Man jailed for crashing Geelong wedding and stealing $3700 from wishing well

The brazen thief who casually walked into a wedding venue and stole thousands of dollars from a wishing well has been jailed.

Leigh Webber will serve two months behind bars for crashing a vineyard wedding and speaking with guests before fleeing with about $3700 of the newlyweds’ cash gifts.

The movie-style robbery was caught on CCTV footage and showed the man walking through the venue at Jack Rabbit Winery, on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula.

Leigh Webber (pictured) will serve two months behind bars for crashing a vineyard wedding and speaking with guests before fleeing with about $3700 of the newlyweds’ cash gifts

The brazen thief (pictured) casually walked into Jack Rabbit Vineyard wedding venue, on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, and stole thousands of dollars from a wishing well

The wishing well gifts (pictured), which had money in white envelopes, were never recovered however the plumber was ordered to repay $3700 to the newlyweds as well as a $900 fine

‘I think I even remember seeing a clip of it on the television,’ The Geelong Magistrates’ Court magistrate Ann McGarvie said according to the Geelong Advertiser.

The court heard Webber had previously stolen from a dead man in 2013 before he committed the ‘extraordinarily low act’. 

The father-of-two had attended a wedding 200 metres away at neighbouring winery Terindah Estate on the same day, only to have a fight with his partner and leave.

When Webber intended to return to the original wedding, he had a ‘brain fade’ and went to the wrong venue to ‘take back’ his gift, the court heard Monday.

The wishing well gifts, which had money in white envelopes, were never recovered however the plumber was ordered to repay $3700 to the newlyweds as well as a $900 fine.

The 41-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to the theft, used a tool from his white ute to force open the box. 

The robbery was caught on CCTV (left and right) showing man walking through a venue which sparked national attention where even the magistrate recalled seeing incident on television

CCTV footage released by Geelong Police earlier this year revealed the man reached into the padlocked wishing well at the coastal venue’s foyer before 11pm and pocketed the cash.

But the bride and groom only realised they had been robbed about $4000 at the end of the night on March 3, 2018.

‘He was as cool as a cucumber. He walked in, he even chatted to the guests,’ Jack Rabbit Vineyard owner Lyndsay Sharp previously told Nine News. 

The bride and groom (pictured) only realised they had been robbed about $4000 at the end of the night

After police released the jaw dropping footage, Geelong senior constable Bradley Johnson said they believed Webber had gone to the wrong wedding reception.

‘He (realised) he was at the wrong one and thought while he was there he might as well take some cash,’ he said. 

‘It was like a scene out of Wedding Crashers … It was pretty brazen. I think alcohol gave him the confidence to do it.’ 

The court heard Webber had previously stolen from a dead man in 2013 before he committed crime in March 2018  after using tool from white ute (pictured) to force open the box

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