Royal Mail investigators who set a trap at a Suffolk sorting office after a postal worker was seen acting suspiciously found bank notes which had been placed in a test package inside his bag, it has been alleged.

A supervisor at the Felixstowe delivery office where Timothy Flynn was employed to sort mail saw him put a blue envelope that had clearly been opened in the wrong sorting area, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

“It should have been placed in a different area for mail that has been opened or damaged,” said Robert Fitt, prosecuting.

As a result of what the supervisor saw on May 2 last year three test packages in the form of greeting cards were placed into post due to be sorted by Flynn on June 26, said Mr Fitt.

Cash was put into each of the cards and a record was kept of the serial numbers on the bank notes.

Two of the cards were dealt with in the correct manner but one of the cards in a pink envelope allegedly disappeared and then reappeared in an area for damaged post.

When it was checked the card was still in the envelope but a £10 note and two £5 notes that had been inside it were missing, said Mr Fitt.

When investigators spoke to Flynn and searched a black bag belonging to him they allegedly found the missing bank notes in his bag.

Flynn had denied having anything to do with stolen bank notes and said he didn’t know how the got there.

Flynn, 57, of Chester Road, Felixstowe has denied stealing the £20 contents of a postal package belonging to Royal Mail on June 26 last year.

The trial continues today.