THREE postmen who stole expensive parcels and sold the contents on ebay have been jailed.

Almost £15,000-worth of expensive items, including iPods, diamond rings and mobile phones, were snatched from the Royal Mail returns depot at Dallam and later sold on the online auction site.

Sentencing the trio, all from Liverpool, at Warrington Crown Court on Friday, Judge Philip Hughes branded the catalogue of thefts a concerning breach of trust to the integrity of the postal system'.

He said: "You were selling items to make money. It was irregular, but over the course of time, you have become greedy."

All three men pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

Ringleader Robert Jones, aged 37, of Bootle, was jailed for 15 months for two counts of stealing parcels and one of interfering with mail. He admitted filling his bag twice a day with the items he had stolen.

The court heard that he then sold them on ebay and became notorious for selling the stolen items on the streets where he lived.

Alan Lamb, aged 49, of West Derby, was jailed for six months after Judge Hughes deemed he had breached the most trust as depot supervisor, a more senior position than those of his accomplices.

Lamb claimed debt had forced him to steal a mobile phone and a webcam, and handle a stolen laptop computer.

Francis McDonough, aged 44, of Orrell Park, was given a six-month suspended sentence for two counts of theft, totalling £1,500, of two diamond rings, a watch, a gold bracelet, a computer memory card, a bluetooth wireless headset, an iPod and a DVD player, and to interfering with mail.

The men were caught on CCTV camera at the Royal Mail site after bosses became suspicious.

They were arrested on November 16, 2005.

Packaging from the stolen postal items was found among rubbish at one of the men's homes. Other items were found inside two of their houses.

All claimed they were remorseful, blaming spiralling debt and loss of former jobs as the catalyst.

Defending Jones, barrister, Zilla Williams, said: He has not only brought shame on himself, but also on his family.

His stealing spree had been going on for a year and a half, while McDonough's crimes were over two days, and Lamb's a few months.