AN illegal immigrant who tried to steal £620,000 from his bosses at the Post Office before "fleeing the country" has been jailed for four years.

Counter clerk Pedro Reyes-Jofre, 22, attempted to electronically transfer the cash from the Post Office account to a friend's building society in a sophisticated and planned plot.

He was planning to send most of the money to Chile to save his cancer-stricken mother's life.

But the defendant, who made 32 bogus transactions in one day whilst working at Accrington, was rumbled within hours by the Royal Mail's money laundering department.

Only £250 was withdrawn and the building society account was frozen.

The Royal Mail Group has now launched an investigation into why it employed a man who was in the country illegally.

Burnley Crown Court was told that the defendant originally came to the UK on a student visa in 2003 from his home in Chile but he had overstayed his visa and the Government was attempting to have him deported.

Reyes-Jofre admitted conspiracy to defraud.

Sentencing him, Judge Michael Byrne told the defendant he had been both manipulative and devious.

He said: "This was the most flagrant breach of trust in a public service that could be imagined."

The defendant of Maudsley Street, Accrington, admitted conspiracy to defraud between March 1 and July 21.

Michael Murray, prosecuting for the Royal Mail, said Reyes-Jofre began working at the branch in Abbey Street, Accrington, in March 2006. On July 20 the company was alerted to a series of suspicious transactions.

Thirty one transactions of £21,000 each and one of £2,000 had been paid into an Alliance and Leicester building society account in the name of a woman living in Accrington.

The defendant was arrested at the Post Office, his home was searched and instructions were found outlining how to put £755,000 into different bank accounts.

Ken Hind, defending, said Reyes-Jofre was under financial pressure. His mother had been diagnosed with cancer, Chile had no national health service and treatment in America would have cost £175,000.

He planned to take £300,000, the vast majority of which would have been for treatment and the rest to pay off debts, he said.

Mr Hind said the defendant made absolutely no gain and recognised he had been foolish and stupid.

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said: "The Post Office takes a zero tolerance approach to any form of dishonesty and our security systems and vigilance uncovered this potential fraud. We are co-operating with the ongoing investigation by the Home Office into his immigration status."