Thieves spared jail over £60k raid guilty plea

Michael Dehal and Stephen Monaghan stole exclusive products from a Poulton beauty firm before stunning police with a confession in what was described in court as a case of ‘honour among thieves’.

The pair broke into Coolblades, on Poulton Industrial Estate, and took hairdryers, hair straighteners, curling tongs, scissors and hair clippers –many of which have never been recovered.

A police source said they had to ‘jump through hoops’ during the investigation – only for the pair to confess at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court earlier this month.

It is understood police originally suspected Monaghan, 50, and a third man – who was never charged – until Dehal, 28, was implicated at a later stage.

Sentencing, the judge at Preston Crown Court let the pair off an immediate jail term after they pleaded guilty to burglary.

Monaghan, of Thornaby Drive, Bradford, received a 16-month sentence suspended for two years. Dehal, of Camarge Fold, also in Bradford, was given a 12-month term suspended for two years.

The break-in took place on the morning of June 10, in 2014. They stole hundreds of items, which detectives fear could have been taken back to the Yorkshire area as the chances of finding them look increasingly slim.

Police originally suspected three people had been involved in the offence, with two people carrying out the raid and loading the stolen goods into a white Transit van being driven by a third person, who acted as the getaway driver.

Nobody else has been charged in relation to the incident.

Monaghan was also put on a curfew after admitting burglary. Dehal was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work on top of his suspended sentence.

Both must pay a £100 surcharge.

Detectives said they had recovered ‘very little’ of the stock that was taken in the burglary – despite circulating images of the ‘distinctive’ items at the time.

Coolblades declined to comment on the case when approached by The Gazette.

A staff member said: “We’ve put it behind us.”