Jail for postman who stole mail for cigs

A FORMER Oldham postman who hoarded thousands of packages and letters and stole cash to spend on cigarettes has been jailed.

Anthony Brierley (49), who was awarded the South Atlantic medal and rosette for serving his country in the Falklands in the Royal Navy, was told by judge Leslie Hull who sent him down for a total of 16 months: “This was a gross breach of trust on your part.”

Brierley, who lived in Oldham Road, Failsworth, was caught after complaints from customers on his round about undelivered mail.

A number of “intelligence packages” were sent out by Royal Mail to addresses to which he would normally deliver. Some arrived, but others didn’t, so he was watched.

Brierley was seen putting mail in the boot of his car, and on one occasion seen going home without having delivered his post.

The court heard when his car and home were searched, investigators found almost 11,900 addressed items of mail and 21,686 door-to-door items. There were also 831 packages.

Huw Edwards, prosecuting, said Brierley had been a postman for about a year before he began secreting mail away. Of items in his car boot, 45 were opened greetings cards; packages recovered from his home included 786 that had been opened, 511 of them greetings cards.

The court was told that Brierley started opening mail out of curiosity and put cash he found into charity boxes. Later he began to buy cigarettes with it.

When arrested he admitted taking mail home because he had struggled to deliver them within the allowed time and hadn’t been able to cope.

Tony Longworth defending, said his client felt tremendous shame and was a man with no previous convictions, who had served his country honourably for 18 years.

Brierley had managed to do his job for the first 12 months before his workload increased and he began to struggle.

Brierley pleaded guilty to interfering with the mail. The judge rejected applications by Royal Mail for legal costs of £3,412 and compensation of £884.