Postman who stole money from letters caught red-handed by investigators

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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When Mark McCutcheon was confronted, the 37-year-old was found with stolen mail in his pocket, Ayr Sheriff Court heard last week.

A postman pinched birthday cards containing cash on his Ayr delivery round.

Pilfering postie Mark McCutcheon was caught by a Royal Mail undercover sting after people complained their letters were going missing.

When investigators confronted the 37-year-old, he was found with stolen mail in his pocket, Ayr Sheriff Court heard last week.

Depute fiscal Jacob Tomnay said: “The manager at Ayr delivery office received a number of complaints about missing mail.”
The manager informed the investigations team -sparking an internal probe.

The team set a trap to catch the postie red-handed by planting and tracking fake packages among a pile of letters for delivery.

Mr Tomnay said: “Postage packages were specially prepared and placed in the mail Mr McCutcheon was supposed to be delivering.”

One of the four test mail items went missing, Mr Tomnay told the court.

The fiscal continued: “Investigators approached Mr McCutcheon and explained to him what they carried out.”

When investigators confronted McCutcheon he said he couldn’t remember exactly how long he’d been pocketing the post for - but it began in December, 2015.

Mr Tomnay said he was also found to have greeting cards in his pocket.

The thief, of Weston Avenue, Annbank who was employed by Royal Mail for six years and eight months resigned.

It appeared he had a gambling problem, the court heard.

Appearing in the dock, he pled guilty to nicking a number of postal packets containing greeting cards and a quantity of money between December 2015 and May 5, 2016.

Mr Tomnay said there “was no information” on how much money was actually taken.

Deferring sentencing, Sheriff Mhairi Mactaggart told Mccutcheon it was a “serious matter” because of his position of trust.”


She said: “I’m not going to ask you to give me an explanation today.”

The Sheriff ordered the preparation of a criminal justice social work report and restriction of liberty assessment.

He will find out his punishment at a later date.

[Dorset Plodder]

Anything that undermines the Public's Trust in Posties is obviously a bad thing. When I first started and used to deliver an opened card I always remember that look you'd get from the Customer. They'd always think it was You that had stolen the cash, never mind any explanations you might offer.

I soon learned the best thing to do was to get the PHG to put it in a "Damaged Mail" envelope. Any problems and I'd simply say, "Sorry about that but the envelope is self explanatory and there's a telephone number if you'd like to phone it". Stops a hell of a lot of grief on the street.

[Daveg50]

Any damaged or opened mail should always be placed in a sorry bag before being delivered to the customer, this reduces the risk of any awkward confrontation on the customer's door step. Unfortunately when a Scum Bag like this pilfers from Royal Mail it can reflects on us. Fortunately the people who carry out these thefts are in a very small minority and ALWAYS get caught, they deserve everything they get, hopefully a custodial sentence.