Two Warrington men have been jailed following the burglary of a convenience store.
John Mozley (55) of Ringwood Close; and Ben Tyler (35) of Pelham Road appeared at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, where they were sentenced to 30 months and two years imprisonment, respectively.
The pair had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and theft by an employee at an earlier hearing.
The court had heard how both Mozley and Tyler had been employed as store manager and shop assistant at the premises on Thelwall New Road in Warrington, and on Saturday, June 10, 2023, Tyler had been working a closing shift alongside another colleague.
During the closing of the shop, Tyler informed his colleague that he had locked and secured the shutter covering the rear of the shop, and then left the store.
At around 3.55am on Sunday, June 11, Cheshire Police received a report from a neighbour who lived near the shop that a loud banging had been heard coming from the shop and that he had seen a man attempting to break into it. It was also reported that the shop’s rear shutter had not been pulled down, leaving the building insecure.
A police dog and handler were deployed to the scene, with the dog tracking a scent to an address on Pelham Road, where Tyler was located in his back garden. Tyler informed the officer that he lived at the address and had stepped outside for a cigarette, with the officers then leaving the location.
Later that morning, at around 6.50am, staff members arrived at the store to find both Tyler and Mozley already inside. The pair informed their colleagues that a neighbour had informed them that there had been an attempted burglary overnight and they had arrived early to ensure everything was in order.
Over the course of the morning, both Tyler and Mozley repeatedly entered the store’s electrical cupboard, where the alarm panels were located. During these occasions, the alarm in the store was activated. At around 8.53am, the alarm was triggered again, and this time the store’s smoke cloak system was also activated.
That evening, during the closing of the store, a staff member called Mozley to inform him that she could not activate the store’s alarm system, to which Mozley stated that this was not his problem and that he was at home and going to bed as he was up early to come into work the next morning. Telephone data would later reveal that at the time of this phone call, Mozely was actually in and around the area of the store itself, despite refusing to attend to look at the alarm.
The following morning, the staff member was notified by Mozley that the store had been burgled, with the suspect gaining access to the store and locating the keys inside to the safe, taking its contents and the CCTV hard drive. A large quantity of cigarettes worth around £2400, alcohol worth £966 and over £11,400 in cash from the safe were also stolen during the burglary.
Despite the store being accessed, the alarm had not sounded and the alarm company were subsequently called to examine a potential fault. An engineer concluded that the alarm wires had been cut when the smoke cloak had been activated in the store.
On Monday, June 10, Tyler was arrested on suspicion of burglary and attempted burglary. Text messages from his seized mobile phone revealed that Tyler and Mozley had been repeatedly stealing from the store’s safe as well as the tills, leaving it short thousands of pounds.
The duo had planned the burglary to account for the missing money and, during the night of the failed burglary attempt, Tyler had texted Mozley saying he “couldn’t get on (in)” to the store and to call him as soon as possible.
Also, during the investigation of the attempted burglary, officers located a spade at the rear of the location that had likely been used to gain access to the building. A later forensic examination would provide a DNA match to Tyler.
Mozley handed in his notice following the burglary and created a handover document for other staff members that stated that the contents of the safe were correct.
Mozley would not allow the other staff members to open the safe to confirm the amount of money inside and asked them to sign document, attempting to relinquish himself from being held responsible for the missing money.
A visit from the store area manager would reveal a cash shortage of over £8500, with CCTV footage dated the 27 and 29 of June showing Mozley stealing cash and stock from the store.
Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against them, both Mozley and Tyler denied any involvement in both the attempted burglary and the burglary of the store during their interviews with police, claiming they were at their respective homes during the incidents – telephone data would show otherwise.
DC Vicky Hancox of Warrington Proactive CID, said: “By repeatedly taking considerable amounts of stock and cash from safe they had access to John Mozley and Ben Tyler abused their positions of responsibility as store employees to benefit only themselves.
“Their greed resulted in a considerable deficit in store funds and, to cover up for the significant amount of money that was no longer present, they attempted to throw other staff members and police off of their trail through the planning of this robbery.
“However, thanks to the work of our officers involved in this investigation, their efforts to mislead police failed and they are now facing the consequences of their actions behind bars.
“This case shows that our officers are committed to doing all they can to ensure those who are intent on financially damaging local businesses in Cheshire will be dealt with to the full extent of the law.”
