Found: Belinda Burcham, also known as Belinda Sheehan, went missing after leaving St Vincent's Hospital on 30 December 2012 Photo: Supplied
When police found missing Sydney woman Belinda Burcham ''dishevelled and confused'' in Paddington, she thought she had been away for only a few hours.
But court documents show that Burcham spent almost a week breaking into houses in Roylston Street, Paddington, in December and January to steal alcohol including Grange Hermitage wines worth $1600, cheap cooking wine and cigarettes.
Burcham's solicitor entered guilty pleas to six charges, including several break and enter offences and larceny in Waverley Local Court on Monday. Burcham did not appear. She is in a rehabilitation centre in Sydney's southwest, the court heard.
A statement of police facts tendered to the court said Burcham was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in the early hours of December 30 after going to her ex-husband's house in an ''extremely intoxicated'' state.
She left the hospital four hours later - barefoot and with a cannula still in her arm - and friends and family launched a high-profile search to find her.
During that time, the documents said, she was ''stealing food and mainly alcohol to support her addiction''.
On New Year's Eve she broke into a home by smashing a glass door and stole two bottles of brandy, one of which was found empty in the backyard, the police statement said.
Early on New Year's Day she broke into another house and stole Grange Hermitage wines, vintages 1984 and 1997, the documents said.
In the following days Burcham used a spade and pitchfork to break into another house, where she stole cooking wine. Police said empty methylated spirits bottles were also found inside the house.
Burcham was found in Paddington on January 5, and police took her back to hospital to be treated for alcohol poisoning.
The documents said she had been sheltering in and around one of the houses she broke into during the time she was missing.
The police statement said officers searched her parents' house four days later, but Burcham was crying and shaking so much they couldn't interview her.
''[She] indicated she did not remember anything about the time she was missing and, in fact, commented at the time of being located she thought she was only missing for a couple of hours.''
Burcham, a long-time friend of Moses Obeid and his family and who has been employed as the office manager at the Obeid headquarters in Birkenhead Point, will be sentenced on May 6.
The owner of the Grange Hermitage wines has told police she will be seeking $1600 compensation.
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