help run her charity.

“You started working for her on 20 May and worked for her and her family through to mid-June.”

He added: “On Monday, 17 June, you left the Appleyard-Ley home that morning before Mrs Appleyard-Ley was up.

“You took and used a bank card, you checked the balance and you then withdrew £900 cash and attempted to take £200 from the same cashpoint and when that didn't work you tried another cashpoint.

“When Mrs Appleyard-Ley realised her car and belongings were gone she called the phone number for you but you didn't respond.

“You were arrested the following day at about midday near Gatwick Airport.

“It is unclear where you went from the time of leaving London and your arrest.

“In that period of time £500 of the £900 you took had gone, your account as to what you did in that period of time simply doesn't stack up.

“In this trial you sought to distract the jury by making very serious allegations about Mrs Appleyard-Ley, that she drank to excess and was taking drugs.

“You also said she had lied about your actions to make a false insurance claim and made allegations of her abusing her children.

“That last allegation led to the involvement of social services who concluded that it was without foundation and malicious.

“Social services said you failed to assist them in the investigation.

“You also sought to implicate the police by claiming they took the missing £500 cash when you were detained.

“Mrs Appleyard-Ley spoke powerfully about the impact not only of the theft but the trial process and the impact of the false allegations about her personal conduct.

“The impact of this will be long lasting on her, particularly that she had placed a high degree of trust for you to live in her home and care for her children.'

The judge continued: “This was theft was committed in breach of a high degree of trust, it's difficult to think of a higher degree of trust.

“You were employed by Mrs Appleyard-Ley in trust of her children, home and some finances.

“In light of the nature of the breach of trust, the way suspicion was thrown on others and the way you sought to argue this case it is not appropriate to suspend the sentence.”

Currie was also handed a restraining order not to contact the victim or any of her close family members.