Possession of forged Security Industry Authority licences leads to conviction

Metropolitan Police Service officers stopped Ibikunle while he was driving a vehicle, at which point they found the two licences (which were later confirmed as being forged). The Metropolitan Police Service then referred this case directly to the SIA.

The SIA invited Ibikunle to attend an interview in respect of the forged licences, but he declined to do so. This decision resulted in a court summons.

In response to his guilty plea, Ibikunle was ordered to pay a fine of £1,000 for each offence, as well as a victim surcharge of £400 and prosecution costs of £200.

Tara Moutray, criminal investigations manager at the SIA, stated: “Charles Ibikunle put the public at risk by forging SIA licences. Being in charge of other people’s security is a significant responsibility and requires dedicated training. I’m happy to see that the court imposed a sizeable financial penalty as a result of these offences. We’re grateful to our partners in the Metropolitan Police Service for their support, not just in this case, but in terms of the SIA’s ongoing work in its entirety.”

Get Licensed consultation

The SIA’s public consultation on proposed changes to the licensing criteria received over 3,300 responses.

The consultation was centred around a number of proposed changes to further strengthen the criteria that determine what makes a given individual eligible to hold an SIA licence.

This included changes to the criteria on criminality and providing greater transparency on the wider ‘fit and proper’ test that all applicants and licence holders must meet.

When implemented, the changes would also update the list of relevant offences the SIA takes into consideration in licensing decisions.

Tim Archer, the SIA’s director of licensing and standards, said: “We were very happy to see such a strong level of response to our consultation. The proposed changes are designed and intended to further enhance public protection. While we now need to undertake a detailed analysis of the responses, it looks like our proposals have been strongly supported by those working in the industry.”

Based on the feedback received from the consultation, the SIA will finalise its recommendations and then seek ministerial approval in the autumn. If the proposed changes are agreed by ministers, the SIA will update Get Licensed and the new rules will then come into effect.