Chester postal worker who stole thousands spared jail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chest ... -26463108/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A ROYAL Mail employee who stole nearly £5,000 from confidential packages has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Army veteran Kevin Colin Rowlands, 50, of Savoy Cafe, Chester Street, Mold took the cash from October until December last year at the sorting office on Sealand Road, Chester.

Rowlands, who is now jobless, stole a special delivery postal packet containing £2,000 cash on October 28, 2009, another on November 14 with 2,000 euros inside and a third containing £1,000 on December 5.

At the time of the offence Rowlands was working a night shift in the special delivery section from 10pm to 6am.

The service is used to send money, including currency, to customers and post offices using the track and trace section of the special delivery service.
Royal Mail investigators became suspicious when several cash packages went missing during transit.

A test package containing £1,000 was sent and on December 5, 2009, Rowlands was seen on CCTV handling the package and placing it in his rucksack and leaving the area.

Rowlands had worked for Royal Mail subsidiary Cashco for eight years and in February 2009 was offered redundancy or a role in the sorting office.
He said he hated the sorting office and felt confined.

Rowlands claimed he committed the offences hoping to be caught as a cry for help as he hated working there, but conceded it was the wrong way to go about it.
Rowlands, who served in the Army from 1976-86, had no previous convictions.

Royal Mail spokeswoman Marie Gray said: “Royal Mail has a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty and that stance is shared by the overwhelming majority of postmen and women, who are honest and hardworking and who do all they can to protect the mail and deliver it safely. We will always seek to prosecute the tiny minority of people who abuse their position of trust.”

At Chester Magistrates Court on Friday, May 14, district judge Nicholas Sanders handed Rowlands a six month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He must complete 250 hours of unpiad work, pay a restitution order of £3,000 and 2,000 euros to the Royal Mail, and costs of £3,000.

[Lounge Lizard]

"Army veteran Kevin Colin Rowlands" - ex-serviceman, time and time again. They'll soon be thinking of stopping taking them on.

[clashcityrocker]

National Service is what they need.

[DGP1]

National Service is what they need.

[Lounge Lizard]

National Service is what they need.

and bring get the birch.

[DGP1]

National Service is what they need.

and bring get the birch.

That's the kind of encouragement that I DON'T need

[DGP1]

He said he hated the sorting office and felt confined.

He could have just asked to be moved to deliveries, much easier than stealing to try to draw attention to your problems.

Or better still, maybe he could have just said that he liked the money and it was easy to steal without making up stories