Courier stole goods he was to deliver

A COURIER who stole £6,000 worth of high-value goods instead of delivering them to customers is today facing jail.Depressed David Cartwright, 34, stole goods ranging from a laptop to 57 pairs of earrings from his Ipswich employers Initial City Link during a ten months spell.

A COURIER who stole £6,000 worth of high-value goods instead of delivering them to customers is today facing jail.

Depressed David Cartwright, 34, stole goods ranging from a laptop to 57 pairs of earrings from his Ipswich employers Initial City Link during a ten months spell.

During a hearing at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, Cartwright, of Thorney Road, Capel St Mary, pleaded guilty to nine counts of theft.

The court heard that just two months after starting work for the company, Cartwright, began keeping items for himself instead of delivering them to customers.

Between December 2003 and October last year he stole £6,117 worth of goods.

Prosecutor David Hutson said at Tuesday's hearing, when police raided Cartwright's address and another address they found many of the stolen goods.

He said: "The company noted they were suffering large losses in that goods were not being delivered to the addresses.

"Police carried out searches at the defendant's address and another address and as a result of the searches a number of high value items were recovered."

Mr Hutson said while most of the goods were found, police did not recover items valued at £864.

Mitigating, April Plant told the court Cartwright had suffered from depression and was taking a form of Prozac after losing a job as a contract manager for an ambulance company.

Miss Plant said: "He tells me he has no idea why he committed these offences.

"In fact he had no idea what to do with the goods when he actually got them.

"It was something he hadn't put any thought into."

Cartwright, who acts as a father-figure to his partner's two children, has since lost his job with Initial City Link, and a subsequent company who found out about the thefts, and taken a job with a maritime company.

Miss Plant said: "He fully admits during the period the thefts took place he wasn't himself.

"He is now fully ashamed of what he describes as a stupid act."

Magistrates asked for a pre-sentence report evaluating sentencing options to be prepared before they decided what sentence to impose.

Chairman of magistrates Graham Barnett said they had taken into account Cartwright's early guilty pleas and previous good character but stressed prison remained an option.

Mr Barnett said: "You have cast suspicion on others and you have committed this over a period of time.

"Because you've committed this over 10 months it is not off the cuff, it's a planned theft."

He added: "We consider the offences are so serious that you may go to prison but before we decide what order to make we are requesting a pre-sentence report."

When Cartwright returns to court on February 1 magistrates will decide whether to use their powers to sentence him or whether to commit the case to Ipswich Crown Court where judges have more severe sentencing powers.

Cartwright was released on unconditional bail.