Masked robbers jailed over £13k phone thefts

Two men who stole more than £13,000 worth of mobile phones from a shop in Surrey after threatening a member of staff have been jailed.

Joziah Carey-Nichols and Ousman Faal, both 22 and from south-east London, entered the store in Woking's Victoria Place wearing masks and forced a staff member to open a locked storage cage containing the handsets.

The pair fled with the phones after the robbery on 3 May, but were later identified through CCTV footage, automatic number plate recognition data and mobile phone analysis, Surrey Police said.

They both pleaded guilty to robbery. Faal was jailed for three years and Carey-Nichols was sentenced to two-and-a-half years at Guildford Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard the offenders, both from Lewisham, grabbed a member of staff and demanded access to a secure area at the rear of the shop shortly after 11:00 BST.

Police said investigating officers carried out extensive inquiries before tracing the men to addresses in London.

Both were arrested after officers forced entry to their homes.

PC Luke Lightburn, from Surrey Police's proactive investigation team, said: "No one deserves to go into work and be threatened and intimidated and I can only imagine how frightening this was for the shop staff.

"Our team worked tirelessly to piece together all the evidence, pursue these criminals into London and bring the consequences of their offences right back to their own front doors."

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