Welsh postman jailed for not delivering

MERTHYR TYDFIL, Wales, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A 21-year-old Welsh postman who was on steroids and forgot to deliver 12,604 letters and packages has been jailed for three months.

Authorities caught Royal Mail worker Gavin Jenkins of Tylorstown, Wales, when he began using a cell phone he said fell into his mail bag from an open package, the South Wales Echo reported Wednesday.

Investigators found 12,604 letters and packages at his home.

Defense attorney Jenny Treharne said Jenkins started taking steroids around his 20th birthday and either forgot or thought it was too late to deliver the mail.

"It was the effect of these drugs that he started not to care about his job and started to store the post in his car," Treharne said. "He was relieved when his dishonesty came to an end."

The case cost him his job and his girlfriend, she said.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court Judge John Curran called Jenkins' failure to deliver the mail a "serious breach of trust" and jailed him for three months.