RM fraudster Jonathan Thompson is locked up over Scam

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail fraudster Jonathan Thompson is locked up over Etruria Park scam

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DEPRESSED Jonathan Thompson has been jailed after he treated a court order with 'complete contempt'.

Thompson was handed a 12 month community order with 100 hours unpaid work last June after admitting conspiring to defraud Royal Mail.
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But Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday heard the 35-year-old has completed just one hour's work for the community.

Judge Paul Glenn told Thompson he had treated the order with 'complete contempt'. He revoked the order and re-sentenced Thompson to four months in prison.

Thompson, of Peascroft Road, Norton, received the order after admitting taking part in a conspiracy involving the theft of Royal Mail packages and subsequent false compensation claims.

The group falsely claimed to have ordered goods online and then claimed compensation from Royal Mail when the 'parcels' were not delivered.

Thompson allowed his own address to be used and was motivated by financial gain, the court heard. But he failed to comply with the order by only completing one hour in unpaid work after suffering with depression.

In January the probation service applied for the order to be revoked, saying it was unworkable due to Thompson's health.

But Recorder Bal Dhaliwal refused to revoke the order and told Thompson to re-engage or risk going to prison.

However, he breached the order again by failing to report for unpaid work on March 2 and March 16.

Catherine O'Reilly, mitigating, said Thompson had no previous convictions before he became involved in the Royal Mail conspiracy.

However, he has since assaulted his wife in December, for which he received a community order with 18 months supervision.

Miss O'Reilly said Thompson has been referred to the Greenfield Centre in Tunstall. He is attending counselling sessions twice a week and is finding it beneficial.

"He is clearly suffering from depression of some form or another," added Miss O'Reilly.

But Judge Glenn said a lot of people have depression and still go to work. "He is making no attempt whatsoever to deal with this court order," said Judge Glenn.

"He had the shot across the bows in January. He knew what was expected of him."

The judge told Thompson it must have been 'crystal clear' he had to comply with the order when the application to revoke it was refused in January.

He added: "I accept you have some form of depression. So do an awful lot of people. But the evidence I have seen is that you disengaged with Healthy Minds and you are now attending counselling at the Greenfield Centre.
"The reality is you do not fancy doing some work for nothing.

"The original offence was serious.

"You have treated this order with complete contempt. You have wilfully and persistently refused to comply with it."

[postypie]

Low life loser