The court sentenced Kenneth Bailey to a £120 fine, and ordered him to pay £500 prosecution costs and a £34 victim surcharge. The prosecution was brought by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) following an inspection and enforcement operation in partnership with West Mercia Police on 22 October 2021. During the operation the SIA carried out checks of venues across Shrewsbury, Telford and Wolverhampton.
SIA investigators inspected Shrewsbury's Buttermarket night club and found a man named Stephen Dion working without an SIA licence. During the investigation they discovered that he had worked without a licence on 14 occasions over a three-month period. The investigation identified that Kenneth Bailey was his manager and an SIA licence holder, and he performed the role of head doorman at the Buttermarket.
Dion was prosecuted in 2022 and the details of the prosecution are available here.
SIA investigators interviewed Kenneth 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, one of our criminal investigations managers, said:
The role of the licensing regime is to protect the public. Mr 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. He failed to take the time to ensure that Dion was licensed to do the job he was paid to do and by doing so put the public at risk during the busy summer and autumn periods. Mr Bailey was previously of good character but because of his actions he now a criminal record and his licence is suspended.
Notes:
- By law, security operatives working under contract must hold and display a valid SIA licence
- Read about SIA enforcement and penalties
- The offence relating to the Private Security Industry Act 2001 that is mentioned above is:
- Section 5 - employing unlicensed persons in licensable conduct
