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A ROYAL Mail depot worker stole iPhones after working up a £10,000 debt to family members and friends.
Swindon-based parcel sorter Raja Mehmood had enjoyed a better-paid position at the Dorcan sorting office.
But after a colleague complained about him, the father-of-three was demoted – resulting in fewer hours and less pay.
The straightened circumstances left the 47-year-old borrowing cash from friends and family.
Swindon Magistrates’ Court heard that the Reading man had got himself into around £10,000-worth of debt.
In May 2020, he first stole parcels containing 20 mobile phones belonging to Apple then parcels containing 14 phones just a week later.
The parcels containing 14 phones were recovered. Mehmood was said to have hidden the first haul but, when he went to retrieve them, the items had gone missing – with Apple claiming £2,000 compensation from Royal Mail.
Presenting her pre-sentence report on Friday afternoon, probation officer Michelle James said Mehmood had some “issues around problem solving”.
“Rather than try and deal with these matters in a more appropriate way he has borrowed money from friends and family then he has stolen from his employer,” she said.
The former parcel sorter began smoking cannabis at around the same time to manage the stress. He received a police caution for cannabis possession after he was stopped behind the wheel of his car in the same week he stole his second parcel.
Mehmood, of Chiltern Crescent, Reading, pleaded guilty to theft by an employee. He had no previous convictions and was remorseful.
He was sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months, with 180 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
The magistrates ordered he pay £2,000 compensation, £7,510 costs and a £128 victim surcharge.
