Royal Mail fraud couple spared jail
A husband and wife who tried to pocket £3,000 in fake compensation claims from Royal Mail have been spared immediate stints behind bars.
Parvinder and Baljit Nijjar, from Willenhall, said packages containing £500 cash and a £2,450 diamond ring had not reached their intended destinations. But they had never been sent and the couple had falsely filled in forms in a bid to get compensation payouts.
Baljit Nijjar had access to documentation needed to lodge a compensation claim because she worked at the post office on Stourbridge High Street, Wolverhampton Magistrates Court heard yesteday. Her husband had previously worked at the branch and both had run their own post office before being declared insolvent.
The court heard how one of the packages was to be delivered just 400 yards from their Willenhall home in Marshall Road. And a mobile number registered to Baljit Nijjar was used on one form, claiming she was the intended receiver of the goods, while the other claim form stated she was the sender.
Prosecutor Mr John Dove said the claims, which were made within just three minutes of each other on June 13 last year, were an "attempted scam".
Baljit Nijjar filled the two packets with screwed up paper and gave them to her sister-in-law, who she also worked with at the post office. Her sister-in-law processed them, believing they were genuine. But afterwards Baljit Nijjar removed the parcels from the post bag, and they were never sent, said Mr Dove.
The couple, both aged 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation. Mr Dove said she owed her sister-in-law £7,000 and was working at the post office without wages to help pay off the debt.
Both were given a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £1,155 costs each. They must also carry out 150 hours of unpaid work each.
Chairman of magistrates Mr Dennis Davies said they would have faced an immediate prison term were it not for their early guilty pleas.
Mr Timothy Gascoyne, defending, said his clients had suffered financial difficulties and were now insolvent. He added their scam was "badly conceived" and was "never going to work". He said they both had new jobs now and were trying to make ends meet.
