Related Articles
A postman who stole packages to fund his cocaine and gambling debts has walked free after claiming stealing was “commonplace” in the Royal Mail.
Lee Flanagan, 34, took parcels containing clothing and perfume after being left owing £7,000 worth of cocaine and gambling debts.
The thieving postie from Gorton in Manchester, was found out after a concerned member of the public filmed him opening one of the parcels and handed the footage to Royal Mail chiefs.
Police recovered an Apple iPod Nano at the home he shares with his parents and Flanagan admitted to selling other items worth £518 for £400 on the black market.
It also emerged Flanagan had previous convictions for stealing from his employers.
At Manchester Magistrates’ Court, Flanagan, who has since lost his job, admitted theft and opening parcels – but then claimed postal thefts were so regular that discussions were held how to do it during training for the job.
Flanagan, who first joined Royal Mail last August, now works as a delivery driver for parcel delivery firm DPD.
He was sentenced nine months jail suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work.
Flanagan will also pay £1,295 in costs and surcharges.
(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
The court heard that the thefts occurred over a four week period in January when he was working at the Manchester South East delivery office in Ardwick.
Prosecutor Hayley Bennett said: “The Royal Mail started receiving complaints and reports of missing parcels.
“Five tracked delivery assignments between the 2nd and 23rd of January were confirmed as having been received but when checked the GPS of where they were delivered didn’t match the GPS of where they were supposed to be.
“The brands of these parcels were Zara, Ted Baker and Fragrance.com.
“The person responsible for the delivery of these parcels was the defendant.
“The second incident came on January 17, 2019 when the defendant returned a parcel to the depot which was ripped open.
“He said it had been damaged in transit and he had tried to put it back together but ended up making it worse.”
“However a member of the public then came forward with footage of the defendant opening the parcel and then closing it up when he realised he was being filmed.
“On January 30 a parcel of an iPod Nano failed to deliver.
”Upon a search of the defendant’s house the purple iPod Nano was found in a bedside cabinet.
“In interview the defendant then admitted more thefts than he was caught for.
(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
“He said he sold the other items for around £400. He admitted theft of the iPod Nano and other offences from earlier in the month.
“The defendant told police he had problems with drugs and gambling debts and used the money gained from selling the items to fund his habits and said he had incurred debts somewhere in the region of £7,000.
”In February 2019 a parcel was reported as lost or stolen. It was given to Mr Flanagan by a customer to deliver to the post office collection depot but never made it there.
“The parcel was a mobile phone and flip case. In total the amount stolen comes to just under £500. Royal Mail have so far paid out £115 in refunds.
“It’s going to cost the Royal Mail over £7,000 in legal costs.”
In mitigation defence lawyer Chris McGrath said: “He is under no illusion as to how serious this offence is and is well aware Royal Mail employees hold a huge amount of trust from the public.
“But as far as his antecedents the most recent was some 14 years ago.
“He has admitted his guilt from the outset.
“He alluded to more offences than he was caught which is to his credit and indicative of his remorse.
“The thefts here are over a short space of time but this is not an excuse.
“The catalyst for this was £7,000 pounds worth of gambling and drug debts. He stole to pay those debts off and is still not out of debt.
(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
”He was backed into a corner and saw this as his only way out. He no longer takes drugs. He has obtained further employment and is now a DPD delivery driver.
“He accepts this is an extremely serious offence.
“The factors which prompted this have been removed from his life. He has shown a substantial amount of remorse.
“He was under significant pressure. These actions were a vehicle to pay off his debts.”
A probation officer speaking in court said: “These offences took place following the breakdown of a relationship with Mr Flanagan’s partner just before Christmas.
”He dealt with this breakup by getting involved with old friends and drinking and taking cocaine.
“He used his disposable income at the time for cocaine and alcohol binges.
”Whilst browsing the internet he got involved with online gambling.
“Combined with his alcohol and cocaine use, this gambling addiction resulted in him having evenings where he wouldn’t sleep and would sit online gambling away his entire salary in an evening whilst high on cocaine.
“His decision to steal was eventually justified to himself.
(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
“Mr Flanagan says stealing is almost commonplace in the Royal Mail and it is something which is even discussed in training – but he understands the seriousness of it now.
“He feels the drug and gambling use is no longer an issue and says it was strictly confined to this period of time.
“The relationship with his partner is now repaired somewhat – and they’re working on it.”
As regards the sentencing, JPs said: “We do believe this has crossed the custody threshold but we are going to suspend your sentence.
“If you commit another crime or fail to comply with this community order, there is no question that you will be sent straight to prison.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail has a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty and that stance is shared by the overwhelming majority of postmen and women, who are honest and hardworking and who do all they can to protect the mail and deliver it safely.
“It is a criminal offence to tamper with or delay the delivery of mail.
“Royal Mail will always seek to prosecute the tiny minority of people who abuse their position of trust.
“The safety and security of mail is of the utmost importance to this business and Royal Mail will not allow the actions of any individual to damage the good reputation of our thousands of hard-working postmen and women.
“Any customers who have concerns about their mail should contact Royal Mail Customer Services via our website: www.royalmail.com, on Twitter @RoyalMailHelp or by phone on 03457 740 740 so we can investigate.”
