Workington Postman Spared Jail

[tiredwalker]

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A WORKINGTON postman who opened greetings cards to steal money after his wife’s cancer diagnosis left the family in financial difficulty has been spared jail.

Carlisle Crown Court heard yesterday

By then Smith – who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing – had been stealing mail for about four years, since his wife had been diagnosed with cancer back in 2005.

She died last year, before her husband’s actions came to light.

He was discovered after the delivery manager at his work began checking lockers to see which were being used and found two open greeting cards inside Smith’s locker – a further search uncovered two carrier bags containing around 64 similar items, most dating back to 2005.

Smith was handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to undertake 200 hours unpaid community work.