Ipswich: Accused postal worker claims it ‘isn’t in his nature’ to be dishonest

A POSTAL worker who was accused of theft after £975 which had been planted in a test package by suspicious Royal Mail staff went missing has denied being responsible for taking the missing money.

Julian Green told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court that it wasn’t in his nature to be dishonest and that even if he had been tempted to steal mail he wouldn’t have done so under the nose of Royal Mail investigators who he knew were working at the Ipswich sorting office on the day in question.

Green has also denied that £500 worth of foreign currency that had been exchanged and paid into his father’s bank account had come from a special delivery package that was never received by a customer. Green’s sister claimed she had sent the money over for her father after she was forced to cancel a holiday.

Green, 54, of Prittlewell Close, Ipswich, has denied stealing £975 from Royal Mail on August 12, 2010 and converting criminal property in 2009.

The court has heard that a test package, containing £975, was taken to the special delivery area at the Ipswich sorting office where Green was working.

After the envelope containing the money was left with Green he allegedly took it to a walk-in safe and when he came out it appeared the envelope had been tampered with, Adrian Chaplin, prosecuting, said.

When the envelope was examined by investigators the £975 was missing and it has never been recovered.

The converting criminal property charge related to 24,100 Mauritian rupees worth between £472 and £500 which had been sent by special delivery to a customer but had never been received.

It was later discovered that 24,100 Mauritian rupees had been exchanged and paid into a bank account in the name of Green’s father, said Mr Chaplin.

During the trial the court heard from a number of Green’s colleagues who described him as “hardworking and honest”.

The jury was sent out to consider its verdicts yesterday afternoon.