Royal Mail Cleaner Stole Posted Cards and Gifts

A cleaner at Royal Mail's Flint Delivery Office has been convicted of stealing items of post.

Susan James, 61, of Dee Cottages, Flint denied four counts of theft, but was found guilty of the offences at her recent trial.

James fell under suspicion when a Flint woman reported that an anniversary card she had posted on 27th September 2018 failed to reach her parents on Anglesey. A £20 Asda gift voucher was enclosed with the missing card.

The woman went to Asda's Flint store to cancel the gift voucher, but was told that it had already been spent on teabags and cigarettes. CCTV footage from the store showed James using the gift voucher two days after the missing anniversary card had been posted.

Royal Mail launched an investigation after enquiries revealed that James was in the habit of handling the missorted mail, even though her manager had previously told her not to.

North East Wales Magistrates' Court, sitting at Mold Justice Centre, heard that Royal Mail investigators placed two test greetings cards on the missorted mail frame to see if they were taken.

Andrea Fitzgerald, prosecuting for Royal Mail, said that James became evasive when asked to unlock her cleaning cupboard. Once inside, officers found 52 greetings cards concealed beneath black bags. The two test items were recovered from the same room.

Officers also found a leaving card in an opened envelope addressed to a former employee of the Delivery Office.

James denied having stolen the anniversary card destined for Anglesey, saying instead that she had found the Asda gift voucher when sweeping the yard of the Delivery Office. She said she thought it had been thrown away, but admitted she was wrong to spend it.

When asked about the 52 items of mail found in the cleaning cupboard, she said she didn't know they were there. James conceded that she may have "mistakenly" picked up a tray containing the cards, when she really meant to pick up the missorted mail tray instead.

She also denied stealing £50 cash from workers who had chipped in for the staff leaver, claiming she hadn't finished the collection which was why the open card was found in her cleaning cupboard.

Magistrates were unconvinced by the defence offered by James, finding her guilty of all four counts of theft. She had previously admitted fraud by dishonestly spending the gift voucher at Asda.

Bethan Jones, defending, said James had made a "genuine mistake" storing the mail items.

That mistake could well cost James her liberty when she is sentenced on Wednesday, 17th July 2019.