Thieving postman packed off to prison

A POSTMAN has been jailed for four months after he was caught stealing mail while under surveillance.


David Ronan (32) of Esther Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to intentionally delaying 709 items of mail, as well as two charges of theft and one attempted theft when he appeared before Oldham magistrates yesterday.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Rigby said the dad-of-one’s work had got on top of him and he put it all down to “a week of madness.”

She explained how six test items were put into Ronan’s usual round, but he failed to deliver their yellow greeting card which contained £25 in cash and did not complete his round, finishing work two hours early.

Investigators carried out a full search of his house, clothing and his vehicle — where they found 709 post packets date-stamped between September 20 to October 5, 2011, which included an open, specially prepared one, minus its contents.

Another opened packet was found in his wife’s car under the driver’s seat.

“He explained he had too much mail and he was trying to catch up. He feared he would get into trouble if he returned it to the office,” Miss Rigby said.

He said that he had spent the £20 he had taken from one envelopes, on petrol and at the vets and the reason he opened the parcel in his wife’s car was “down to greed.”

He admitted he had been looking for money because his wages “weren’t great.”

The court heard that Ronan had only been employed at Oldham’s delivery office for three months when he committed the offence.

Defending, Chris Fallows, said his client was struggling as his round was “extremely busy.”

“A backlog was created which he had in his vehicle for future distribution and it was his intention to work it off. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and he was apprehended before he could make amends for his lack of time.”

He went on to say that Ronan only stole two items, worth £45, and that was extremely minimal for a custodial sentence to be considered.

Mr Fallows added: “One of the cards which he opened was a sympathy card and that had great emotional effect.”

He added that a custodial sentence would have a huge impact on Ronan’s wife, her three children and his own child, as he had already got a new job.

Magistrates told Roman that the crime was so serious, only a custodial one could be considered as he had breached the trust of the public who were distressed and inconvenienced by his actions.

He will serve a total of four months in prison for the two theft charges with no additional sentence for delaying mail.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Royal Mail has a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty and that stance is shared by the overwhelming majority of postmen and women, who are honest and hardworking and who do all they can to protect the mail and deliver it safely.”