A postman is facing jail after stealing £30 of gift vouchers from a Wolverhampton-bound greetings card before dumping the envelope and 300 others.

Stephen Haney, aged 32, of Lower Gornal, claimed the envelope was open and the vouchers, must have fallen out when he threw it into the boot of his car, intending to return it to the Royal Mail headquarters in Sun Street, Wolverhampton.

But he took the vouchers home where post office investigators found them.

Haney, of Kirby Drive, admitted criminal damage to 309 items of mail. He denied theft of the vouchers but was found guilty.

His deceit was uncovered when a Royal Mail investigator found the dumped letters at a Tesco car park in Dudley during a routine check. The letters were then traced back to Haney.

During the search of his home, investigators found the gift vouchers, which had been bound for an address in All Saints, Wolverhampton.

Haney, a postman for three-and-a-half years, was accused by Mr John Dove, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday, of targeting the greetings card, in a large red envelope, because of its likely content.

But Haney claimed the letter must have got mixed up with the bunch he dumped.

He said. “There was a vast amount of mail. I’d asked for help on the round but they said they didn’t have the staff.”

Haney was bailed but warned that he faces up to six weeks in jail when he is sentenced on January 20.