Postie who dumped mail to pay £3,500
A postman from Wolverhampton who dumped thousands of leaflets and flyers, including some from West Midlands Police police, in recycling bins has avoided a jail sentence.
A postman from Wolverhampton who dumped thousands of leaflets and flyers, including some from West Midlands Police police, in recycling bins has avoided a jail sentence.
David Crump failed to deliver the commercial mail, which also included takeaway menus. Instead he disposed of them in rubbish bins.
The 37-year-old of Chaldron Close in Pendeford, pleaded guilty to delaying postal packets and three charges of criminal damage when he appeared at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday.
He was fined £400, ordered to pay £2,848 costs, £250 legal costs and £15 victim surcharge.
John Dove, prosecuting, told the magistrates that Crump dumped more than 5,000 pieces of junk mail between April and June this year.
"It was a delivery office manager who first reported the matter in June," he said. "The signatures on the defendant's forms to say he had delivered the mail did not match up with people who worked at the delivery office."
Mr Dove added that investigators from the Royal Mail searched the city's recycle bins to see if the mail had been dumped.
They eventually found around 5,054 postal packages in bins at Morrisons supermarket in Blaydon Road, Pendeford.
All mail given to the postman from the Wolverhampton delivery office was then with marked with UV pens.
By the time the bins were checked again a few days later, Crump had dumped another mountain of mail.
Mr Dove added that leaflets and flyers were also found in a wheelie bin at Crump's home.
Crump, who has worked as a postman for four-and-a-half years, has been suspended from his job by the Royal Mail.
Anthony Randle, defending, said: "The items that were not delivered were not letters. They were mail shots – some people may even call it junk mail. It included takeaway menus and leaflets from the police.
"My client started to suffer personal problems. His brother was going through a difficult family period and he was supporting him.
"It came to the point where my client thought 'What am I going to do with all this lot?"
Magistrate David Godley told Crump: "There is not much more that gets people worked up than not getting their mail delivered. The only saving thing in your favour is that it's commercial post.
"It may be junk mail to most households, but it's the livelihoods of some businesses."
In July, Wolverhampton postman Jack Kirwan, who dumped more than 100 letters in a pond and stashed others under his bed, was given a community service order by Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Post thrown away by 23-year-old Kirwan, was discovered when a water feature was drained at Northycote Farm Park. Post Office investigators found another 138 items of mail at his home in The Scotlands.
