A POSTMAN was found wearing stolen women's lingerie after his bosses became suspicious of missing packages, a court heard.
Matthew Alexander Furness, 35, of Walker Crescent, Weymouth, admitted two charges of stealing postal packages belonging to Royal Mail, on October 1 and December 6, 2007.
Prosecutor Bob Booker told Weymouth magistrates that postal bosses became suspicious when an open package was found in Furness' van.
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They carried out a secret operation by planting a horror DVD 'The Burning' in his drop bag.
The DVD was wrongly addressed and should have been dealt with as a mis-sort but Furness failed to do so.
Two months later in a further intelligence operation a bra and thong by Bravissimo worth £49 was put into the system.
Mr Booker said again the packages should have become 'mis-sorts' and given to another office to deal with, but were not. The court was told that Furness was seen on CCTV turning items over to hide the address before keeping them for himself.
Investigators approached him and during an interview initially denied stealing items on his route. Furness agreed to searches of his person and vehicle but not his home.
Items were recovered from his jacket pocket and Furness claimed he was being 'stitched up'.
Mr Booker said: "Police searched him looking for items of ladies' underwear.
"They asked him to remove what he was wearing in the presence of an officer and found him to be wearing the thong. The other item of the bra was never recovered."
A search of Furness' home uncovered the missing DVD.
Mr Booker said it was an abuse of trust, with the aggravating feature of affecting public confidence, in fellow employees and the service itself.
Ian Brazier, in mitigation, said it was an opportunist rather than sophisticated theft. He said Furness maintains he found the DVD in the post van he was driving and had only borrowed it. The court heard Furness was undergoing counselling for matters into his past.
Magistrates adjourned sentencing for reports. Furness was given unconditional bail and is due back in court on April 17 at 2.15pm.
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