Royal Mail manager stole £50k from parcels at sorting office

A Royal Mail manager who stole tens of thousands of pounds from parcels passing through a Bridgend sorting office has been sentenced.

Jonathan Brooking intercepted Special Delivery packages he had identified as containing money, taking them home before banking the cash. Over 18 months, the postman-turned-manager stole £50,160 from customers at the company’s Bridgend sorting office where he worked as a customer operations manager.

An internal investigation was launched after Royal Mail began receiving numerous reports of Special Delivery packages containing money going missing in the Bridgend area. Investigators analysed delivery statistics, work patterns and rotas before installing covert CCTV cameras in the office. Managers, including Brooking, were informed about the undercover operation – and during the months the cameras operated, no packages went missing. When the cameras were removed in 2024, the thefts resumed.

Further investigation led to Royal Mail examining Brooking’s finances, which revealed that between September 2022 and June 2024, the 49-year-old had paid £50,160 in cash deposits into his Nationwide bank account.

During a voluntary interview under caution in July last year, Brooking initially denied involvement but became emotional. After requesting a break, he made full admissions, explaining he would assist with sorting mail when the office was short-staffed and would take the opportunity to put aside packages containing money which he later removed. He resigned the day after the interview and signed over his £33,428 Royal Mail pension to the company.

Royal Mail has paid out £47,000 in compensation to customers who lost their packages.

Kevin Seal, defending, said the defendant had started as a postman and risen to manager through hard work. When family finances became “stretched”, he committed the opportunistic offences, initially with the intention of paying the money back. He added: “Nobody feels the shame of the consequences of his actions for his family more than Jonathan Brooking.”

Judge Geraint Walters noted that when asked by the author of the pre-sentence report why he had committed the offence, Brooking replied that he had “lost his morals” – which the judge said was “an accurate description”. He said the defendant had “succumbed to the temptation of stealing from the mail” leading to a detailed and prolonged investigation.

Brooking, now of Bank Crescent, Stamford, Lincolnshire, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to one count of theft. With a one-third discount for his guilty plea, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and do 300 hours of unpaid work. He was also made subject to a nightly curfew for three months.

Given Brooking had signed over his Royal Mail pension, there will be no proceeds of crime investigation.