Manhunt after pub cash is missing
POLICE are trying to find a man who is wanted in connection with thefts from bars, including one in Stockport.
John Paul Harrison, 26, worked as a relief chef at the Spring Garden pub, on Compstall Road, Compstall, on Good Friday this year.
He was due to work throughout the Easter weekend but was not seen again after the Friday night.
Around the same time the landlady of the pub Samantha Wood, 32, noticed around £1,500 including staff wages was missing from the safe.
She said: “It is devastating, when you are a small independent business £1,500 is a lot of money. It’s my mortgage for a month.
“I have been doing this a long time and this had never happened to me before.”
There are two other thefts from businesses that police want to speak to Harrison, originally from Merseyside, in connection with.
They are at the Teacup Kitchen and Barca Bar, both in Manchester city centre.
Across the three incidents a total of £14,000 was stolen.
Whoever committed the thefts is described by police as a ‘serious risk to the business community in Manchester.’
PC Callum Taylor, who is investigating the thefts, said: “Throughout the streets of Manchester, on bins, bollards and street art, we see the worker Bee symbol – a reminder to us all of the hard-working people who contributed to making Manchester great.
“These crimes are crimes against Greater Manchester’s business community, a community of modern-day people that keep the Manchester way and work tirelessly to make Greater Manchester the fantastic, diverse area that it is to live and visit.”
Harrison has links to the Liverpool and Manchester areas.
Anyone with information about Harrison’s whereabouts is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.