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 been described by a colleague as “professional, hardworking and honest”.

Giving evidence on the second day of the trial of 54-year-old Julian Green, postman Adam Ward who worked at the Ipswich sorting office in Commercial Road, agreed with defence counsel Richard Kelly that Green had worked for Royal Mail for a number of years and was a well respected member of staff.

Green, 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 Julian Green was working, after it was noticed that some special delivery items had gone missing.

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 who had been covertly monitoring the special delivery area the £975 was missing and it had never been recovered, Mr Chaplin said.

He said 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 paid into a bank account in the name of Green’s father which was an account for which Green had a power of attorney, said Mr Chaplin.

Michael Bunn a disribution manager at the Ipswich sorting office told the court he had been asked by a Royal Mail investigator to take a bag containing the test package to the area where Green was working.

He had later been asked to collect the package and noticed it has been opened.

Cross-examined by Mr Kelly Mr Bunn said he had known Green for more than 20 years and agreed he was long standing and respected member of staff.

The trial, which is expected to last the rest of this week, continues today.