A Post Office employee and prolific stamp thief from Swindon defrauded his employer out of nearly £200,000.

Shane Pearce, of Lilian Close in Haydon Wick, indicated pleas of guilty to one count of fraud by false representation and one count of theft by employee at Swindon Magistrates Court in July and has now been sentenced for these crimes.

The 31-year-old committed fraud by dishonestly making a false representation between April 11, 2019 and June 20, 2022, in that he falsely registered refunds of stamps in Swindon to make a gain for himself of £196,697.96.

Between April 11, 2018 and June 20, 2022, the defendant also stole stamps worth a total of £30,210 from the Post Office.

Regular-sized first-class stamps currently sell for £1.10 each while second-class stamps of a similar size cost 75p each.

At his latest hearing at Swindon Crown Court on Friday, September 15, Pearce received a two-year prison sentence for each of the two offences, which would run concurrently but has been suspended for 24 months.

He also received a community order that requires him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, 60 days of alcohol monitoring and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.