Royal Mail’s roll call of shame: Sex offenders who have used their rounds to groom children and abuse women -as it’s revealed one victim killed herself while on the phone to the firm to report her attacker

The manner in which officials described Michael Stewart, a 63-year-old postman from Northumberland who has been jailed for six and a half years after committing a string of sexual assaults against women during his rounds, was depressingly familiar.

Judge Robert Spragg, who presided over Stewart’s trial at Newcastle crown court, this week characterised him as an ostensibly popular man who ‘hid in plain sight behind a facade of respectability’.

One of his victims, Carly Wealleans, was so distressed that she killed herself while on the phone to the Royal Mail to complain about Stewart.

Another of his victims told the BBC that, until the day he walked into her home and grabbed her breast, Stewart had been ‘really nice and friendly’ and ‘always had a joke’, while a third described a man who went from a ‘nice guy who delivered the post’ with ‘a kind word and cheeky smile’ to someone from whom she hid in fear. 

It was a similar story when Michael Williams, a postman from Cornwall, was handed an eight and a half year sentence in 2010 after taking advantage of his contact with children on his daily post route in Cornwall to identify potential victims. 

It was estimated that Williams abused 1,000 children he met online and on his rounds. 

Like Stewart, Williams was widely regarded as a pillar of the community and was described locally as ‘a cheerful and helpful character’.

Meanwhile, Jason Peach, a former postman, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2020 for grooming a 15-year-old boy whom he went on to abuse in his Royal Mail van. 

Michael Stewart, a former postman who has been convicted of 12 offences of sexual assault, harassment and exposure, was seen as a ‘nice guy who delivered the post’

Michael Williams, a former postman from Penryn, Cornwall,was also regarded as a pillar of the community until he was imprisoned for grooming children in 2010

Peach, who met his victim at a music gig when he was just 14, even befriended the boy’s father and went for beers with him. 

While spending time together ‘delivering parcels’ Peach would ‘repeatedly kiss’ the ‘extremely vulnerable’ boy. 

When Peach’s marriage broke down, he suggested a suicide pact in which they would kill themselves after spending a night at a hotel. 

Police intercepted the boy as he was leaving to meet Peach and found razor blade’s in the teenager’s bag. 

Peach pleaded guilty at Southampton Crown Court to six charges including rape and making indecent images of a child. 

The boy later said in a victim impact statement that the abuse made him want to kill himself, adding that he was reminded of it whenever he saw a Royal Mail van or a post box or post office. 

Last year a Putney postman of 22 years, Jamie Farley, 44, avoided prison after taking an indecent photo of a six-year-old child, which he shared with a ‘paedophile’ who was in fact an undercover officer. 

Police found almost 1,000 indecent images of children on his device and he pleaded guilty to voyeurism and three counts of making indecent images at Inner London Crown Court. 

Jason Peach, a former postman, was sentenced to seven years in prison following a trial at Southampton crown court in 2020 for the grooming and abuse of a 15-year-old boy

Royal Mail said that Farley had not made them aware of the charges against him, but that he’d been suspended once they were uncovered. 

A spokesperson said: ‘Royal Mail always expects the highest standards from its staff and the behaviours reported have no place in our business. We were not informed of the charges and as soon as we were made aware he was suspended pending an internal investigation.’

Postal workers are normally required to undergo an online assessment and interview before undergoing a basic criminal record check. 

While each of these cases involved different circumstances, they are united by a common thread: the position of trust the perpetrators held as postal workers, and the sinister manner in which they leveraged that trust to commit their crimes.

Markedly different, however, is the manner in which they were handled.  

Royal Mail suspended Williams on learning he was the subject of a police investigation and dismissed him following his arrest.

But one of the factors that made Stewart’s case particularly heinous was the alleged failure of Royal Mail to act on complaints against him.

His victim Carly Wealleans died at her home in Newbiggin, Northumberland, in March 2022 during a call with a manager at the postal service in which she was described as being in a very distressed state. 

Jamie Farley, 44, took an indecent photo of a young child, then sent it to a person he believed to be a like-minded paedophile

Two of his victims have since died, and the the mother of one of them claimed the company’s failure to take action was a contributory factor in the decision of her daughter, Carly Wealleans, to take her own life.

Miss Wealleans, a former Olympic boxing hopeful, made a statement to police in December 2021 saying she felt suicidal because of the trauma she had suffered after what Stewart had done and the Royal Mail response to it. She was referred to mental health services.

She was struggling to sleep and eat and in January 2022 told police that she had taken an overdose.

Two months later on March 11, she phoned Royal Mail ‘in a very distressed state and blamed her ill health on Stewart’s offending against her and how this was dealt with by Royal Mail’, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Judge Robert Spragg said that during that call she took her own life.

‘We blame Stewart’s offending against [Carly] for her mental state and eventual suicide,’ Miss Wealleans’s family told the court.

While acknowledging the multitude of factors involved in a suicide, Judge Spragg agreed that the death was a ‘direct result’ of Stewart’s actions and the compounding effects of Royal Mail’s ineffective response.

‘While this response was not predictable, it was nonetheless as a result of what you did,’ Spragg told Stewart.

‘It is impossible to know the full reasons why someone chooses to take their own life but, I repeat, had you not behaved in this manner towards her it is clear she would not have suffered the severe psychological harm she did, leading to the loss of her life.’

Miss Wealleans died at her home in Newbiggin, Northumberland, in March 2022 during a call with a Royal Mail manager in which she was described as being in a very distressed state. 

Four months earlier, she had been referred to mental health services after making a statement to police in which she said she felt suicidal after Stewart grabbed her shirt, looked at her breasts, kissed her, and repeatedly exposed himself to her.

Miss Wealleans, a former Olympic boxing hopeful, ‘blamed her ill health on Stewart’s offending against her and how this was dealt with by Royal Mail’, the court was told.

Another woman who was sexually assaulted by Stewart reported the attack to Royal Mail, resulting in him being temporarily suspended from his route. The court heard he showed the woman a picture of his penis on his phone when he returned to the route.

A third victim of Stewart’s abuse reported her experience to Royal Mail management but said she ‘never heard anything back’. 

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘These crimes were abhorrent and had significant, and in cases tragic, consequences for the victims.

‘Stewart abused his position of trust. This verdict reflects the seriousness of his offences. We would like to publicly apologise to the victims, their families and to others who were targeted.

‘The protection of our colleagues and customers is our utmost priority. Following this case, we commissioned an independent review.

‘In line with its recommendations, we implemented changes across the organisation, including a multi-year campaign on sexual harassment and culture in the workplace, new internal reporting tools and clearer codes of conduct and expected behaviours.’

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