A delivery driver who stole more than £53,000 worth of parcels in just three months has walked free from court because of 'prison overcrowding'.
Steven Black repeatedly stole valuable goods from the DHL depot where he worked but was caught after bosses became suspicious about the missing parcels.
Black, from Salford, walked free from court after a judge heard his wife is in poor health and if he was sent straight to jail she and their son would be at risk of losing their home.
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Judge Stuart Driver KC said a recent Court of Appeal ruling referred to prison overcrowding which he said amounts to an emergency and is a reason for suspending prison sentences.
Kate Morley, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that Black had been employed via an agency as a delivery driver for DHL for about 17 months.
“DHL managers were investigating missing parcels sent by Royal Mint that had been going missing since December 2021," she said. "Their enquiries highlighted that the parcels were going missing from the Speke depot.
“They had reviewed CCTV footage from the Speke depot from February and April 26 last year and had seen the defendant acting suspiciously, in that he was picking up small packages from the conveyor belt and looking closely at the labels, which contain sender details and sometimes a description.
“They saw him take items from the conveyer belt without scanning them. As a result of that, the defendant essentially became a suspect,” she said.
Investigations revealed that Black had been repeatedly stealing items including ten Britannia 10z gold coins worth almost £15,000 and gold jewellery from Bulgaria with a value of £23,588. His haul also included an Omega watch worth £7,400, a £2,000 ring and a cast silver kilo bar worth £715 sent by the Royal Mint.
Ms Morley said that as part of the investigation, it was discovered that a computer tablet belonging to Amazon went missing from the Speke depot on April 22 - a date when the defendant was working.
“An investigations specialist at Amazon contacted DHL and reported that the device, although only valued at £89.99, held a critical unreleased programme which was of value to the company," she said.
The tablet's intended recipient was an Amazon employee but it was discovered that the device had been registered under an email address linked to the defendant's wife, Ms Morley told the court.
The court heard that some of the items were recovered but £20,112 worth are still missing and DHL is liable to pay compensation for items lost or stolen during the courier process.
Black, of Tenbury Close, Salford, pleaded guilty to seven theft offences and three other theft charges were dropped. He was sentenced to ten months imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered to carry out 15 days rehabilitation activities and 70 hours unpaid work
Matthew O’Neill, defending, said that Black has no previous convictions and is now working for another agency as a driver delivering pallets around the North West.
“He can give no explanation how he finds himself before a court convicted of very serious theft matters. He had one or two financial problems but wasn’t financially desperate,” he said.
The first theft had been “opportunistic” and having got away with it he could not control himself and stole other items, said Mr O’Neill.
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