Postie confronted by semi-naked man after £400k stamp theft

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Postie confronted by semi-naked man after £400k stamp gunpoint robbery, court told

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A POSTMAN making deliveries was confronted by a hysterical, semi-naked man in handcuffs, the jury in a £400,000 stamp robbery trial have heard.

Exeter Crown Court heard Graham Hewitt was driving his van near the scene of the gunpoint raid in Southern Close, Torquay, when a man dressed only in boxer shorts and a T-shirt came up to him.

The man, James Bennett, shouted at him: "Stop, stop, we have been robbed. I need to get in your van, they might be chasing me."

Mr Hewitt said the man got into the passenger seat and used his mobile to make an emergency 999 call.

He told the operator: "We are being robbed, we were tied up by armed men and half a million pounds worth of stamps have gone. They are still there."

The postman said he drove his van near to Southern Close and stopped.

The court was told Mr Bennett was still on the mobile phone when he heard the sound of an engine revving and a car came over the brow of the hill.

Mr Hewitt said he did not see the occupants of the car but Mr Bennett shouted at him: "That's them, that's them."

He said he turned his van around and tried to follow the vehicle but by then it was out of sight.

He drove round looking to try and find the route but was unable to do so, so he drove back to Southern Close.

The court was told the postman said he started down the steps to the front door of the house where he saw one man with marks on his wrists but not cuffed and another still in handcuffs with a dressing gown on.

That was Steven Bennett, who said there were some bolt croppers in the garage.

Mr Hewitt said he went and fetched them and cut the chain between the cuffs to free the victim.

He said the younger brother, Timothy, said: "I have rung my mates, they are out looking for the car."

"I thought that was strange as they didn't have any phones," said Mr Hewitt.

The prosecution has claimed Steven Bennett was subjected to an armed robbery ordeal where a gun was pointed at his head and he and his sons were bound, handcuffed and hooded before his collection was stolen.

It is alleged the robbers were Craig Townend and another man who has never been traced.

Townend said he and the other man were recruited by Mr Bennett to stage a spectacular robbery that would attract a large police presence and media attention.

It has been claimed in court the reason for that was Mr Bennett owed £50,000 to organised criminals for whom he had laundered money and he wanted to fool them into thinking he had nothing left with which to pay them.

Townend, of Rotherham, has pleaded not guilty to armed robbery, possessing a firearm with intent to commit robbery and three charges of falsely imprisoning Mr Bennett and his two sons in Torquay on July 21 last year.

The trial will continue on Monday.

[dragon]

Dear Sir,Thank you for stealing my story from the Herald Express Torquay website. Perhaps you could tell me the difference between you posting this copy on your website for nothing and me walking out of a Post Ofice with £25.00 (my usual fee) worth stamps without paying for them--providing of course that I credit the Royal Mail with providing the stamps across the counter.
Richard Harrison,freelance journalist.

[POSTMAN]

Good evening Richard,i am the owner of this site,as you no doubt have seen we have a very large amount of Royal Mail and related news articles,probably one of the biggest on the net.

Our members scan the net on a daily basis for anything interesting related to us,which includes news from our union (The Communication Workers Union),and of course Royal Mail.

Your article is one of nearly 6000 that we have on the site,we are not passing the article off as one of our own and we have provided a link to the original article like we always do.And i wouldn't say we were stealing it either.

We are drawing the attention of others within our organisation to material posted on the 'this is Devon' site as per the T@C''s on the 'this is Devon' website.

Keep up the good work,any chance of doing someting on the strikes?

[Tman]

Let's hope Mr Harrison has other sources of income besides freelance journalism, because he will surely starve if that is an example of his work.

Wonder if he has ghost-written some of those recent RM edicts too....?

[Lounge Lizard]

He could sell it to some TV writer as a plot for a future episode of The Bill.