A THIEVING postman dumped hundreds of letters and packages in a wheelie bin outside his home.

Michael Dawson's bosses at the Royal Mail became suspicious when householders reported post was not being delivered to their homes on his round in Swinton.

The 19-year-old, who was based at the North West Delivery Office in Swinton, admitted to managers he had not delivered mail to Coniston Road.

Investigators searched his home on Russell Road, Salford, and found hundreds of flyers, letters and packages in a wheelie bin at the back of the house, Manchester magistrates heard.

They found 565 flyers and 435 letters and packages in the bin.

Dawson was handed a four month suspended prison sentence after he admitted three counts of damaging post and a fourth count that he stole DVDs inside three packages.

Chairman of the bench Gulnar Syed said: "There are people out there who have missed their appointments - important appointments like hospital appointments and job interviews. They have missed celebration cards which has caused them undue distress. The level of distress you have caused is enormous and cannot be belittled.

"You held a position of trust and you breached that trust.

Mistrust

"You caused the public to mistrust what postmen do and you have eroded the confidence of the public in the Royal Mail service."

When he was interviewed by the investigators, Dawson told them: "Obviously, I did it. I don't know why. I obviously regret it. It's just one of those things."

Elizabeth Rigby, prosecuting for the Royal Mail, told the magistrates three empty packages were also found in the wheelie bin which investigators established had contained DVDs after contacting the intended recipients.

Dawson, who had been a postman for the Royal Mail for 20 months, resigned on March 11 this year and is now unemployed.

Danielle Smith, defending, told the court it was an 'unusual case' as her client had not been convicted of a crime before, although he had been handed a police reprimand as a youth.

"This is entirely out of character. It seems he has been a model employee, a model family member and a model friend," said Miss Smith, who added that Dawson had become fearful of delivering mail on his Swinton estate round after he had been attacked. "He felt he could no longer continue on that estate," she said.

Dawson was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and told to complete a 12-month supervision order.

He was also told to pay £400 towards prosecution costs and £30 compensation.