A POSTMAN who stole giro cheques and birthday gifts worth thousands of pounds is starting a 12-month jail term.

Dipak Patel rifled through envelopes and packages that should have been delivered on his round and stole the cheques, as well as CDs, mobile phone sim cards and vouchers.

Patel, aged 33, of Dingle Walk, School Hill, also opened envelopes containing bank cards and pin numbers, which he sold on for £100.

The postman's thieving only stopped when the Royal Mail and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) set up to trap to catch him.

Police later found a haul of stolen goods at his house.

Patel pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and was sentenced yesterday at Bolton Crown Court. Judge Roger Warnock, described his offences as "sheer lunacy".

He said: "The public is entitled to believe they can rely on the postal service. Your thefts have left a lot of people distressed and upset and I hope you feel suitably ashamed."

Michael Maher, prosecuting, said an investigation was launched last December. The DWP contacted the Royal Mail to help trace 25 giro cheques, worth £2,641, that had gone missing after being sent through the North Bolton sorting office during six weeks in October and November last year. All of the cheques related to one delivery "walk", which had been assigned to Patel, the court heard.

Patel was watched by his bosses, who saw him steal four giro envelopes from a colleague's round and put them into his own bag on January 17.

On January 19, 17 packages designed to look like giros or birthday cards were planted at the sorting office.

Police and Royal Mail investigators found all 17 parcels in his bag along with a letter containing details of a pin number; 13 other envelopes that he had not opened; a bank card; Marks and Spencer vouchers worth £20 and £14 in cash.

In his house, investigators found 34 opened envelopes; 14 mobile phone sim cards; a cheque book; five bank cards and a driving licence, along with packaging from a suit he had stolen but thrown away.

Mr Maher said that investigations revealed Patel had taken at least 106 giros, worth £14,462.

Mr Maher said: "He accepted that he had been targeting packages of a financial nature and told police that he was stealing to fund a drug habit."

David Farley, defending, said: "After his divorce he became depressed and began taking crack cocaine, which was soon costing him £100 a day and unfortunately he turned to crime to fund that."