Mail worker admits embezzling £45,000 to fund lavish lifestyle

Dec 19 2012 by Andrea O'Neill, East Kilbride News

A greedy postal worker from East Kilbride has pleaded guilty to embezzling almost £45,000 to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Thief Angela Doran (38) was monitored after parcels started going missing from the sorting office and was snared in July 2010 mid-shift with a parcel containing £2000 in her dungarees.

She admitted taking a second parcel and made other general admissions which led to a search of her Westwood home. There she had designer gear including shoes costing more than £300 per pair.

The court heard “it was quite clear the accused appeared to be living beyond her means”.

Doran pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to embezzling two special delivery packages total-ling £4500 on the day she was caught.

She also admitted embezzling a further 18 packages totalling £39,150 between May 2008 and July 2010 at the Glasgow Royal Mail Centre in Springburn.

The court was told Doran worked for Royal Mail since 1991 but resigned after being investigated.

The packages that were taken were special delivery packages of cash that were sent from remote post offices in Scotland on their way to the Glasgow Cash Centre. Each had no more than £2500 in them for insurance purposes and cash that was not forwarded on to the final destination by Royal Mail would be compensated to the post offices.

Procurator fiscal depute Deborah Carroll told the court: “The location where the packages arrived from into the mail office is significant because this banking process was known to employees and the appearance of packages was certainly obvious in relation to what the contents were.”

She added that Doran was subject to direct surveillance at the time because of bosses investigating packages going missing.

The court was told that on July 14, 2010, Doran was seen taking two packages.

Ms Carroll said: “She was seen to tamper with one of the items by poking it with a pen.”

The court heard she was approached by an investigating officer from Royal Mail and interviewed and she admitted she had taken items. Both packages were taken from her.

Ms Carroll also told the court: “During the course of that interview she made general admissions in connection with further embezzlements and a search took place of her home.

“In terms of the search that took place, it was quite clear that the accused appeared to be living beyond her means.

“It is understood that at the time she was earning around £12,000.

“However, there was a large consignment of designer goods discovered at her home and in particular designer shoes, some of which had price tags attached to the boxes in excess of £300.”

Her bank accounts showed that “substantial amounts of money” were deposited on days when embezzlements had taken place and over a 20-month period between May 2008 and June 2010 £30,000 cash was put into her bank.

Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell deferred sentence until next month.