Police welcome sentencing of two burglars who stole £23k from employer

Ben Tyler, of Pelham Road, and John Mozley, of Ringway Close, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to theft by an employee and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Prosecuting, Mr Gorst, told the court that Mozley, 55, was the manager of Today’s Extra on Thelwall New Road, and Tyler, 35, was a member of staff working behind the tills when the pair began stealing from the shop.

The court heard that the 55-year-old manager would insist upon cashing up each day, not letting any other member of staff do so, and would pocket cash handed to him by customers instead of putting it in the tills.

Following their sentencing, 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 that those who are intent on financially damaging local business in Cheshire will be dealt with to the full extent of the law.”

The pair worked at Today's Extra in Grappenhall (Image: Google Maps)

Pair began stealing to pay off drug debt

The court heard that Tyler, who had accumulated a significant drug debt due to his cocaine addiction, was friends with Mozley at the time of the offence and confided in him about his debt.

Mozley told Tyler he could get him £500 and needed him to help cover up the CCTV cameras in the shop to do so, as well as put up a sign in the shop saying they were only accepting cash.

Over the course of more than a year, between March 21 2022 and July 9 2023, the court heard that the pair stole a total of around £8,500 from the corner shop, which is owned by Ron Ramsdens Limited.

When Mozley wanted to leave the shop and work elsewhere, he began planning a burglary with Tyler to cover up the shortfalls in cash, as well as planning to steal alcohol and cigarettes.

On Saturday, June 10, 2022, Tyler was working the closing shift with another employee, who he informed that he had locked the shutter covering the rear of the shop before he left.

At around 3.55am on June 11 that a resident heard loud banging coming from the corner shop and reported that he saw a man, Tyler, wearing a black woolly hat attempting to break in.

It was also reported that the rear shutter had not been pulled down, which left the building insecure, and a spade, which was later found to have Tyler’s DNA on it, was also located.

The court heard that Tyler made off towards the direction of his house, where he was later located by police in his garden smoking a cigarette but was not arrested.

Ben Tyler was addicted to cocaine and cannabis at the time of the offence (Image: Cheshire Police)

At 6.50am, staff arrived at the shop to find Tyler and Mozley inside, who told them that they had arrived early after hearing reports of the break in.

Over the course of that morning, however, the duo were repeatedly seen by staff entering the shop’s electrical cupboard, where the alarms were located. During this time the alarm was activated twice, as was the stores smoke cloak system.

When closing the store, another member of staff told Mozley that she could not activate the alarm system, to which he responded that it was not his problem and that he was going home.

Despite this, phone records later showed that Mozley was in and around the area of the store itself after leaving work.

That night, Mozley and Tyler broke into the shop after planning the burglary for 20 days taking a total of £11,461.19 in cash, as well as £966.31 worth of alcohol and £2,406.10 of cigarettes.

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 at around 8.53 am on Sunday 11 June, which is when the smoke cloak had been activated in the store.

Seven days later, police arrested Tyler of suspicion of burglary and attempted burglary, and his phone was seized, which revealed that the pair had been stealing from the stores safe and tills.

John Mozley was the manager at the shop (Image: Cheshire Police)

Mr Gorst told the court that after the burglary, Mozley handed in his resignation, but continued to steal from the shop while working through his notice.

He presented staff with a hand over document stating that the money in the safe as correct, but would not allow them to open it and confirm this, attempting to relinquish himself from being made responsible for the missing money.

Mozley was later arrested and, despite the overwhelming evidence against them both, the duo initially denied any involvement and stated they were both at home at the incident.

They later pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to both charges.

Defending Mozley, Phillip Tully told the court that the 55-year-old accepts the ‘seriousness’ of the offences.

“The reason behind it was a then friendship with Tyler and he was aware that Tyler owed a debt to a third party, and it was going towards paying that debt,” said Mr Tully.

“He accepts that he did gain from some of the cash that was taken during the theft and the burglary.

“To his credit, he is someone with a very good work record within the retail business.”

Defending Tyler, Ms Priestley told the court that the 35-year-old began using cocaine and cannabis recreationally 10 years ago but had become addicted.

The court heard that Tyler, who previously worked with young people at Warrington Borough Council’s Youth Service, had taken steps to stop taking drugs in the past month.

“These shops are invaluable to the local community, to those who live locally and to the young persons who work there,” said His Honour Judge Stephen Everett during his sentencing remarks.

Denial 'laughable' says judge

“What is clear to me is that you decided to pay for your habits out of the pockets of your employers.”

Judge Everett addressed the defendants separately when passing sentence, telling Mozley that he ‘should have been more frank’ with the probation service about his drug use.

“Your denial of using cocaine would be laughable is this was humorous which, of course, it isn’t,” he said.

“As a burglary of a non-dwelling, this is as serious as I have seen for a long time.”

Mozley, who has four previous convictions for four offences, was sentenced to 30 months immediate imprisonment.

“You stole over a period of time and, sadly, it looked to me as if you revelled in it, which is truly despicable,” Judge Everett told Tyler.

“I’m astonished that someone who gained a university degree, came from a good background and worked as a person supporting young people in crime should find himself in that position.

“You’re someone who really ought to have known better.”

Tyler, who has one previous conviction from 2013, was sentenced to 24 months immediate imprisonment.