Men who tried to pass off ice cubes as iPads rumbled when parcel started leaking

Two would-be fraudsters who tried to pass off ice cubes as iPads were caught when the parcel started leaking. Nathan Meunch, 29, and Nigel Bennett, 39, were found jointly responsible for the bungled con in which they sent a parcel full of ice cubes insured as iPads worth £2,500, then claimed compensation when they did not arrive. Meunch used the Special Delivery service at Wellington Post Office in Shropshire, telling the counter clerk the box contained iPads, so she insured it up to value of £2,500. But an hour later shocked staff saw water flooding from the parcel and its contents were revealed to be a bag of ice cubes.



Elaine Sloane, a counter clerk at the post office told the court how she served Meunch. “When the gentleman came to the counter and said he wanted to do a special delivery I did notice the package had damp patches on it and the front of his jacket had damp patches on it too,” she said. “I just happened to say to the gentleman is it raining outside and he said yes but it seemed strange to me because I could see from where I was sitting it didn’t look like it was raining.” She added: “I asked him what was inside and he said iPads. I said how much is it worth but he wanted to make a phone call. I asked him for a return address but he couldn’t remember the postcode.” About an hour later, a colleague noticed a puddle of water beneath the pile of parcels to be sent by Special Delivery.

“We had a little look and you could see all ice in there,” said Mrs Sloane. “We were shocked. He had sent it as iPads and I couldn’t believe it was all this water and the box was disintegrating.” The dodgy delivery was noted by Royal Mail investigators, patched up and sent on to its destination. And before long they received a compensation claim saying the valuable contents were missing. Meunch, who walked into court wearing a bag over his head with two eye holes cut out, had denied fraud and blamed the scheme on Bennett. Meunch of Telford, West Midlands, and Bennett, formerly of Stirchley, south Shropshire, but now living in Cornwall,  both received community orders for taking part in the “hair-brained” scheme.



Sentencing, Recorder Christopher Hotten QC said to Bennett: “You accept responsibility for the idea of this offence. You were short of money and you wanted to make some money. You prepared a package containing ice cubes which was represented to contain iPads. You, Mr Meunch, took it to the post office and dispatched it and it was you who submitted a compensation claim. The plan was unsuccessful. The ice melted and the post office were quite well aware within an hour that this was a scam.” He sentenced each man to a 12- month community order and 150 hours of unpaid work. They must also each pay £500 towards prosecution costs within six months.