A POSTMAN stole almost 80 meerkat toys from packages and sold them on eBay, netting around £1,500, a court was told.

David Livesey, 61, helped himself to the sought-after fluffy toys, made famous by the TV advert for Comparethemarket.com, which he then sold for between £5 and £43 a time.

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His cash-making scheme was brought to an end after Royal Mail investigators put an electronic tracking device in a meerkat parcel, sent out from the company’s mailing house in Blackburn, on his round.

He didn't deliver it and it was found it in his van.

Livesey, who also took several DVDs dispatched by Amazon, sent out the meerkats to his eBay buyers with used postage stamps.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Livesey, who sorted mail as well as delivering it, was stealing for two years. He owned up when he was questioned, telling bosses he had constantly stolen from other people’s rounds.

A judge said Livesey had ruined 45 years of his working life and committed a breach of trust.

Livesey, now jobless and on benefits, of Albion Street, Barnoldswick, admitted three counts of theft - stealing a quantity of postal packets containing meerkats and stealing 61 postal packets, both from the Royal Mail Group Ltd, at Barnoldswick, between February 2011 and February 2014 and stealing a postal packet addressed to a property on Sycamore Way, on February 6 this year.

He also pleaded guilty to having used postage stamps for fraudulent purposes.

The defendant received six months in prison, suspended for a year, with a thre-month, 10pm to 7am curfew. He was ordered to pay a £80 victim surcharge.

Gerard Doran, prosecuting for Royal Mail, told the hearing Livesey started working at Royal Mail in March 2001.

Inquiries started when information was received that the defendant had stolen 78 meerkat toys and had been selling them through his eBay account. He had made a profit of £1,430.85.

The toys were only available when insurance was bought or renewed through a company which advertised on Comparethemarket.com.

Mr Doran said investigators applied to conduct surveillance and two meerkat toys were introduced into the mail due to be sorted by the defendant. Electronic tracking devices were placed in the packages.

The test packages were dropped into Livesey's mail on February 6. One was addressed to a house number on Sycamore Way, the address being part of the defendant's delivery. Observations were kept on the defendant while he was carrying out his duties.

When his Royal Mail vehicle was searched, the test packet addressed to Sycamore Way was recovered.

The prosecutor said the defendant’s home was searched and 31 used stamps and some DVDs were found. Eight boxes of meerkat postal packages with the address labels torn off were discovered.

Mr Doran said Livesey denied he had stolen all the recovered items from the post. He admitted he intended to give the meerkat in the package addressed to Sycamore Way to his grandchild.

The defendant admitted he had been stealing meerkat toys and selling them over the internet and said he had been stealing them for over two years.

Kristian Cavanagh, for Livesey, said he was ashamed to find himself before the court for the offences. He demonstrated remorse and posed a low risk of reconviction.

Livesey had recently had a significant operation for liver cancer, his wound had become infected and he had been readmitted to hospital on Saturday.

The solicitor said: “His financial circumstances are quite bleak. He has remained out of work since these offences.”

Sentencing, Recorder Anthony McLoughlin said the defendant chose, on multiple occasions over two years, to steal and what he had done was serious.

Recorder McLoughlin said meerkat toys had some ‘cult interest’ to people seeking to acquire them. He said: “You had some financial difficulties. That only explains it. It doesn't excuse what you were about. It went on for over two years.”

“You have actually ruined the last 45 years of your working life by being found out for these offences. You have demonstrated genuine remorse rather than self-pity.”