Royal Mail worker made thousands from stolen post

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A POST Office counter clerk thief stole thousands of pounds' worth of jewellery and goods from parcels.

Former Royal Mail worker Janice Stokes took special delivery parcels containing more than 214 items of jewellery, mobile phones, cash and birthday cards in a six-month crime spree.

The 55-year-old used more than £9,000 she made from selling the stolen jewellery to pay debts.

Stokes stole the packages while working as a post office counter clerk in Derby Road, North End, between October and April.

Her scam was uncovered after Royal Mail investigators launched a probe when they discovered numerous special deliveries never reached their destination.They pinned down the thief to the Derby Road post office. Then investigators planted a tracking device in a Special Delivery package containing jewellery, posted it at the post office and lay in wait outside. When Stokes and two other women left the site at 5.30pm on April 30, the device led them to her.

Police searched her home in Wadham Road, North End, and uncovered a raft of loot including jewellery, £2,000 cash, a purse containing £80, three mobile phones and three greetings cards.

Stokes sobbed in the dock as Bob Williams, prosecuting, told Portsmouth magistrates: 'She said she saw it as a way out of her debts and once she had done it the first time it was just so easy to do. She explained that each time she said to herself that she wouldn't do it again.'

Stokes turned to crime after experiencing money trouble and temporarily separating from her husband, the court heard.

Emma Smith, defending, said: 'Things just snowballed. She saw it as an easy way out to try and alleviate her debt situation with her credit cards and her household debt.'

Stokes admitted 10 counts of committing a breach of trust. Ten further counts were taken into consideration. She was bailed unconditionally to appear at Portsmouth Crown Court in September.

THE net started closing in on mail thief Janice Stokes when Royal Mail investigators discovered 13 Special Delivery packages posted at the post office where she worked were never delivered.

Investigators collected intelligence on delivery drivers and staff working at the Special Delivery locker in Slindon Street before narrowing their search down to Derby Road.

On April 30, a Royal Mail investigator posted a Special Delivery postal packet containing jewellery and a tracking device at the North End branch and waited outside.

A signal on the tracking device went off as Stokes and two other women left the post office at about 5.30pm.

When approached by the investigators, Stokes admitted that she was carrying the Special Delivery package in her bag.

She was later arrested and charged.

[Straight4ward]

Investigators collected intelligence on delivery drivers and staff working at the Special Delivery locker in Slindon Street before narrowing their search down to Derby Road.

So as a result of this woman's thieving, a lot of totally honest people were placed under suspicion and investigated.
You tend to think of the victims as the people who had items stolen, both sender and intended recipient, and RM who had to pay out compensation for the 'lost' items but the actions of a thief contaminate others too.

[Pompey Boy]

Hmmm.........it wasn't immediately obvious who was doing the thefts, so drivers and cage staff were targetted. Why not the PO staff?? Says to me that the current system of collecting specials doesn't protect honest drivers enough - why should drivers who are following RM procedures and doing their job honesty be treated like this?? Any CWU like to comment?

[BELIAL]

So much for "tracking through the pipeline" PO counter.....pooof ,where'd it go

[Pompey Boy]

How did she do it? Peraps she had help? Wonder if IB/Police thought of this?