KULIGOWKSA:CLEANER STOLE £90K WORTH OF GEMS FROM TORY MINISTER’S WIFE

A Tory minister’s former cleaner is facing jail after she admitted stealing up to £90,000 worth of gems from his wealthy wife.

Barbara Kuligowska, 30, swiped the jewellery from the Westminster home of energy minister Charles Hendry and his wife Sallie.

The Polish domestic worker helped herself to the valuables between January and October last year while employed by the couple at the six-bedroom property in Smith Square.

Kuligowska, who has a young son, sold much of the jewellery to pawnbrokers, some of which was later recovered after Mrs Hendry identified it for sale on the internet

The bleached blonde mother-of-one who was dressed all in black spoke only to confirm her name and enter her pleas at the brief hearing at Southwark Crown Court.

Prosecutor Usha Shergill said: ‘The jewellery stolen has an estimated value of between £80,000 and £90,000.’

Judge Andrew Goymer ordered pre-sentence reports and remanded her on conditional bail but warned:

‘You must understand that a prison sentence is highly likely because you were guilty of a very grave breach of trust.

‘You were trusted by the loser and you abused that trust.

‘You took property from her that was of value probably more than just financially and the actual financial value is quite substantial, so make no mistake imprisonment is highly likely.

‘You must make such arrangements as would be necessary for you to serve such a sentence.’

Mr Hendry, the Tory MP for Wealden, East Sussex, is Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

He married Sallie in 1995 after she reportedly gained a multi-million-pound divorce settlement from her first husband, a member of the Moores family who once owned the Littlewoods Pools empire.

Kuligowska, of (fl 40) Leamore St, Hammersmith, west London, admitted one charge of theft by an employee between January 1 and October 1, 2010.

She will appear before the same court for sentencing on August 31.
ENDS