Night club security manager prosecuted over illegal door supervisor

The prosecution was brought by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) following an inspection and enforcement operation conducted in partnership with the West Mercia Police on 22 October 2021.

During that operation, the SIA’s representatives carried out checks of venues across Shrewsbury, Telford and Wolverhampton.

At one point, SIA investigators inspected Shrewsbury’s Buttermarket night club and found a man named Stephen Dion working at the premises without an SIA licence. During the investigation, they discovered that Dion had worked without a licence on 14 occasions over a three-month period.

The investigation identified that Kenneth Bailey was serving as Dion’s manager. Wolverhampton-based Dion was prosecuted in June last year. He entered an immediate guilty plea at Dudley Magistrates’ Court for working without a licence and was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge, fined £135 in court costs and ordered to pay a £22 victim surcharge.

Interviewed under caution

SIA investigators interviewed Bailey under caution in February 2022. During the interview, he admitted that he assumed Stephen Dion was an SIA licence holder, but failed to check this on the SIA’s register of licence holders.

Jenny Hart, criminal investigations managers at the SIA, stated: “The role of the licensing regime is to protect the public. Bailey was an SIA licence holder and, as a manager, had the responsibility of ensuring that door supervisors he deployed were suitably licensed to protect the patrons of The Buttermarket night club.”

Hart continued: “Bailey failed to take the time to ensure that Dion was licensed to do the job he was paid to do and, as a result, put members of the public at risk during the busy summer and autumn periods. Bailey was previously of good character, but because of his actions he now has a criminal record and his SIA licence is suspended.”