Man jailed for 16 years for his part in a terrifying armed raid at a Screwfix store which saw robbers steal tools worth £22,000

Lee Cox, 44, was one of a gang of at least seven masked men who ransacked the DIY store in Selby after holding a knife to the victim’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.

The named manager 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 alighted from 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 masked thug, 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 as the victim was forced to watch the gang ransack the store as they plundered huge amounts of tools and stock.

They then scarpered with the loot 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.

“The robbery was well planned and (the robbers) got away with £22,000 of tools,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

He said that according to the victim, the gang “seemed professional”.

Cox was arrested 10 days later when police stopped a black Volkswagen. He 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.

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 November 8, 2018.

Cox was arrested and bailed pending further enquiries.

But in February 2019 police swooped on a house in Brook Street, Selby, and found a large cache of cocaine and cannabis, as well as cash, mobile phones and drug-dealing paraphernalia.

The sole tenant of that property was Ossett woman Danielle Lake, 32, formerly of Batley, who had been “directing” the sale of cocaine and cannabis and sending out Jack Healey, 34, to deliver the drugs.

Police seized just under 500g of cannabis worth up to £2,000 in street deals and 27g of cocaine worth about £1,270.

Among the drugs stash was a package containing 133g of cannabis, or just under five ounces, with Cox’s fingerprints on it.

Cox, who was involved in the supply of cannabis but not involved in the cocaine racket, was charged with being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug and admitted the offence.

Healey and Lake, who had no connection to the Screwfix robbery, were charged with possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis and ultimately admitted the offences.

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, along with an offence of failing to comply with a Section 49 notice, namely refusing to hand over the passcode to his phone.

Cox, of Commonside, Batley, appeared for sentence on Friday (June 23) after being remanded in custody. Lake and Healey were sentenced separately.

Cox 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.

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 therm.

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.

Healey, of The Shrubberies, Cliffe, and Lake, of Cromwell Place, Ossett, received two-year suspended prison sentences for the drug offences due to the four-and-a-half-year delay in the case reaching court.

Defence barrister Jade Bucklow said Lake had been coerced by people higher up the drug chain and now ran a pub with her partner. She had no previous convictions and had not reoffended since her arrest.