Sorting office worker stole rugby tickets

A TEENAGER who stole 60 rugby tickets worth £3,600 while working at a Royal Mail sorting office has been ordered to carry out 220 hours of community service.

Benedict Nagle, 19, gave 18 of the Six Nations tickets to pals but the other 42 expired.

At an earlier hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, fiscal depute Aidan Higgins said the tickets were for games Scotland was playing against Wales, Italy and Ireland. In total, 20 of the 60 tickets were stolen for each game.

But Nagle, a first offender, was caught when the tickets were used at games and were traced in the system.

The teenager admitted stealing the Scottish Rugby Union tickets at the Royal Mail Sorting Office at Sighthill, Edinburgh, on January 22 last year. He also admitted failing to appear at court on 9 November last year.

The court heard it had been an opportunistic theft and that Nagle had lost his job as a result.

Sheriff Derrick McIntyre told Nagle: "It is a serious breach of trust and if you had previous convictions you would have gone to prison."

He was also fined 100 for failing to turn up at court.

Sentence had previously been deferred on Nagle, of Inchkeith Court, Edinburgh, for the preparation of background reports.