Mother who stole HUNDREDS of letters from an Australia Post collection box and took bank cards, cheques and ID documents to help pay for drugs is jailed for three years
- Alesha Stopforth stole hundreds of mail articles to obtain money to fund drugs
- Judge Birmingham said she stole property for her own gain to the peril of others
- She has been sentenced to three years behind bars with a minimum of 16 months
A Perth mother who stole bags of mail then plundered them for bank cards, gift cards, cheques and identification documents to pay for drugs has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Alesha Stopforth involved two other people in her plan to thieve more than 400 mail articles, affecting about 850 different addresses, from a locked Australia Post collection box in the city’s north in June 2017.
District Court of WA Judge Ronald Birmingham said the cards and documents were used to commit frauds and obtain money, but also deprived the intended recipients of correspondence, which was found in a wheelie bin.
Alesha Stopforth involved two other people in her plan to thieve more than 400 mail articles, affecting about 850 different addresses, from a locked Australia Post collection box in the city’s north in June 2017 (stock image)
‘It is the means of communication between many people and by your actions you deny them that opportunity, correspondence lost forever, last letters written by loved ones, all of those things gone,’ Judge Birmingham said.
‘Why? Because of your greed and your desire to feed a drug habit, and being effectively prepared to steal this property for your own gain to the peril of others.’
Stopforth was arrested on February 8 after she didn’t turn up to her trial and has been in custody since.
Judge Birmingham ordered her to serve 16 months in jail before being eligible for release on a $10,000 good behaviour bond.
District Court of WA Judge Ronald Birmingham said the cards and documents were used to commit frauds and obtain money, but also deprived the intended recipients of correspondence, which was found in a wheelie bin (stock image)