A POST office manager stole cash from the Bicester branch she was in charge of before helping to stage a fake robbery to cover her tracks, a court heard.

Travis Stone, 24, of Nuthatch, Bicester, Tara Holland, 21, of Spindleside, Bicester and Lee Graham, 23, of the same address, all admit charges of conspiracy to steal in relation to a ‘robbery’ at Martin’s newsagents in Sheep Street, Bicester, last year.

Graham also admitted to one count of theft.

Oxford Crown Court heard how, on December 16, Holland, the manager of the post office at the time, allowed Stone take £69,000 from the premises by posing as a Royal Mail employee.

Stone told the court: “I was in drug debt and she (Holland) had been stealing money from the post office and they were doing an audit and needed to cover her tracks.

“She supplied me with a postal outfit one or two days before the event. It was a postal jacket, Royal Mail badges, white sacks and a delivery note from the Royal Mail.”

He said Holland let him into the back of the post office where she put cash into the sack.

Stone, a cocaine user who owed £10,000 to Alex McCarthy, added: “She knew what she was doing. I didn’t threaten her. I did push her (over) because she wanted it to look legitimate.”

Holland, Stone and Graham were remanded in custody.

They will be sentenced at a date yet to be set. McCarthy, 21, of The Glebe, Cumnor, was rebailed after admitting two counts of possession of class-A drugs with intent and also acquiring criminal property.