Thieving Postman Blames Scratch Cards

A postman who stole money from greetings cards which he was supposed to post has been told that he will probably go to prison.

Wayne Bradburn, 32, of the Greater Manchester area refused to comment following the discovery of greetings cards which had contained cash, as well as larger items which had been sent in the post as gifts, were found at his home earlier this year. According to Prosecutor Richard Black, he also confessed to even more thefts during a probation report. He is now pleading guilty to five counts of theft and is awaiting sentencing.

Bradburn, who has been a postman for 14 years, was discovered after several complaints from the Levenshulme area of undelivered greetings cards. A “Specially Prepared” Gift Gard was given to the defendant to deliver, and 8 days later someone linked to Bradburn’s family was found to be using the gift card in Debenhams. A few more test letters were given to Bradburn over the following month, and he was then questioned by Royal Mail officials.

Upon being challenged, Bradburn refused to let officials search him and was put into a Royal Mail van. The van was later found to have six packs of greeting cards stuffed under a seat. A Kindle and 10 Love Film DVDs, one of which, the Court heard, had been addressed to a woman in Levenshulme, were later found in his house, as well as 15 greeting cards, none of which were addressed to him. Seven of the fifteen greetings cards had been torn up, including signed cheques which the defendant would not have been able to cash.

Prosecutor Richard Black told Manchester Magistrates Court that Bradburn had candidly confessed to several thefts out with the five for which he is facing charges for, during an interview with a probation officer when preparing a report for the court. He also said that Bradburn was solely responsible for these thefts, his family having had no involvement.

Mark Hadfield, the district Judge informed Bradburn, who had entered the dock in tears, that theft by postmen is taken very seriously under the law, on account of the abuse of public trust involved, and that it is likely that he will go to jail.

Gared McNally of the defense pointed out that Bradburn had developed a gambling habit related to scratchcards, implying that this could be a possible explanation for his actions.