Postman hid 16,000 letters

The Royal Mail apologised yesterday after a "lazy" postman was jailed for nine months for stashing away mail.

The Royal Mail apologised yesterday after a "lazy" postman was jailed for nine months for stashing away mail.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that Richard Dunn, 25, could not be bothered to deliver nearly 16,000 items of mail, hiding them in his lock-up garage, home, car and in his locker at work.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We take the withholding of mail very seriously and apologise to our customers affected. This is a very unusual case. The vast majority of Royal Mail staff are honest and hard working." The spokesman stressed that much of the mail Dunn failed to deliver was unaddressed advertising material.

Judge Francis Allen, sentencing Dunn, said: "The public are entitled to expect their mail will be delivered. You failed over a long period. You were extremely lazy." Dunn, from Willenhall near Walsall in the West Midlands, admitted three charges of secreting mail and another of opening mail.