Armed robbers held a Screwfix store manager captive in a cage as they plundered more than £20,000 of tools from the hardware giant.
The gang of at least seven masked men ransacked the DIY store in Selby after holding a knife to the assistant manager’s face, marching him back into the store, locking him in a storeroom and then forcing him into a delivery cage and tying his hands with duct tape, York Crown Court heard.
One of the masked men, who wore dark clothes and balaclavas, told him: “Just do as I say, or I’ll stab you”.
The named victim had just locked up for the night and was about to leave the premises at Selby Business Park on Oakney Wood Road when the gang suddenly left their vehicles.
Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan said the victim was sat in his car when one of the robbers opened the passenger door holding a “wicked looking” knife “four to five inches” away from his face.
Another man, who was wearing sunglasses, a balaclava and hood, got into the back of the vehicle, snatched the keys from the ignition and grabbed the victim’s arm. He told the petrified victim: “Do as we ask or you’ll get hurt.”
A third man demanded the keys to the store and told the victim to hand over his phone.
The victim, who remembered seeing a Transit van parked at the front of the store, was then frogmarched into the store, locked in a storeroom and forced into an empty delivery cage where his hands were bound with duct tape.
One of the robbers was told to guard him. Then the victim was forced to watch the gang ransack the store as they plundered huge amounts of tools and stock.
One of the robbers told the victim: “You’re not getting your phone back. I don’t want you ringing police until we’re gone.”
They then left with their haul and the keys to the store. The victim managed to free himself from the duct tape and the cage and called a Screwfix senior manager who informed police.
Forensic investigation
“The robbery was well planned and they got away with £22,000 of tools,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
One of the men, 44-year-old Lee Cox, was arrested 10 days later when police stopped a black Volkswagen.
Cox was in the passenger seat and one of the other suspects was driving. The vehicle, for which Cox had insurance, had been used in connection with the robbery.
Police searched the car and found a black balaclava, mobile phones and the store keys stolen in the robbery. All the items had traces of Cox’s DNA and data analysis of an iPhone proved that Cox was in the area at the time of the robbery.
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About two weeks after the robbery, police swooped on a house in Batley where they found the balaclava worn by Cox and a notepad containing lists of tools stolen in the robbery on 8 November, 2018.
Later Cox’s fingerprints were found on a stash of drugs seized by police during a raid on a house in Brook Street, Selby. He was charged with being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug and admitted the offence.
In May 2021, during the extensive investigation into the robbery, police asked Cox for the passcode to his phone, but he refused to give it to them. However, forensic officers managed to get round this and used cell-site technology and video footage to prove he was at the scene of the crime.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, Cox continued to deny the robbery and claimed he was merely the driver for the gang, but he was found guilty as charged in January this year.
Jailed for 16 years
Cox, of Commonside, Batley, had nine previous convictions for offences including handling stolen goods, affray and conspiracy to supply drugs and had served lengthy prison sentences during his 26-year criminal career.
Defence barrister Stephen Spence said there was still no irrefutable proof that Cox was anything other than the driver for the robbery gang and it appeared that none of the other perpetrators had been brought to book.
Sentencing Cox today (Friday), Judge Simon Hickey said it was possible that up to nine men had pounced on the victim as he was locking up the store at about 8pm and there was incontrovertible evidence that Cox was one of them.
Cox was jailed for 16 years for the robbery and given consecutive sentences of six months and three months respectively for failing to hand over the pass code for his phone and the drug-dealing offences. The total jail sentence came to 16 years and nine months.
Detective Constable Michael Johnston from York CID led the investigation. He said: “A member of the public was going about his daily business which was disrupted by Cox as he put the victim through a horrific ordeal which caused unnecessary upset and anguish in order for Cox to benefit for his own gain.
“It’s pleasing that he has been brought to justice and handed a substantial prison sentence as a consequence of his shameful actions.”
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