Edward Newbury, 31, is back in prison after shoplifting four days into his parole
A Cairns man had been on parole for just four days when he resumed shoplifting, then racked up purchases of alcohol, fuel, smokes and Coca-Cola on a stolen credit card, a court has heard.
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An ‘opportunistic’ thief began shoplifting from Cairns shopping centres just days after being released from jail on parole for similar offences.
Edward Newbury, 31, pleaded guilty in Cairns Magistrates to 11 charges on Monday, the first of which he committed four days after he was paroled on a two-year sentence imposed in 2023.
Magistrate Terence Browne sentenced Newbury to six months imprisonment after Newbury pleaded guilty to six charges of fraud, three of stealing, and one each of failing to appear in court and possessing suspected stolen property.
Magistrate Browne also moved his parole eligibility date from April 2025 to May 2025.
Police Prosecutor Tara Nona said Newbury was released on parole on February 16 2024, then on February 20 and 21, he stole more than $230 worth of clothes from City Beach in Cairns Central, and a speaker and headphones from JB HiFi at Earlville, valued at $768.
A little over a month later, on March 30 2024, Newbury stole a wallet and phone from a 66-year-old man in the gaming room at Cazalys, then used this stolen card to buy fuel, Jack Daniels cans and bottle, smokes and a bottle of coke.
Defence solicitor Maria Coss said Newbury was in the grips of a methamphetamine addiction, which motivated his offending.
She said that, in addition to the shoplifting and fraud charges and the offences for which he had been on parole, Newbury had also been sentenced in Cairns District Court in late 2024 to a five-year prison term for significant unrelated property offences, in which a large sum of money was taken from a local business.
His full-time release date on the District Court charges is September 2028, the court was told.
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Originally published as Edward Newbury, 31, is back in prison after shoplifting four days into his parole
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