Lionel Gundy Pleads Guilty Over Millie Elliott Ring Theft
Lionel Gundy has pleaded guilty to lesser charges over the theft of millie elliott’s NRLW premiership ring from a Merewether home in 2024. The deal with prosecutors narrows a case that began with a pre-dawn break-in at the rugby league couple’s house.
Merewether at 5am
At about 5am on October 12, Millie Elliott woke to a sound, found a man kneeling in front of an open cupboard and confronted him in the kitchen of her home. After she shouted, the intruder fled through the back door; she and Adam Elliott gave chase but lost sight of him.
Adam found their keys and wallet in the backyard, then called police while walking around nearby Gibbs Brothers Oval. Other items belonging to Millie were found scattered around the oval, and the intruder took two handbags, a laptop, a bank card, $1000 in cash and the premiership ring she had won about a week earlier with the Roosters.
The ring and the bank card
The ring carried a $10,000 value and was engraved with the player’s jersey number, making it easy to spot if it surfaced in a pawn shop. Later on October 12, Millie posted on Instagram: “If you work at a pawn shop at Newy and someone comes in with a number 8 premiership ring to swap for cash, please let me know” and “Because it's probably not theirs, they came into my house at night and stole it.”
CCTV footage captured Gundy at 9.20am that morning using the stolen bank card to buy a mobile phone at Newcastle West. Police identified him from that footage and issued a warrant for his arrest, tying the ring theft to the same day’s cash-and-card use rather than treating it as a stand-alone burglary.
Hamilton South arrest
About 6.30am on October 16, police spotted Gundy walking through Hamilton South carrying a silver laptop. He threw the laptop and ran towards a unit in Glebe Road when officers tried to stop him; police recovered the laptop and found it had been stolen during the break-in.
Gundy had also been spotted trying to break into three other homes at Merewether that morning, including two next door to the Elliotts’ place. The guilty plea trims the court fight, but the case still reads as a wider Merewether break-in spree built around quick theft, fast resale and a trail of recoverable evidence.
