Convicted Cambridge security boss and operative to pay over £5,000

Posted to News on Monday, May 11, 2026 Share:

CAMBRIDGE-BASED security company director Paul Thomson has pleaded guilty to knowingly deploying Daniel Almond-Farrant, who was also prosecuted, as an unlicensed key holder.

On 28 April at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court, Thomson pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 5 (via Section 23) of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. The company Cambridge Security Services Ltd, of which Thomson was the sole director, pleaded guilty to another offence under Section 5.

For his offence, Thomson was ordered to pay a fine of £2,000, a victim surcharge of £800 and prosecution costs of £700 (totalling £3,500). Cambridge Security Services Ltd was ordered to pay £600 in prosecution costs.

At the same time, Daniel Almond-Farrant pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 3 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 for providing lock and unlock services without a valid Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. Almond-Farrant was ordered to pay a fine of £600, a victim surcharge of £240 and prosecution costs of £700 (totalling £1,540).

The charges were brought forward after enquires by the SIA revealed that Cambridge Security Services Ltd had a contract for key holding services at a premises in Cambridge, which included a lock and unlock service and alarm response responsibilities. Almond-Farrant had carried out these activities despite not holding the necessary SIA licence for doing so.

Both Almond-Farrant and Thomson later admitted in interviews with the SIA that they knew this deployment was illegal, but continued with it regardless.

Jenny Hart, criminal enforcement manager at the SIA, stated: “Through their company, these two men knowingly decided to break the law for their own gain. This put the premises they were contracted to protect – and, as a result, those working within – at risk.”

Hart added: “That, collectively, they have been ordered to pay over £5,600 as a result of their offending makes clear to all that crime in the private security industry does not pay. The Security Industry Authority will make sure of that.”

*Further information is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/security-industry-authority