A POSTMAN who stole more than 40,000 letters, bank statements and birthday cards and hid them in his shed has been jailed for 16 months.
Graham King, 47, formerly of Easterford Road, Kelvedon, admitted four counts of stealing the post over a seven-year period up until November last year when he was reported by his ex-wife's new boyfriend.
Recorder David Altaras told King at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday (June 17): "You consistently stole mail addressed to members of the public and estimated their worth.
"It is clear that you went out of your way to steal items you considered to be of value. It constitutes a gross breach of trust and to a large extent is inexplicable. It is regrettable that the court must send you to prison."
King was given a six month sentence for three counts of theft of unaddressed mail, but for a fourth charge, regarding 6,539 addressed letters, he was handed a 16-month jail term to run concurrently.
King, who recently moved to Lowestoft, began working for the Royal Mail in the Braintree sorting office in 2002, and began to steal postal packets in 2006.
His offending was first discovered last year when his ex-wife's new partner, Nigel Ore, was searching for camping equipment in the loft where King used to live in Hanningfield Way, Colchester, and found three undelivered letters.
When Mr Ore told King about the mail he "nonchalantly" picked them up from the house.
After Mr Ore informed the authorities, investigations by the Royal Mail began in November 2013 and King was searched and a voucher was found in his left hand trouser pocket.
When interviewed by police King admitted taking the voucher from a magazine that was of little financial value and that he took from another postal worker's route.
Later a search of his home uncovered 35,538 unaddressed postal packets and 6,539 pieces of undelivered addressed post packets.
Warrick Tadford, prosecuting for the Royal Mail said: "Unaddressed mail is a considerable amount of Royal Mail business and if it is not delivered has a serious effect on their business.
"This postman stole a very large amount of items that covered the full spectrum, including bank statements and birthday cards, plus other letters not of particular importance.
"One item has been singled out which is a gift voucher sent just before Christmas by special delivery worth £30.
"Postmen are in a different position to other employees as if they steal their actions affect customers and damage the integrity of the whole system."
Lorna Glover, defending King, told the court: "He has cooperated fully in terms of searches of his home and person. This was not a very sophisticated operation. It was a more random scooping up of mail, which was almost hoarded at the home address.
"His offending began after the relationship breakdown in 2004, until then he valued his job and was in a stable family. After 2004 he was at a level of distress. He was unable to sensibly manage and it expressed itself in this behaviour. He wasn't seeking large financial gain, more the thrill of what he could get away with. To this day he cannot say why he did what he did."
