Kleptomaniac Darlaston postman targeted valuable packages

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top- ... -29180354/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A POSTMAN was dubbed a kleptomaniac in court after targeting valuable-looking packages and failing to deliver more than 9,000 items.

Judge John Wait told 23-year-old Benjamin Bryan he had caused the public to lose trust in the postal service.

Bryan, of in Addenbrook Street, Darlaston, was working as a postman based at the Royal Mail’s Bilston delivery office and he came under suspicion when a package that did not relate to his round was found in his bag.

A test packet was then put into his bag by investigating officers bearing a non-existent address and, when it was not returned to the delivery office, it was found to have been taken by Bryan.

Investigators then placed a tracking device inside a package containing a £25 gift card and the homing signal was traced to his home.

Bryan admitted theft and delaying mail and he was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and also ordered to obey a three-month curfew between the hours of 7.30pm and 5.00am.

Mr Roy Patterson defending Bryan who was also told to pay £1,000 costs said he was taking items out of curiosity and added, “It was more kleptomania than anything else.”

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Bryan had not used any of the property he stole from packages including cameras, batteries and a computer pad.

Mr Patterson who said he had not pushed the 9,000 advertising flyers through letter boxes because it got “too much for him.”

He said Bryan who had been a postman for 18 months before being suspended and then sacked had raised the problem with senior staff but there had been no reaction.

Mr John Dove prosecuting said opened postal packages were found in Bryan’s car together with 360 leaflets while there was evidence a number of flyers had been burned. The investigating officers found a total of 11 opened packets while there were just over 9.000 undelivered door-to-door flyers.

[Wessex]

I know I have raised this issue before but I suspect there will be many more of these incidents ,in part, due to pressure put on to staff to deliver , undeliverable amounts, and I suspect that the judge in this case used that as a mitigating factor when sentencing.

I know that that should not be an excuse for criminality but such pressures I believe will see an exponential growth in these type of cases.

[smartbhoy]

It was nothing to do with pressure. He was a thief. Taking items not for his delivery. And if courts keeping letting them off with fines and suspended sentences they'll keep on stealing.

[Lounge Lizard]

"Bryan, of in Addenbrook Street, Darlaston, was working as a postman based at the Royal Mail’s Bilston delivery office and he came under suspicion when a package that did not relate to his round was found in his bag.
Bryan admitted theft and delaying mail and he was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and also ordered to obey a three-month curfew between the hours of 7.30pm and 5.00am." - which begs the question what there is to do out of the house in Darlaston between 7.30pm and 5am.