A SECOND worker for a parcel delivery company has now admitted stealing the contents of selected small packages from a depot in the North-East.

Carl Anthony Edwards recently admitted a charge of conspiracy to commit theft of Pandora jewellery from the United Parcel Service (UPS) premises, in Sedgefield, County Durham, where he worked in the delivery depot.

But, colleague Andrew Wayman, who was also accused of being involved in the conspiracy to steal from packages at the depot, denied the allegation at the same hearing, at Durham Crown Court, on February 7.

The charges were brought following inquiries into the alleged theft of Pandora jewellery from 37 packages delivered to the site, on Salters Lane Industrial Estate, between January 1, 2014, and June 4, 2015.

An estimated £27,000-worth of jewellery was said to have been taken from parcels passing through the depot during that time period.

It is alleged the stolen items were removed from the packages before being secreted from the site, having been hidden in the torn lining of workwear jackets worn by the accused.

The case involving Wayman was to have gone to a trial, of up to three days, at the court this week.

But, on the day it was due to start, it was entered on the court list as, “for plea”.

When the case was called on, Wayman’s barrister, Scott Smith, asked for the indictment to be put again, and the 29-year-old defendant, of Salvin Terrace, Fishburn, County Durham, this time pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charge.

Mr Smith told the court the admission was made on a basis, which he said was accepted by the Crown, that the defendant only took from a certain number of the packages in the initial allegation.

He said these had been itemised and outlined to the prosecution.

Mr Smith asked for the preparation of background reports on his client by the Probation Service, prior to the sentencing hearing.

Agreeing, Recorder Peter Makepeace told Mr Smith: “He’s at risk of a custodial sentence, given the amounts involved in this case.”

Mr Smith said: “Mr Wayman is of previous good character, as he has only two cautions and no convictions, and there are factors in the background with which a report may prove of assistance to the court.

“But, it is accepted that he’s certainly at risk of a custodial sentence.”

Wayman was bailed to return to court to be sentenced alongside forty-year-old Edwards, of Coronation Road, Chilton, County Durham, on a date to be agreed, after May 9.