Fines handed to Eastbourne security personnel for infringement of Private Security Industry Act

Edward Chi-Mon Chung from Eastbourne was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine and a Proceeds of Crime confiscation order of £10,118.60. He was ordered to pay £1,095 within three months of the date of his sentencing.

Reyano Leon from Bromley was fined £500. He was handed a Proceeds of Crime confiscation order of £5,670.49 and, in parallel, required to pay the sum of £500.77 by a set date.

Nathan Salmon, criminal investigations manager at the SIA, commented: “Chung and Leon were unlicensed. They knew they were unlicensed and they’ve paid a heavy penalty for their criminality. They’ve also now incurred criminal records. These men were operating illegally and betrayed the trust of the venue where they worked whose customer base comprises mainly families and youngsters.”

Chung and Leon appeared at Hastings Magistrates’ Court last July. Chung pleaded guilty to working as an unlicensed security operative at the Eastbourne venue on no fewer than 106 occasions. He worked illegally right up to the moment when the SIA’s criminal investigations team sent him a letter inviting him to Eastbourne Police Station for a formal interview.

Last July at Hastings Magistrates’ Court, Leon also pleaded guilty to working as an unlicensed security operative at the same venue on no less than 91 occasions. Leon worked between 31 May 2019 and 29 September 2019 despite his SIA licence having expiring on 23 March that year.

Sussex Police passed the case to the SIA following an assault on a patron at the restaurant. SIA investigators identified the level of criminality by checking the signing-in book at the venue. Further checks revealed that Chung and Leon had been working at various venues in the Eastbourne area on behalf of their employer without the correct SIA licenses being in place.

As a result, the prosecution process was then set in motion by the SIA.