Men guilty of 'handling' stolen postbox

TWO men have been found guilty of handling a stolen post box.Thomas Hartley, of Franklands Drive, Greenlands, Preston, and Matthew John Wallis, of Acregate Lane, Ribbleton, Preston, had denied handling the £434 postbox, which belongs to Royal Mail, during a trial.Preston Magistrates’ Court heard the pair had been to a party earlier in the evening on August 25 last year.They then accepted a lift in a car driven by another man.Police tried to stop the vehicle for a random check but it failed to stop for them.Later the same day officers found the car parked up, and spotted the stolen postbox on the parcel shelf of the car.A short time later Wallis, 19, and Hartley, also 19, were seen walking up Woodplumpton Road in Preston together and were promptly arrested.No evidence was submitted as to where the postbox had been stolen from, and the court was not told if any items of mail were inside it.After the case Paolo Passerini, who defended them, said: “It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”Both defendants are appealing the conviction at the crown court.The bench fined each of them £120 with a £20 surcharge and £100 costs.