A cleaner has admitted stealing thousands of pounds of charity money from a rabbi’s home.

Romanian-born Alina Teodorovici, of Malcom Court, Hendon, snatched £6,500 from a cupboard at her employer’s house while she looked after two of his seven children in January.

The 26-year-old, who had been working for the family for several months, told the children she was “popping out to see a friend” but never returned and went on the run from police for three weeks.

She was eventually caught and on Friday pleaded guilty to the theft at Wood Green Crown Court.

The court heard how the rabbi, who has declined to be named, left Teodorovici at his home in Golders Green while he went to collect his wife and baby daughter, who was suffering with pneumonia, from hospital.

He received a phone call from his 12-year-old daughter to say the cleaner had left the house just half an hour after being left alone.

After taking the money, which was destined for two Jewish charities, she “went incommunicado” - changing her telephone number, deleting her Facebook account and failing to turn up for work at two other homes.

Police, aided by a Shomrim Jewish community safety patrol, managed to find her within three weeks of the theft using a copy of her passport and bank statements she had left with another of her employers.

Speaking to the Times Series this week, the rabbi said the episode had been “very traumatic” for his family.

He said: “I trusted her to look after my children in an emergency. I thought she was a pleasant girl.

“She clearly spotted the money in a cupboard and decided to take it, it was an opportunistic theft. It was a very foolish thing to do as now she has a criminal record. The whole thing has been very traumatic for me and my family.”

Teodorovici is due to appear for sentencing in Wood Green Crown Court on July 5.