By Taylor Woodward and Abbey Lew-Kee
Marcus Stanford has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Leeton school teacher, Stephanie Scott.
Stanford failed to tell the police his brother had sent him an envelope, containing two rings which he later pawned. Stanford also destroyed Ms Scott’s driver’s license.
Judge Robert Allen Hulme said the actions of the brother of convicted murderer Vincent Scott were “disgraceful and inexcusable”.
“It was the act of a man who put morality and human decency secondary to the interests of his murderous brother,” he said.
Ms Scott was raped and murdered on Easter Sunday last year by Stanford’s brother, Vincent, a cleaner at Leeton High school.
Ms Scott’s engagement ring was one of the two rings pawned by Stanford at Adelaide Exchange Jewellery in Modbury, South Australia for a total of $705.
Stanford was initially interviewed by police on April 2, 2015 after his brother told police he had taken Ms Scott’s rings. He failed to tell police that his brother had sent him the rings.
Text messages between the pair discussing the envelope were discovered by police on May 28.
“I’m going to send you an envelope keep it safe for me”, the text message from Vincent read.
“OK,” replied Marcus Stanford.
Marcus was arrested the following month, and on August 5 he confessed to NSW police to having received Ms Scott’s jewellery and license.
During the interview Stanford said he had pawned the rings and destroyed the license due to a “misplaced loyalty to this brother”.
The 15-month sentence was backdated to June last year, when Stanford was first taken into custody by police.
Stanford will be released on September 9 and will not serve any parole.
