Courier stole £2,500 of goods from customers
A courier who stole thousands of pounds worth of goods from customers, including a laptop, iPad and expensive phone, has been spared an immediate stint behind bars.
Marie Moorhouse, aged 49, from Walsall, claimed that she had not received the packages to deliver, which were worth almost £2,500. The Yodel driver instead pocketed them for herself and even sold some of them.
The sales netted her hundreds of pounds in a bid to ease her financial difficulties, the court heard.
Moorhouse, who has since been dismissed from the firm, admitted theft by employee between August and September this year at Walsall Magistrates Court yesterday.
She was sentenced to three months suspended for a year, ordered to do 240 hours of unpaid work and pay compensation and costs of £2,298.
The hearing was told Moorhouse, of Leamore Lane, Bloxwich, had been employed by Yodel for around three months when the crimes came to light.
Staff became suspicious after packages allocated to the courier were not being received by customers.
She was required to pick up parcels from a storage unit in Bloxwich Lane.
A search of her house was carried out and packaging was found beneath her mattress.
There were seven items stolen including a Samsung phone worth £629, Apple iPad costing £499, laptop of £599, ABS toning equipment at £270 along with Packard Bell Intel Atoms, a multipad and t-shirts. In total £2,483 worth of goods were discovered.
Mr Lee Preston, defending, said: "She was trying exceptionally hard to make ends meet."
