Pilfering postie avoids jail term
?A thieving Black Country postman has avoided going to jail after pleading guilty to plundering over £10,000 worth of gifts by deliberately targeting cards and parcels he assumed held birthday presents.
?A thieving Black Country postman has avoided going to jail after pleading guilty to plundering over £10,000 worth of gifts by deliberately targeting cards and parcels he assumed held birthday presents.
Pilfering Paul Nicholls systematically stole up to 10 items a day from the mail for six years, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.
The 51-year-old postman took them from the delivery rounds of colleagues in a bid to deflect suspicion from himself, revealed prosecutor John Dove.
Nicholls was caught in May 2010 after being spotted taking a greetings card from mail due to be distributed by another postman at the Brierley Hill sorting office where he worked, the court heard. Investigators found £2,200 worth of stolen gifts at his home.
Nicholls from Shenstone Avenue, Norton, Stourbridge, admitted stealing post between 2004 and May last year. He was given a one year prison sentence suspended under supervision for 18 months.
