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Postman jailed for 15 months and wife given community order for selling stolen goods online (27 January 2015)

Date: 27/01/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Postman jailed for 15 months and wife given community order for selling stolen goods online

A couple who netted more than £15,000 as a result of selling items on eBay which were stolen from the Royal Mail have been sentenced – with the husband receiving a 15-month prison sentence and the wife 120 hours of unpaid work.

,a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/thieving-postie-wife-sold-stolen-8512666">Manchester Evening News reports that postman Andrew Barratt, 49 and his wife Michelle, 38, sold the contents of around 400 stolen packages on eBay –
until the scam was uncovered in April 2012, after a tracker was placed on an iPad by Royal Mail managers.

Over a two-year period, the couple made £15,482 selling electronic items ordered mainly from Amazon, which Mr Barratt stole during his rounds in Edgeley in Stockport.

He had worked as a postman for 14 years, the court heard – but the couple were arrested after the iPad with the tracker attached was traced to their home instead of being delivered.

In December at Minshull Street Crown Court, Barratt admitted admitting theft and converting criminal property.

Michelle Barratt pleaded guilty to converting criminal property.

An investigation had been launched by Royal Mail after Amazon found it had lost more than 2,000 items being sent to postcodes in the Stockport area.

The investigation uncovered an eBay account run by Mrs Barratt, which had sold 463 items – most of them electrical goods with a retail value of nearly £21,000 – from June 2010 onwards. Investigators also found that two of the items had been reported to police as stolen.

Mrs Barratt told detectives that she had bought the items at car boot sales. However, some of the computer games she had sold had been released just days before they were sold on eBay.

Her defence lawyers told the court:

“She completely accepts it was selfish behaviour.”

The court heard that Mr Barratt had committed the offences while using cannabis and amphetamines to self-medicate psoriasis. His defence lawyer told the court:

“He accepts responsibility and culpability for his actions. He was in a position of trust and he breached that trust.”

The couple eventually pleaded guilty on the first day of their trial in December.

Judge Leslie Hull said:

“The pair of you have involved yourselves in a thoroughly dishonest scheme.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said that Barratt had been sacked:

“Royal Mail has a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty – and that stance is shared by the overwhelming majority of postmen and women.

“We will not allow the actions of any individual to damage the good reputation of our thousands of hard-working postmen and women.

“It is a criminal offence to tamper with or delay the delivery of mail – and anyone caught doing so will face serious disciplinary measures.

“Royal Mail will always seek to prosecute the tiny minority of people who abuse their position of trust.”

Duncan Lewis Crime Lawyers

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of criminal defence lawyers and can advise at any stage of a criminal charge, including charges relating to theft and handling stolen goods or converting stolen goods.

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