Shop worker tied up with cable ties during 'terrifying' three-man Telford robbery

Sohail Sattar teamed up with two other men to rob the Moss Bros shop in Telford.

During the incident, a worker at the store was tied up with cable ties using "considerable force".

The three men appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday where they were jailed for the robbery of the shop on the morning of September 7 last year.

Sohail Sattar, 20, of Waverley, Woodside, who worked at Moss Bros at the time of the robbery, was sentenced to three years in a young offenders institute for his part in the offence.

Fitzroy Thomas, 53, of Wellsfield, Woodside, Telford, was jailed for three years and two months, and Dale Walton, aged 32, of Waverley, Woodside, was jailed for three years and nine months.

Miss Samantha Powis, prosecuting, said despite it being his day off on the day of the offence, Sattar had been in the shop to help out with a query.

One of the other men walked into the shop, and told employee Mr Gough to stay where he was, before the other walked in and asked where the safe was.

The employee pointed at where it was and Sattar got the key for the safe.

During the robbery, Mr Gough was tied up with cable ties, and a total of £1,161 was stolen.

The two men then made off in a taxi which was waiting outside.

Once the attack was over, Mr Gough reported it to the police, who made inquiries with a local taxi firm who had picked up and dropped off Thomas and Walton ahead of the robbery.

Once Thomas was arrested, his phone was seized which linked him with Sattar.

Miss Powis said the offence involved a "degree of targeting and planning", and that "significant force" had been been used in order to restrain the employee.

Sentencing the trio, Judge Peter Barrie said it was a joint plot using Sattar's knowledge of the store and its layout.

He said: "You each together carried out this robbery on September 7. It was a plan you made between you where you'd taken advantage Sattar's knowledge of the business, where the safe and key was.

"You went into the premises when it was quiet, you secured Mr Gough with cable ties, and you went in with your faces concealed with scarves and hoodies.

"It must've been a terrifying experience for Mr Gough."

Judge Barrie added: "It was clearly a planned offence, and as far as Sattar was concerned it was a breach of trust from an employee."

The men had admitted the charge of robbery at an earlier hearing.