Police arrest Ellesmere Port armed robbery suspect after 14-month hunt

Feb 1 2012 by Laurie Stocks-Moore, Ellesmere Port Pioneer

A MAN police have hunted for 14 months in connection with a £20,000 armed robbery at an Ellesmere Port petrol station has been arrested and charged.

On Bonfire Night 2010, three men held up the Shell petrol station on Station Road with a sawn-off shot gun and a handgun.

In November last year, two men were jailed for the crime but another suspect remained at large.

Ian Styles, of Whitehaven Road, Anfield, Liverpool was taken into custody for an unrelated matter in Anfield, Liverpool, by Merseyside Police on Thursday.

Cheshire Constabulary were informed he had been found and he was arrested and questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery.

On Saturday, Styles, 47, appeared before Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston Magistrates Court charged with two counts of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and robbery.

On November 5, 2010, a gang of men robbed two security guards of nearly £20,000 at the petrol station.

Two Merseyside men were arrested last June when police executed search warrants in connection with the crime but Styles remained at large.

The two convicted are now serving a total of 12 years behind bars.

At Chester Crown Court in November, Paul Ware, 46, of Tarbock Green, Prescot, and David McEvoy, 55, from Halewood, Liverpool, were each sentenced to six years behind bars after pleading guilty to the robbery at the petrol station.

The offenders brandished a sawn-off shotgun and a handgun just before 4pm, threatening security guards who were making a cash delivery before fleeing the scene, stealing nearly £20,000 in cash.

Both men were arrested by detectives in a series of dawn raids in June after police trawled through evidence that linked the robbers to the crime scene.

Witnesses or anyone with information should call Cheshire Constabulary on 101.