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Home / New Zealand

Kiwi Taylor Swift fans ‘violated’ by thief who stole precious concert memories from sleeping sisters

Rachel Maher
By Rachel Maher
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
6 Mar, 2024 03:00 AM3 mins to read

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Taylor Swift mega fan makes 140 friendship bracelets, lines up for hours to get some merch, dressed up in her best Taylor Swift outfit even though she didn't manage to get tickets to any of the shows. Video / Megan Watts

Kiwi sisters Jess and Hayley McLellan went to Sydney for a dream trip to see Taylor Swift.

But they awoke to a nightmare after a thief snuck into their hotel room as the Masterton fans slept, happy but exhausted after Swift’s Sydney concert on the last Sunday of last month.

The Swiftie sisters say they feel “violated” and “deflated” after the thief took phones containing all the photos and videos of the special trip to Sydney for the acclaimed Eras Tour, as they lay in their hotel beds.

Jess, 34, and Hayley, 20, attended one of Swift’s shows at Accor Stadium and returned to Palms Hotel in Chullora about 1am on Monday last week.

They had travelled to Sydney with a third sister - Morgan Turner - and her husband, who stayed in a separate room.

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“We were just dead tired, but also the doors that go into the corridor from outside, from what we understand, they don’t get locked,” Jess said.

“They’re just like a regular key lock and there’s no way to check from the inside if they’re locked because they’re kind of always unlocked from the inside.”

CCTV at the hotel shows a person trying to open every door along the corridor.

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“Ours just so happened to open,” Jess said.

(From left to right) Sisters Hayley, Jess and Morgan before the Taylor Swift concert in Sydney.
(From left to right) Sisters Hayley, Jess and Morgan before the Taylor Swift concert in Sydney.

The thief crept into the room while the sisters slept and stole a handbag.

The thief then took the bag to the hotel’s casino bathroom, stealing the sisters’ phones, Jess’ bank card and $300 cash.

“Then he attempted to take $8000 [on the card] which obviously declined,” Jess said.

Weirdly, the empty handbag was returned, with the thief placing it outside their hotel room door.

“The concert was incredible and we’re trying to obviously focus on good things about the trip,” Jess said.

The sisters stayed on in Australia for a holiday after the concert, but were left jumping at anything that went bump in the night.

“We just felt quite unsafe in every accommodation that we went to after that, through no fault of their own, just because obviously, we were concerned about what’s going to happen next,” Jess said.

“And so every time there was kind of like a bump in the corridor or whatever, we jumped, you know, we weren’t sleeping very well.”

Hayley and Jess McLellan (far left) were sleeping after the Taylor Swift concert when a thief broke into their hotel room.
Hayley and Jess McLellan (far left) were sleeping after the Taylor Swift concert when a thief broke into their hotel room.

A New South Wales police spokeswoman said they had received a report after the two women had property stolen from their room at a hotel on the Hume Highway, Chullora.

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“An investigation is under way into the incident and inquiries continue.”

After the Herald approached the hotel it decided to give the McLellan sisters a full refund.

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.

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