Airport cleaners caught stealing booze and cigarettes from planes when secret cameras installed

Wales Online

11-07-2025

Airport cleaners caught stealing booze and cigarettes from planes when secret cameras installed
Sub contracted employees were caught by secret cameras installed after suspicions were raised
Aircraft cleaners who stole alcohol, cigarettes and Pringles were caught red handed when covert cameras were installed. Suspicions were raised when Irish airline Aer Lingus noticed that two of its aircraft based at Manchester Airport had 'significant stock loss'. Secret cameras were installed on the planes, which caught 10 staff from a company subcontracted to clean the aircraft taking items, Manchester Crown Cout heard. The thieves broke open seals open to get the items.
Connor Brooks, 28; Jonathan Etchells, 39; Dylan Nelson, 20; Richard Armer, 28; Usman Ghani, 25; Katie Moran, 36; Ciaran Lynch, 31; Mark Hicks, 37; Roman Mahmood, 21; and Shawn Bailey, 52, all admitted theft.
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Prosecutor, Philip Hall said they all worked for a company subcontracted to clean two Aer Lingus planes which were based at Manchester Airport and flew between Manchester and New York, Manchester Eveneing News reports.
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Secret cameras were placed in the aircraft after the airline noticed 'significant stock loss' in May and June 2023, with cigarettes, alcohol and perfumes missing.
The cameras operated over a few days in July and August 2023. Footage showed cleaning staff breaking into storage containers and trolleys, cutting seals and opening security tags.
Brooks and Bailey were caught on camera on Saturday July 29 checking the weight of containers to investigate which ones contained items. Brooks said: "Nah, s*** again man" and Etchells said: "It's not worth doing."
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Brooks later said: "It's been a bad day for the last five." The prosecution claimed that showed it wasn't the first day they had stolen from the aircraft.
Brooks told Ghani 'get your clippers' for a container that was 'full of Pringles'.
On July 30, Moran joked to Brooks, Etchells and Hicks as they searched containers: 'you're under arrest'.
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The footage showed alcohol and cigarettes being taken. Brooks could be seen putting miniature bottles of alcohol into a pillow case.
The thieves were also heard talking about stealing perfumes, to which Moran and Etchells both said they had 'loads at home'. Brooks replied: "I want more, or is that too greedy?"
Brooks also talked about not getting 'too greedy'. As Brooks crammed boxes of perfumes into a pillow case, Nelson told him: "Nice little day today Connor."
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He replied 'I've hit it for the last five', before adding 'well it's my third day today'.
On August 1, Armer and another person were shown using a 'red axe' to break the security seal for a container containing three small tubes of Pringles.
"He appears to have gone to a lot of effort to steal some crisps," Mr Hall told the court.
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Moments later, Armer could be heard laughing as he opened the door to a container before someone else took more Pringles.
"Thieving ba*****s," he said, referring to colleagues."
In the period in which the cameras were installed, €1,290.10 worth of products were stolen from the two airplanes.
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The 10 defendants were charged with theft between July 29 and August 4, 2023, the period which the €1,290.10 figure relates to. But the thefts are believed to have happened over a longer period, and the loss to Aer Lingus was said to be about €200,000, the court was told .
All 10 were sentenced to 12 month community orders, and ordered to carry out unpaid work. Judge Nicholas Dean KC, the Honorary Recorder of Manchester, said the defendants who had been involved in selling stolen goods would be given higher amounts of unpaid work.
Etchells, Lynch and Armer were ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work, while the other seven were told to complete 80 hours.
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The judge said most of the defendants had previously faced a conspiracy charge, and that at first it had seemed to involve 'organised crime'. But the charge was not proceeded with, and Judge Dean instead described the stealing as 'a form of casual theft' which became 'systematic'.
"It is clear from an overview of the evidence in this case, that really what was happening is that nearly everybody seemed to be at it, and when individuals saw that others were involved in theft, they became involved too. This is serious offending because of the level of trust invested in you,"he said.
Brooks, of Thornsgreen Road, Wythenshawe; Etchells, of Staithes Road, Wythenshawe; Nelson, of Bideford Drive, Wythenshawe; Mahmood, of Broom Lane, Levenshulme; Armer, of Chesham Avenue, Wythenshawe, Ghani, of Langthorne Street, Burnage; Moran, of Plowden Road, Wythenshawe; Lynch, of Austell Road, Wythenshawe; Bailey, of Fountains Road, Stretford; and Hicks, of Staithes Road, Wythenshawe; all pleaded guilty to theft from their employer.