'We were fleeced by post office cashier'

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MORE pensioners have stood up in court and told a jury they were fleeced out of cash by a post office cashier.

Rajwinder Samra, of Colbourne Street, is accused of taking hundreds of pounds from the Post Office accounts of three pensioners at the Gorse Hill post office by conning them into entering their PINs twice.

Samra, 29, who has worked at the branch in Cricklade Road for around 10 years, denies eight counts of fraud.

Yesterday, she came face-to-face with pensioner Walter Hambidge, who she allegedly defrauded of £100 last October.

Mr Hambidge, a retired coalman, told Swindon Crown Court he was careful with his money and first noticed something was wrong when he checked his statement and saw that an extra £100 had come out of his account within seconds of his own withdrawal.

He said he only had a till receipt showing one withdrawal.

“I am a careful man with my money, “ he told the jury. “I’m telling you there wasn’t two transactions. You believe what you want to believe but I’m telling this jury what happened and everything I’m telling them is the gospel truth.”

The court heard that he entered his PIN at Samra’s till but was told it had not registered and he would need to re-enter it.

During cross-examination, Mr Hambidge dismissed the possibility that he had asked for two separate withdrawals.

“I have dealt with a lot of money every day in my working life, I know how to look after money,” he said.

“The tickets [receipts] you are saying I lost were never in my pocket, if they exist they are behind the counter at the post office.”

Pensioner June Arkley, a regular at the branch, also took to the witness stand and gave evidence against Samra.

In October last year, Mrs Arkley said she had gone to withdraw £30 and, after entering her PIN, was told to re-enter it because it had not been authorised.

“A day later I was going to the shop and I looked at my slip to see how much money I had and I noticed it was £30 down,” she said.

“I went back to the Post Office and I spoke to the young lady [Samra] and she said ‘Ah my till was £30 over yesterday so that’s what it must be’, and gave me the £30 back.”

Christopher Oswald, defending, asked Mrs Arkley about the possibility that she had forgotten what had actually happened at the till and had in fact asked for £60.

“I may be old, but my memory is still OK, I know what happened,”she said.

Judge Euan Ambrose and the jury also heard evidence from postmaster Jagdish Patel and were shown reproductions of bank account statements of Mr Hambidge and Mrs Arkley.

The trial continues.