Thieving postman jailed

A postman who turned to crime to pay off spiralling debts has been jailed for 14 months.

Father of two Darren Lowe (47), who worked at Oldham delivery office on Hamilton Street, stole money in three special-delivery parcels he knew contained cash for sub-post offices across the borough.

He didn’t know he was being watched by investigators following the non-delivery of several other parcels.

Within hours of smuggling the money out of the building, he had used £1,000 to pay credit card debts.

Hannah Wood, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court Lowe, a postman for 16 years, knew there was cash in the three envelopes. Each contained £2,000 in banknotes.

When confronted, Lowe admitted his guilt and later made arrangements to pay back the money through his pension fund

The court heard Lowe had committed the one act of theft when debts spiralled after a serious accident kept him off work for a long period.

Ian Ridgeway, defending, said Lowe was genuinely remorseful for what he had done.