TWO thieves who disgusted fundraisers by stealing a poppy collection box have been spared jail.

Lee Hall, aged 41, and 28-year-old Victoria Litherland, both of Chapelfield, Radcliffe, were given curfews for a series of 15 offences.

Bury Magistrates Court heard how the pair targeted Radcliffe Pharmacy in Church Street West, Radcliffe, on November 13 last year, stealing a poppy appeal collection box containing loose change.

Staff at the pharmacy were left “sickened” by the attack, which saw Litherland distract the pharmacist while Hall unhooked the Royal British Legion container and put it in a bag.

Hall and Litherland, who were regular customers and known to pharmacy staff, were caught on CCTV carrying out the theft just after Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.

The duo also appeared before the court last week t6o be sentenced for stealing more than £150 of petrol in eight separate incidents between October 6 and November 4.

Hall and Litherland targeted The Co-operative petrol station in Bury Road, Radcliffe, and Morrisons petrol stations in Whitefield and Bolton, stealing between £10 and £25 of petrol each time.

On November 18, the pair stole clothes worth £62 from Primark in The Rock, Bury and on December 15, they shoplifted £43.81 of meat from Asda in Bury.

Hall also stole a silver ring worth £45 from Pandora in The Rock, Bury on December 3, returning to take a silver ring worth £50 from the same store on December 17.

The pair pleaded guilty to all the offences at earlier hearings in December and January.

Hall was ordered to pay compensation of £183.68 and a victim surcharge of £60.

He was given a 12-week curfew to remain at his home in Chapelfield between 7pm and 7am daily until April 28, and told to participate in a 12-month drug dependency programme.

He was also given a 12-month driving ban for driving his Peugeot 206 in Bury New Road, Whitefield and Gate Fold, Bolton, without insurance on October 6.

Litherland, also known as Victoria Wheeler, was ordered to remain at her Chapelfield home between 7pm and 7am on Sundays to Thursdays and to stay at a house in Kenilworth Avenue, Whitefield, between 7pm and 7am on Fridays and Saturdays for 12 weeks.

She was also told to take part in six months of drug dependency treatment and ordered to pay £89.46 in compensation as well as a £60 victim surcharge.

The pair will have their curfews reviewed at Bury Magistrates Court on March 17.

Radcliffe Air Cadets Warrant Officer Barry Young, who organised the town’s poppy appeal, said after the sentencing: “These people have stolen from charity. A lot of people gave to the appeal hoping the money was going to a good cause.

“For them to do that and get next to no punishment is really a disgrace.

“The fundraising across Radcliffe was very good, and it is such a shame two people put such a black mark on the town’s efforts.”

The 2014 poppy appeal in Radcliffe raised £15,000.41 – of which around £5,000 came from 150 boxes stationed at businesses across the town.

At the time of the collection box theft, staff at the pharmacy estimated there could have been around £40 in the container.