Bent postie stole children's birthday cash

[TrueBlueTerrier]

By Ben Parsons

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/localnew ... y_cash.php

A postman stole a child's birthday money and spent it at the bookies.

Mark Slater sat in his Royal Mail van opening letters to take cash and vouchers worth more than 1,000 in an eight-week spree.

He used sticky tape and glue sticks to reseal the packages and popped them back in his bag.
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On one occasion he used a voucher from a greetings card to buy himself a sandwich from Waitrose.

And Worthing Magistrates' Court was told he used a 20 note from a child's birthday card to place a bet.

Slater was due to be sentenced at the court today.

But when magistrates realised they did not have the power to punish him as severely as they wanted to they referred the case to the crown court.

He had earlier admitted seven charges of theft from the postal service and one count of delaying postal packages.

The court heard Slater, 40, had been a postman for ten years and seven months when he started stealing from the mail.

His biggest haul was 33 cards containing 807 in gift vouchers.

He was caught when a member of the public reported seeing him examining the mail in his van.

Royal Mail managers posted fake letters to catch him out.

He immediately confessed when confronted over the thefts but could not explain why he committed the crimes.

His solicitor, Matthew Baines, denied a claim in the probation service's pre-sentence report that he took "significant enjoyment" from stealing the mail.

He said: "He was by no means motivated by financial gain.

"These actions were impulsive behaviour.

"He was by no means able to control these actions."

Mr Baines said Slater, who lives in Southsea in Hampshire, has since had a seven-week-old child and found new work as a delivery driver for RAK Ceramics.

Magistrate Robert Evans said: "You were a postman in a position of trust.

"The public do put an awful lot of trust in postmen.

"You were there to deliver the mail.

"This was a particularly nasty thing to do, particularly as far as the children were concerned."

The case was adjourned to Chichester Crown Court for sentencing on August 6.

The magistrates tried to pass a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered him to pay 455 compensation and costs.

But they were told by the clerk of the court that new laws under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 meant they could not suspend a 12-month sentence.

Slater wiped tears from his eyes as the magistrates retired again to reconsider their verdict.

When they reached a decision, Mr Evans said: "On behalf of the court I must apologise for this mix-up."

He told Slater the court could send him to prison for 12 months but was not able to suspend a sentence of that length.

Mr Evans said: "We had two options. Either to reduce the custodial period in order to be able to suspend, or commit you to crown court for sentence.

"We are not prepared to reduce the custodial sentence.

"While it is not binding on the crown court, we do hope they will take recognizance of what our intentions were today when they pass sentence."

[Spartacus]

C*nts like that put us all under suspicion,should be prison every time.

[tyconuk]

We had a bloke at our place who did the same.
He was apparently doing it for 2 weeks but the DUMs
reckon he might of being it for at least 5 years
He was also always at the bookies and always had a big f**k off
cigar in his mouth
He got away with because they could only prove that he had 3 or 4 cards
What amazes me is that people complain and complain about not receiving
cards, and management don't do f**k all
i had told the manager about not receiving cards and rang customer services
and they do f**k all.
He was going in a 4am and going through all the code sorted mail looking for cards and putting them in his own slot
what a twat.
The thing that really pisses me off is that the c*** is now working at John lewis, so somebody said.
how the f**k did he get a job their, after going too court and s**t.
sorry about the language put it just makes me piss
Its like that saying goes crime doesn't pay, BUT SOMETIME IT f***ing does!!!!!!!

[IWW Fellow Worker]

If he's working for John Lewis, you can bet they don't know why he left Royal Mail. John Lewis ia quite a reputable firm.
As for thieving from kids birthday cards, how low can anyone get?

[underpaid]

what a w****r , whats up with this firm do they send out application forms to the scrubs or what

[bigsharkboy]

what a criminal mastermind opening cards in his van and spotted by a member of the public doing so
what a prick nicking money out of kids birthday cards how fecking low can you go

when are these two :lfo :cfo gonna be brought up for stealing royal mail profits to fill there fat bulging wallets

:cfo :lfo

[johnnyp]

Scumbag

[DOM]

Scumbag

Agreed

[PHP]

He should be banged up with all the others like him, i.e. muggers, handbag snatchers, burglars etc! But as we live in New Labour's new Britain he'll be let off with a slap on the wrist and some old dear who can't afford to pay her council tax will go inside!

[vigilante]

we had one in our office of quite a lengthy service who even pinched out of local postmans kids cards!!!
Thats f*****g low.

[pinstripe]

I agree completely, this is a job where there is a lot of trust involved. I know this happens in every business, but it's a bit like a fireman starting fires or a doctor killing his patients (nothing to do with recent events). We must be and remain above suspicion regarding this type of behavior and we, the workers should publicly demand a custodial sentence for these crimes, not suspended nor community service, fines etc. This is what, the second case that's been highlighted this week! I remember that it used to be very rare, there was the occasional one. You don't think that due to the current situation, this is getting wider coverage?



Remember, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

[dongash]

we had a thief at our place who nicked tescos vouchers! they caught him on cctv at a local 24 hour tescos walking through the checkout being helped with his 28" tv and dvd player by a helpful member of tescos staff! "need any help with your packing sir!" the person who the vouchers were for said they had not received them! tescos checked and were able to know the date,time,store and even the till number from the vouchers! the thief only got a suspended sentence! still i suppose "every little helps!" they should lock up all these thieves regardless. regards dongash opg macclesfield sk (100% scab free zone)

[st postie]

remeber that one well dongash didnt they arrest a bloke who was shopping at tesco i remember them questioning him all day and searched his house they found some d2d in his cellar so they sacked him when they ran the cctv tape on a while they found the real thief with a big telly and dvd player in his trolly
the theiving twat only lost his job and a smack on the wrist they should have thrown him inside for a couple of years these people turn the public opinion
against every hard working postie when this sort of thing appears in the papers they have a field day

[Anal Leighton]

I like this bit...
"He was by no means able to control these actions."
Yeah, okaayyy.... so he was being forced to look for cards and open them in plain sight of everyone by a nasty Master Criminal hiding somewhere in the back of his van, threatening him with violence and anal rape if he didn't do so.

...over a period of eight weeks no less!
F***tard.

[baldrick]

I sent my niece and nephew a Xmas card each with a cheque inside last year. They were posted in the Special Handstamp Box inside the Mailcentre. My nephew's card didn't arrive. Fortunately I was able to cancel the cheque as he let me know.
I sent a complaint in, but got the standard letter - 'we deal with millions of items every day, unfortunately a few go astray......unable to give compensation without proof of posting'. Do they expect everyone to queue up at a PO Counter for a Certificate of posting for every letter? If so there are going to be even more horrendous queues than there are at the moment. It was probably nicked by one of the Xmas Casuals. They rarely prosecute them even if they are caught.