David Walliams is the latest victim of letters theft

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ROYAL Mail has been accused of leaving customers vulnerable to fraudsters after a string of thefts – the latest of which saw comedian David Walliams losing a bundle of letters from young fans.

Residents in Hampstead and Belsize Park have complained about post hanging out of letter boxes and a mail cart abandoned on the pavement, as police say that criminals are targeting more affluent parts of the borough.

On Sunday Mr Walliams, who lives in Belsize Park, said that Scotland Yard had informed him that his post had been stolen, including “a large box of letters” from young readers of his popular children’s books.

Police said that they were called “by a member of the public who had found a number of discarded items of post” earlier this month.

In March concerns were raised after a Royal Mail trolley full of confidential post was found dumped in Lindfield Gardens.

Linda Chung, a member of the Hampstead Safer Neighbourhood Panel, said: “The issue is security, because what alarms me is that this patch has been targeted by criminals.”

PC Nick Dayton said that criminals were “looking to make financial gain from people’s post” often by enabling identity theft. He said officers were investigating what additional steps could be taken to protect post and would advise Royal Mail to make sure staff were aware of the specific security issues in the area.

He said: “I don’t know if it’s a problem across the Met, but it’s certainly an issue across the north two wards of Camden.”

Royal Mail said this week that their internal security team would be visiting the Hampstead delivery office to ­“re­affirm our security ­standards”.

Addressing young fans on Sunday, Mr Walliams, a patron of the Camden Music Trust, said: “I apologise if you sent a letter and have not re­ceived a reply as I do endeavour to reply to everyone. If in doubt please write again.” Ms Chung added: “It is serious because, if David Walliams has lost his mail, that’s a child not responded to and that’s a child expecting a nice letter and David would have had every intention of responding. But a more serious thing is people’s bank details have been lost and confidential information has been lost.”

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “Police in Camden were called on April 8 by a member of the public who had found a number of discarded items of post...enquiries are under way to establish whether an offence has been committed.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said they had received no reports of post being stolen from a mail trolley in NW3 in the past 12 months.