Advertisement
Postman’s 34,000 mail hoard
Reporter: Lewis Jones
Date online: 20 January 2012
A POSTMAN hoarded more than 34,000 packages and letters and spent cash from greetings cards on cigarettes, a court has heard.
Anthony Brierley was caught out by Royal Mail investigators who sent out “intelligence packages” following reports of missing mail.
The 49-year-old, who previously served in the Falklands with the Royal Navy, yesterday admitted two charges of delaying and opening post and theft at Oldham Magistrates Court.
Elizabeth Rigby, prosecuting on behalf of the Royal Mail, told how Brierley had been put under surveillance and was caught putting mail he was supposed to be delivering into the boot of his car.
When investigators then searched his home and vehicle they discovered 11,898 addressed pieces of mail and 21,686 door-to-door items, taken between February, 2010 and September last year.
They also discovered 831 stolen packages sent between November, 2010 and September 2011.
The court heard how dad-of-one Brierley, who lives alone in Oldham Road, Failsworth, said when interviewed that he could not cope with the amount of post he had to deliver in the set time, and would put them in his boot when he came to clock off at 3pm.
Prosecutor Mrs Rigby added: “He had first hoped to deliver the mail but eventually transferred it to his home and said that things then got out of hand.
“He initially opened them out of boredom and curiosity and put money into a charity box.
“He then began to keep the money and spent it on food and cigarettes.”
The court also heard how packages he had opened included orders from companies such as Amazon and Lovefilm.
Defence solicitor Martin Hayes said Brierley had thought of resigning due to the pressures of the workload but eventually did so when investigators stepped in.
He added: “He had surplus mail that he found difficult to deliver on time.
“There was no overtime available.
“When he told his employers, all they could say was to come in earlier.
“There was no sophistication to this and it was not an attempt to cast doubt on other employees of the Royal Mail.”
He told the court that Brierley had previously been of good character, having served in the Royal Navy between 1979 and 1994 and been awarded the South Atlantic medal and rosette.
Having referred to case law when considering the matter, Magistrate George Wedlock said it was necessary to send the matter to Crown Court for sentencing next month.
He said the sustained period of activity showed a degree of dishonesty and that the substantial amount of packages would have to be taken into account.
He added that Brierley had broken the trust put in him as a Royal Mail employee and that would have a knock-on effect on society.
He deemed the powers of magistrates not enough to be able to impose a ‘deterrent sentence’ on him.
Comments
The scale of the crime and the length of time it went on for illustrates just how complacent Royal Fails management are. Funny but you never hear of a private carrier having to prosecute its employees like this, but Royal Fail can hide behind government protection called 'crown immunity' which means that its customers cannot sue for the incompetence or ineefficiency of the organisation. Don't think your MP can help Royal Fail answers exclusively to the secretary of state, time to privatise it!!
So what will happen with all this mail will the packages finally get delivered, i had a package go missing in this time frame probably due to this waste of space example of a human being. Perhaps the post office can comment on what will be done with the recovered mail.
You here more and more of these stories. Why do the employees not have their cars checked when working at a catalogue company employees are often searched before leaving. He could not cope with the pressure of the job! good god hardly a brain surgeon. If you cant do the job leave and let someone else have a chance.
Sorry Jennyd but you must never have seen a postman! What they do is take letters from the sorting office, sometimes in their own cars, and deliver them. That's what they're supposed to do! So when do you propose checking the car for undelivered mail?
Royal fail in their incompetence have forced postmen to run through part of their walks, leave? No benefit for 6 weeks? could you live without money for that long? This isn't the poor postmens fault it's bad management by state apparachiks.
@LEENEWSOME - any mail recovered is delivered as addressed (with letter of apology) and most probably has been by now.
@Jennyd - in times when jobs are not easy to come by leaving and trying to find another is probably not an easy option if you've got bills to pay. And not that I condone his actions but RM management are not known for sympathy to those that struggle.. And if they introduce vans (could well be this year) it will make it harder for the light fingered people to hoard so much..
No connection to this case butI posted a package Thursday 12th January at a local post Office.
Despite paying for "Track and Trace", it is still showing as being at the office where it was posted.
Staff at Customer Services are not interested because it has not been missing for 15 working days
As stated to the intended receiver my confidence in Royal Mail is low
Stories like this do not help.
I assume that the post office employees who use their own cars for Post Office business purposes are covered by adequate insurance
Well I dont know how the Royal Mail would police this then. In response no dont often see a postman as they come late in the day. And yes if stressed because of a job I would leave and yes I have done without money and do know how hard things are but would you rather a headline that said postman hangs himself due to stress of the job!! No no job worth that.
Have Your Say
It will be interesting to see how Mr Brierleys punishment compares with the heroin dealer in todays other story.
By timberwolf @ 20/01/2012 16:04:21