Coventry postal worker stole £20,000 from packages

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... -27261386/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A ROYAL Mail worker has been jailed after being caught stealing £20,000 in foreign notes in a “sting” operation at Coventry’s sorting depot.

Gurmukh Padan, aged 42, of Elkington Street, Courthouse Green, pleaded guilty at Coventry Crown Court yesterday to charges of money laundering and theft.

The court heard Padan was caught by managers at the Bishop Street sorting office, who launched an investigation after £100,000 of foreign currency went missing between 2006-2008.

They suspected Padan was responsible and in June 2008 investigators put together special delivery parcels which contained a total sum of £20,000 in foreign currency and left them in areas where Padan was due to be working.

Instead of giving the packages to post officers, who intended to deliver them to a Coventry post office, he put them in his own bundle of mail.

Padan, who worked at the sorting office for more than three years, was interviewed by managers and suspended on the same day.

Police examined his bank accounts which contained “substantial amounts” of money, and discovered foreign currency had been transferred from one of his accounts to another.

Yesterday Judge Christopher Hodson jailed Padan for 21 months. Michael Grey, prosecuting, said: “The defendant said the money was sent to the UK by family members of India but sent in Euros and these sums were put into his account.

“He has no mortgage on his house and he said he’d been making extra payments to pay off his mortgage.”

Robert Hodgkinson, defending, said: “Apart from this serious matter he has lived a blameless life since he came to this country in 1993.

“He felt some form of grievance for what he was being paid at the depot and began stealing packages.

“He has a very elderly father who is not in good health and he is the registered carer.

“There is also his two-year-old son who suffers from epilepsy and cerebral palsy and is in and out of hospital for therapy.

“He has never been on trial before and is appalled by his own behaviour.”

Judge Hodson said: “The public place considerable trust in postmen to deliver mail entrusted to them without interfering with the mail and stealing it.

“You breached that trust and stole money for your own benefit. You felt you weren’t being paid enough and apparently you have no mortgage now on your house.

“There must be a sentence of imprisonment for the offence not just to punish you but as an example to others.”

[Lounge Lizard]

“Apart from this serious matter he has lived a blameless life since he came to this country in 1993.
“He felt some form of grievance for what he was being paid at the depot and began stealing packages.
“He has a very elderly father who is not in good health and he is the registered carer.
“There is also his two-year-old son who suffers from epilepsy and cerebral palsy and is in and out of hospital for therapy.
“He has never been on trial before and is appalled by his own behaviour.”

Is that all ?