Payback time for former Royal Mail couple (From Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News)

Payback time for former Royal Mail couple

8:00am Thursday 6th September 2012 in News By Newsdesk

A COUPLE who stole stacks of foreign currency while working for the Royal Mail have been ordered to pay back almost £20,000.

Jayne Hopkins, 44, a delivery office manager at Burnham, was jailed for 14 months last year after gaining £40,000 in foreign money going through the postal system.

Her husband David, a postman at Bridgwater, was given a three-month suspended sentence and 150 hours’ unpaid work.

Jayne Hopkins was convicted of theft and money laundering while David Hopkins was charged with converting criminal property amounting to £3,200.

The pair were caught out by investigators when a delivery package was found in Jayne Hopkins’ bag in the summer of 2009.

At Taunton Crown Court on Tuesday, Jayne Hopkins, who oversaw staff at Burnham from November 2008 to April 2009, was told she must pay back £10,000 within six months under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

David Hopkins was ordered to pay back £9,974 within one month.

The couple, now of The Dolphin Inn, Ilchester, stole South African rand, Australian dollars, Cypriot pounds and Turkish lira, prosecutor Anthony Vines said.

The court heard the pair fleeced the money after racking up debts of £30,000 by living beyond their means.

Speaking at the time of sentencing, Judge Graham Hume Jones said: “They were both in this together. She was in a high degree of trust and he must have known what was going on.

“The word has to go out to other Post Office employees that those who steal from the mail go to prison.”

The couple declined to comment following this week’s hearing.