Depressed Wolverhampton postie ransacked mail and opened 600 items
A postal worker opened more than 600 items of mail which were mainly greetings cards after falling into a spiral of depression when she fell ill, a court heard.
Dawn Long had been a postwoman, delivering the mail around Wolverhampton, for 10 years before contracting a condition which affected her ability to walk.
Her bosses at the Royal Mail Centre in Sun Street moved her to an office job repairing mail that had been damaged and sorting through wrongly addressed letters as a way of accommodating her medical problems, Wolverhampton magistrates heard.
But last year, a number of envelopes were found opened and discarded in 'the damage room', as the office where Long worked was known to employees.
An investigation was launched and over the next few months, hundreds more items of opened post were recovered, said Ms Naomi Dean, prosecuting.
The security team matched the dates when discarded post was found to the times when Long worked there.
After cameras secretly installed in the office filmed her opening mail packages, she was approached by the investigators.
In her bag was £300 cash, five gift vouchers, 16 pens, three fridge magnets, a key ring and five scratch cards, the court heard.
She immediately owned up to stealing from the centre between December 27 last year to April 2 this year.
Defending her, Mr Steve Hamblett said the 45-year-old grandmother suffered from cauda equina syndrome, where discs in her spine collapsed, trapping nerve endings in her spinal cord.
Doctors told her there was little they could do and she has been left with a number of problems, including no feeling in her right foot.
Long developed depression but refused to take medication for it because she did not want to become dependent on drugs, the court heard.
Mr Hamblett said: "There is no explanation for what happened. She did not need the money, receiving £300 a week which was quite well paid for a part-time position, working three days a week.
"There is no excuse for what she did but she was finding it hard coming to terms with her debilitating condition, which meant she could no longer walk long distances and also affected her toilet needs. She has no previous convictions."
Long, of Deans Road, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to opening the post whilst engaged as a postal operator and to theft by employee.
Magistrates described it as a breach of trust over a sustained period and sentenced her to a total of 18 weeks prison suspended for two years.
She was also put under an electronically monitored curfew for four months and ordered to pay £425 in compensation and costs.
