A postal worker stole greetings cards and the cash and vouchers which were inside them.
A court heard the Royal Mail sent up a covert operation because of the number of cards going missing from the Mold delivery office where Shaun Williams worked.
Investigators put a number of test letters into the system and also put up secret cameras within the delivery area.
When challenged, Williams, 48, was found to have in his wallet £20 in Boots vouchers, a 20 dollar note, three £10 notes and a £5 note which had come from the cards posted by the investigators themselves.
Williams, of Mold Road Buckley , admitted two charges of theft at Mold magistrates court.
Prosecuting barrister Julian King said concern was raised in February at the Mold delivery office that when people attended to collect surcharge items, that they had gone missing.
The losses at Mold were deemed high and an investigation was set up.
Williams was observed and appeared to be feeling greetings cards as if to see what was inside them.
He was challenged in July and the items which investigators had put into the test letters were found in his wallet.
Williams said that he was sorry, that he had been under a lot of stress.
He believed that he had taken about 250 items and in interview said that he had thrown cards down grids, into bins and into a river and kept the contents.
The defendant admitted stealing 250 greetings cards and contents between December last year and July 4 this year, and a second charge of stealing 10 greetings cards on July 4.
Gary Harvey, defending, told the court his client was mortified by what he had done.
He had no real financial problems, and he did not know why he had done it.
The catalyst was probably the breakdown of his marriage and subsequent divorce which meant that he started drinking too much.
But the pressure built up to a point that he did not really know where to go and he had self harmed on two occasions.
He had been sectioned under The Mental Health Act at one stage and was currently on benefits.
Magistrates said it was a serious breach of trust and that the public who used Royal Mail needed to have confidence in the staff and in the service it provided.
In the circumstances he was placed on a three-year conditional discharge with £150 costs, £30 compensation for the one owner who had been traced, £180 criminal court charge and a £15 surcharge.
See- http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/buckley-postman-caught-stealing-cash-10495789
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