A crooked Royal Mail manager plundered thousands of pounds by stealing from letters and parcels meant for customers.

Lee Holness pocketed cash and goods worth £20,000 by tampering with post in his office at Margate delivery office.

The Star Trek fan even splashed out on a near-£2,000 flight to Florida to meet up with fellow sci-fi enthusiasts at a convention.

And he proudly hung a giant framed jacket signed by members of the hit TV series - worth £9,000 - on the wall of his home in Windermere Avenue, in Ramsgate.

"This was a serious breach of trust and what you did amounts to plundering people's property..." - Judge Andrew Patience

Now the 44-year-old has been jailed for two years after admitting five charges involving the theft.

Holness, an employee since 1985, was two years ago made one of Margate's delivery managers.

But the £30,000-a-year executive began opening post in his office and stealing a variety of items – throwing away personal cards into the bin.

Investigators were alerted over the high number of complaints at Margate about missing post – the highest in the region.

Holness was investigated because of the large number of items that appeared to have been tampered with and secret CCTV cameras were installed in his office.

Footage revealed the manager looting 24 letters and parcels and, when he was quizzed, had £140 and €20 in his pocket.

Anthony Heaton-Armstrong, prosecuting for the Royal Mail, said when investigators went to the manager's home they discovered the £9,000 Star Trek jacket mounted on the wall, together with two £2,000 Disney displays of original stills from films and other Star Trek models.

They also found stolen DVDs and games in cupboards and shelves as well as evidence he used some of them to get thousands of pounds in credit.

Mr Heaton-Armstrong revealed that on one of his Trekkie trips to Florida, Holness had paid the £1,950 flight in cash.

Kerry Waitte, defending, said Holness "wanted to apologise to his work colleagues on whom suspicion for the thefts may have fallen and to Post Office customers".

He said: "He is now unemployed with no other career experience as the Post Office has been his whole life."

Mr Waitte said the manager blamed the stress of his job and having to deal with unpopular changes in work practices.

Judge Andrew Patience told Holness: "This was a serious breach of trust and what you did amounts to plundering people's property.

"And you did this through straightforward greed to enable you to afford things you couldn't afford on your income."

He ordered the manager to repay £20,000 compensation within a month and pay £5,000 costs within three months.