I caught my brother putting laxatives in my milk after setting up a camera near the fridge – I’m disgusted to see he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the family money

A woman who filmed her brother slipping laxatives into her milk in a bid to get her to leave her family home has spoken out for the first time about his ‘disgusting’ actions.

When Sharon, 63, noticed a chemical smell in her milk, she installed a secret camera in their home in Bury, Greater Manchester, which captured Robert McCabe, 69, slipping powder into the box.

McCabe earlier this week pleaded guilty at Minshull St Crown Court in Manchester to maliciously administering something noxious to irritate, injure or injure, under the Offenses Against the Person Act, 1861.

Despite not having a particularly close relationship with her sibling, the malice behind Robert’s actions “shocked” Sharon “to the core.”

Now the mother-of-three has revealed she is ‘saddened’ and ‘disgusted’ for her brother, who will ‘stop at nothing to get his hands on the family money’.

She said: ‘Robert and I weren’t particularly close, but we shared a house. I was shocked to find him tampering with my food.

‘There was a strong chemical smell in my milk, which first alerted me. I placed a secret refrigerator in my bedroom and we mounted a secret camera in the kitchen.

‘Every morning I made my porridge in the kitchen as usual and kept a sample of the fridge milk so Robert would think I was using it. Then I took the porridge to my bedroom and ate it there with the milk from my secret refrigerator.

‘It saddens and disgusts me that he is going through so much trouble to get me out of our family home. But at least the world can now see him for who he is: a man who will do anything to get his hands on the family money.’

Sharon was one of ten siblings and her mother, Sarah Alice McCabe, was widowed when Sharon was just nine months old.

Sharon added: ‘My father was killed in a road accident when I was a baby and my mother raised us all alone. The tragedy did not bring us closer together as a family and Robert and I had our differences.’

Sharon left home and had three sons and worked in a chip shop, owned by her brother Dennis, and later in a soap factory. But after their mother suffered a stroke, she moved back home to care for her until her death in November 2009, at the age of 79.

Sharon explained: ‘I left my own job so I could look after my mother. I lived in the family home with my brothers Robert and Desmond, who had never moved, and Dennis, who had returned from Australia.’

After their mother died, Dennis was responsible for the mortgage payments on the four-bedroom house. But when Dennis was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, he announced his intention to leave the family home to Sharon’s middle son, Gary.

Sharon said: ‘Dennis had always been fond of Gary, they got on well and Gary did his shopping for him. He wanted Gary to get his share.”

But the decision upset Robert and after Dennis died in December 2018, Robert became very hostile towards Sharon and her sons.

She said: ‘I paid all the bills in the house so he turned the heating up to maximum to make sure my bills stayed high. He was very petty. He would yell at me. I think he thought I was going to move, but I stuck to my guns.”

Sharon had suffered from poor health since moving back into the family home and had been diagnosed with gallstones and heart problems.

She said: ‘My doctors couldn’t really figure it out, and I was in and out of hospital.’

In April 2020, after a week in bed with severe stomach pain, she decided to go for a walk and bought a carton of milk.

She said, ‘I used the milk to make porridge. A few days later I smelled it and was immediately alarmed. It smelled very chemically, something was wrong.

‘I called my son, who came over and put a new lock on my bedroom door. We both suspected that Robert had tampered with the milk because he was so horrible to me.’

Sharon’s son, Gary, helped set up a secret camera in the family kitchen. For the next few weeks, every time Sharon went grocery shopping, she bought herself two cartons of milk. She left one in the kitchen and the other she kept in a secret refrigerator in her bedroom.

She added: ‘I went through the motions of making my porridge in the kitchen and used the milk, so as not to alert Robert. Then I went upstairs and used the second carton of milk, which I knew was safe.”

It wasn’t long before she and Gary caught Robert throwing a powder into her milk. Their other brother, Desmond, was also present. Both brothers were questioned by police and Robert admitted to administering the substance.

Sharon said: ‘Robert admitted to taking laxatives for a few weeks, but personally I think it probably went much deeper than that.

‘Even though I had suspected him, I was so shocked when I caught him red-handed. For my own brother to do that to me, to actually make me sick so he can force me out of my parental home, is horrible.

‘My sons were worried about me and begged me to leave the house. But I refused to be bullied. It’s my home, I took care of my mother here, I should be allowed to stay without fear for my safety.

‘I’ve had health problems since I got back home. Since Robert was arrested, my health has improved dramatically. My stomach no longer bothers me.

‘I’m afraid for Robert; I worry about what he’s capable of. The whole thing has caused me a lot of anxiety and stress. But I still live in the family home, I live here alone now and I would like to leave on my own terms.”

Minshull Street Crown Court heard this week that McCabe slipped laxatives into his sister’s milk two or three times over a two-week period before he was caught on camera.

Defense attorney Rachel Faux said he expressed remorse toward his sister and agreed with the judge that there was “sibling bickering.”

“He wants to put things behind him as quickly as possible and move on with his life,” Ms Faux added.

Judge Maurice Greene said McCabe was charged with a crime rarely seen in court. “This brought about sibling rivalry,” he added. “The kind of sibling rivalry that a man your age shouldn’t be involved in.”

“What you did was inexcusably juvenile behavior, and it was not with another child. You knew your sister had health problems.”

Robert pleads guilty to maliciously administering a noxious thing to irritate, injure or injure, under the Offenses Against the Person Act, 1861.

He was made subject to an 18-month community order; and was ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activities.