Post office worker sentenced over theft

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/953 ... ver_theft/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A WOMAN who stole thousands of pounds from the post office where she worked has been sentenced at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester.

Joanne Cropper, aged 43, of Masefield Road, Little Lever, was given a community order with a six-month curfew and specified activity requirements after admitting stealing £3,545 from Westwood Park Post Office in Salford.

Initially, Cropper denied the offence but changed her plea the day the trial was due to start.

The post office’s owner, Shazbat Begum, aged 30, of Great Lever, was suspended from work for six weeks when the theft was discovered and faced losing her business and home.

Yesterday Mrs Begum said: “Although she got the maximum punishment available to the judge, I do think she got off lightly.

Her punishment doesn’t substitute the pain it caused me at the time.”

Mrs Begum, a mother of three, employed Cropper in August, 2009, and the offences took place between January and April, 2010.

She said she felt let down by Cropper’s actions and added: “I trusted her as a friend and she betrayed me. Even though I’ve done nothing wrong, I think an element of suspicion will surround me.”