Post Office worker Roxy Barton stole thousands from bosses

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“All we want is our money back, money we have worked very hard for.”

A sub-post office clerk began stealing from her bosses shortly after taking up the job.

By the time Roxy Barton’s dishonesty came to light she had pocketed just over £22,000 and left the owners, who had re-mortgaged their home to take over the business, struggling financially.


In an impact statement read to the court Syeda Bukhari, who sat in the public gallery with her husband, Aadil, told of how her breach of trust had left them devastated. “She has not stolen from the Post Office, she has stolen from my husband and I.

“All we want is our money back, money we have worked very hard for.”


She said Barton’s young son and their own boy had become friends and she had quickly become such a trusted employee that unknown to her they had been planning to give her greater responsibility including filling the ATM with hundreds of thousands of pounds.

35-year-old Barton, of Lunt Avenue, Netherton, sobbed in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as the impact statement was read.

Chris Taylor, prosecuting, had told how the couple took over the Orrell Park post office in March last year and Barton started working there in June as a counter clerk.

Her dishonesty spanned three months and involved her pocketing cash which should have been bagged and put in the safe. Discrepancies were noticed by Post Office Counters Ltd and it found £22,035 had disappeared.

When spoken to, Barton frankly admitted her guilt and was also frank with police when arrested, he said. Barton, who pleaded guilty to theft, has since repaid £900.

Mr Taylor said she had been one of four employees and the potential had been there for everyone to lose their livelihoods if the business had gone under.

Chris McMaster, defending, said that Barton had financial troubles as she had taken out a £10,000 loan eight years ago “and that revisited her with 50% added”.


Barton, who has a six-year-old son, had bought scratch cards in the hope of getting money to pay back what she had stolen but the cycle was never ending. She has now been offered a job with KFC and this will enable her to make more payments to the victims which she wants to do, he said.

Sentencing her to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years Judge Patrick Thompson said it was a serious breach of trust but by letting her keep her liberty she would be in a position to repay her victims.


He also ordered her to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and 20 days rehabilitation activities.

The judge pointed out that she had betrayed her employers and “you could not complain if they had come here braying for blood and asking for you to go to prison.

“It is the measure of Mr and Mrs Bakhari that they have not come here seeking revenge or justice, they simply want their money back.”