A postman has been jailed after stealing from the Royal Mail to pay off a loan for his girlfriend to have her breasts enlarged.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Darren Crawshaw was persuaded to take out a £3,500 bank loan for the plastic surgery.

But his partner - who, the court was told, couldn't get a loan herself - left him shortly after the operation.

Sentencing the 33-year-old to 15 months in prison, Judge Gerald Coles QC said: "You had no sensible reason for doing any of it except your foolish desire to satisfy the whim of the young woman with whom you were living."

He said Crawshaw's girlfriend - who was not named in court - had been the cause of his downfall and put him in the dock where he did not belong.

Crawshaw's barrister Neil Clark said he had been put under constant pressure by his girlfriend about the surgery at a time when he was having to pay increased maintenance for his teenage daughter and struggling to the meet the bills for the flat they shared.

"Ultimately, given the way she felt about the need to have this surgery, he agreed to borrow the money," said Mr Clark.

He described the loan as the straw that broke the camel's back and between January and October last year Crawshaw stole about £50-a-week from the post and netted a total of £4,500.

Crawshaw, who had been a postman for 12 years, was questioned in October after post office investigators used specially-prepared packets to catch him out.

After he had collected mail from a postbox in Wibsey investigators checked the packets and discovered that three had been tampered with.

When interviewed, Craw-shaw, of Hollingwood Court, Tanner Hill Road, Bradford, immediately confessed to what he had been doing and when he was searched officers found bag ties, tape and glue which had been used to reseal mail.

Prosecutor Nigel Edwards said it was estimated that Crawshaw may have tampered with as many as 1,800 items.

Last April he stole £1,600 worth of Deutschmarks from a packet and Mr Edwards revealed that an inquiry into the missing money had almost led to the sacking of an employee at the company involved.

Crawshaw pleaded guilty to sample charges of opening postal packets and theft when he appeared in court yesterday.

The court heard from Crawshaw's father that the family had been devastated when they heard about his offending.

He said his son's character had changed from being a bubbly sort of person to being withdrawn.

He explained that his son had got the loan because his girlfriend couldn't get one herself.

He added: "It would have been against my advice, but I wasn't asked of course.''

After the hearing a Royal Mail spokesman said cases of theft by postal workers were very rare.

He said: "The security of our customers' mail is of paramount importance to us and we always take appropriate action against when necessary against offenders. Fortunately it is a very rare occurrence."

The spokesman added that there were no records of the number of cases of theft by post office staff.

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