Thief took poppy tins from Oldbury and Birmingham hotels
A woman who stole two poppy collection tins raising money for the Royal British Legion has escaped an immediate jail sentence.
Amy Sanders, of Bobbers Hill Lane, Nottingham, was given two 26-week sentences for the thefts, suspended for two years, at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Sanders, who is originally from Birmingham, admitted the two theft offences in which she and two men stole poppy boxes from hotels in Oldbury and Birmingham on November 6 last year.
Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting, said: "She and two others took it upon themselves to go into two hotels in the knowledge that the charity collection boxes, knowing that they would have been fairly full."
Karl Tookey, Sanders' partner, and his brother Adam have already been jailed for a year for their part in the callous thefts.
Miss Liz de Oliveira, for Sanders, said she had played a distraction role in the thefts.
Recorder Anthony Potter said: "Most right thinking members of society would contrast what you have contributed to society, which sadly seems very little, with what the Royal British Legion have done. It is a pretty stark contrast."
He also ordered Sanders to carry out a 18 month supervision order, do 120 hours unpaid work.
