Three sentenced to jail after plotting fake robbery in Cranleigh

Police say that former Betfred bookies’ colleagues Kiziah Annan, 23, of The Ridgeway, Cranleigh, and Lewis Phillips, 24, of High Street, Guildford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and perverting the course of justice.

Annan’s ex-boyfriend Julius Lewis, 22, of Selsdon Road, Croydon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal.

Kiziah Annan, received a nine month prison sentence and Lewis Phillips received a four month sentence suspended for two years. Phillips was also ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work and pay £2,000 in compensation and £1,500 in costs.

Julius Lewis received a five week custodial sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation and £1,500 in costs.

Police say that on the evening of Sunday, 20 May 2018, Phillips and Annan were working at Betfred, Annan as assistant manager, when they reported that a robbery had taken place. They described a suspect who they claimed had taken £6000.

When statements were taken from Annan and Phillips, police officers noticed how suspiciously the two were behaving and believed their story warranted further investigation.

By carefully piecing together CCTV footage, mobile phone contact between Annan and Lewis, bank statements and sightings of Lewis’s car in the area of the robbery, detectives gathered sufficient evidence to charge all three with the crime.

Detective Constable Kerry Plumb who assisted on the case said: “DC Michael Taylor worked extremely hard on this case prior to his retirement from Surrey Police.

“Annan and Phillips completely gave themselves away in the way they behaved with the attending officers and it quickly became evident that the ‘robbery’ had been staged. Lewis involvement in this was also shortly identified.

“The sentences reflect the fact that the suspects’ deception was premeditated by them as a group, and that two of them were willing to steal from their employer and thought they could get away with it.”