Postie case course stays tight-lipped

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/Po ... 4519003.jp

MAGISTRATES have refused to be drawn into a row after being heavily criticised by a senior judge.
Hartlepool magistrates came under fire for their handling of a case after a judge said he was left with no option but to free a thieving postman.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox QC, described the magistrates court dealing of the case as "puzzling" and "astonishing".

Postman Stuart Marshall was due to face a charge of theft at Teesside Crown Court, but Recorder Fox said the way the earlier hearings had been handled meant the case could not go ahead.

Marshall, 38, appeared at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court last month when he was given a community punishment order with supervision by probation and a curfew for stealing a mailbag on his rounds in Hartlepool.

Justices at the court also sent a separate charge of stealing two dummy postal packets containing money to the crown court.

But Recorder Fox said Marshall should have been jailed for the original offence and all matters should have been dealt with at the same time either at the magistrates or crown court.

Prosecutors dropped the outstanding charge of theft by offering no evidence after David Caulfield said it was felt it was not in the public interest to proceed.

Marshall, from Lincoln Crescent, Billingham, was formally found not guilty at the hearing.

Recorder Fox said: "The decision of Hartlepool Magistrates' Court, I not only find puzzling, but astonishing dealing with some matters and sending another matter to this court, and then passing a sentence which must have made you think it was your birthday."

He added if Marshall had been convicted at the crown court he would have been given an immediate prison sentence.

Officials at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court declined to comment on the judge's comments when approached by the Mail yesterday.