Oakham Post Office Closure
The Main Post Office in Oakham will be closed by the Post Office.
The Post office is hoping to relocate services to Martin's News Agents
on the High Street after Christmas.
Martin's Newsagent Oakham High Street. Became McColls
this is still the home for the Post Office, the shop is currently
being transformed into a Morrisons Daily
THIS IS NOT A HORIZON CASE
Anne Julie Manger wept as she was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Leicester Crown Court
A sub-postmistress has been jailed after helping herself to £113,000 of Post Office cash.
Anne Julie Manger wept as she was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Leicester Crown Court.
The 55-year-old admitted fraud by abusing her position at the Oakham branch, between January 2010 and December.
Andrew Bolc, prosecuting, said Manger ran the branch in the town's Market Place for six years.
He told the court: "In 2010, trading conditions deteriorated and the business started to make a loss to the extent she was unable to cover her daily living expenses.
"The Post Office provides facilities where customers can deposit sums into their own bank accounts." Manger abused the facility to credit her own personal account.
Mr Bolc said: "She fraudulently generated cash credits out of thin air, paying for utility bills and credit cards."
The branch also included an outreach service in surrounding villages.
The deficit resulted in a shortage of cash, but Manger transferred the debt from the core branch to the outreach service.
Mr Bolc said: "She was transferring money between the two branches, so it was sitting in limbo."
By December 6, an audit revealed a shortfall of £113,872.
When questioned, Manger confessed she was unable to cope.
For the first three years she ran the post office entirely honestly, the court heard.
Manger has since repaid £61,000 after selling her family home in Larchfield, Oakham.
The court heard her business-partner husband was completely unaware of her actions.
The couple have been staying with family in Crystal Palace, London.
The Oakham Post Office and shop business is up for sale and the remainder owed will be repaid from that, the court heard.
Michael Garvey, mitigating, said of Manger: "She's been employed by the Post Office all her working life and her father before her.
"She's previously run post offices in various locations in an exemplary fashion.
"Oakham Post Office needed building up when she and her husband first moved there and she started an outreach branch, going to villages so those who had lost their post offices would have some service.
"They were hit, as every business in the country was, by the recession.
"Extremely difficult circumstances arose.
"Over a three-year period, the money went purely on living expenses and making sure the premises could stay open.
"She didn't want to lay off any staff.
"She was working more than 60 hours a week.
"They didn't have a lavish lifestyle and hadn't been taking holidays or buying cars beyond their means.
"She knew from the outset she would be found out.
"It was a weight off her shoulders."
Sentencing, Judge Robert Brown said the offending involved a "significant breach of trust".
He said: "Many in the community speak well of you and your family, who support you through this.
"It's such a large sum, over a long period of time, it's too serious not to mark it with a custodial sentence."
