A COUPLE who between them stole three Poppy Appeal collection tins and attempted to steal another were tonight condemned by the Royal British Legion.

Drug addicts Sabrina Burton and Michael Bailey admitted their two-week spree at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

The pair, who have a two-year-old daughter and live in Fettiplace Road, Barton, confessed to jointly stealing a Poppy tin and a Multiple Sclerosis collection box in Headington on November 6, and attempting to steal another British Legion box on November 9.

Bailey, 25, also admitted the theft of two other Headington Poppy collections on October 25 and November 2.

The amount stolen has never been calculated. The cash has not been recovered.

Last night, Terry Cox, chairman of the Headington branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “My attitude to them is never going to change.

“They should be taken to the military hospital at Solihull, or sent to Afghanistan.

“They should be shown what our work is all about – why we do it all.

“We were about £3,000 up on takings this year, from £8,000 to £11,000, so who knows what was in those boxes. Going on previous years, I think we’re looking at £140 or £150 at least. People were really giving this year — the amount of children giving their pocket money was amazing.”

At court yesterday the couple sat close together and spoke only to enter their pleas.

Pregnant Burton, 25, was bailed to be sentenced by Judge Julian Hall on February 5.

At an earlier hearing he also admitted stealing an electric guitar from the British Heart Foundation shop in London Road, Headington. He will also be sentenced at a later date.