Postman faces jail over parcel thefts

A postman from the Black Country who stole Amazon parcels because he was struggling with debt has been warned he could face jail.

Michael Guest, of Boundary Hill, Dudley, was snared by a Royal Mail investigation after a number of packages went missing. The 40-year-old, who worked as a postman in Wednesbury, targeted parcels from Amazon and Play.com. He is believed to have pocketed around £2,000 of items which had been sent through Royal Mail.

At Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday, Guest admitted two counts of theft by an employee and an offence of tampering with or opening mail from a mailbag. The court heard he was put under surveillance by a post office investigation team after they noticed items had gone missing.

When confronted, Guest owned up to the offences, which happened between May 2 2007 and August 11 2009.

District Judge Graham Wilkinson said: "The matters were put to him and he admitted that for a period of time he stole packets from, among others, Amazon and Play.com because of his debts and a variety of other personal problems."

He warned Guest, who had worked for the Royal Mail for 13 years, a custodial sentence could not be ruled out.

Mr Wilkinson added: "This was a severe breach of trust which undermines the public trust in the post office and all the other things that go with people who steal from an employer."

Guest was granted unconditional bail to return to the court on December 23 for sentencing, following the preparation of reports.

Speaking after the case, Richard Hall, spokesman for Royal Mail, said the company worked hard to crackdown on crime among staff.

"Royal Mail has a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty and that stance is shared by the overwhelming majority of our staff, who are honest and hardworking," he said.

"We will always seek to prosecute the tiny minority of people who abuse their position of trust."