GovWire

Liverpool Magistrates Court convicted Sean Dunn, Director of SD Security Recruitment Ltd, of breaking licensing conditions and failing to respond to a request for information from the security regulator. His employee Scott Heyes was convicted after engaging in licensable conduct without a licence.

The case stemmed from an incident on 23 December 2023, when Mr Dunn provided staff for an event at a venue in Heswall, Merseyside. Mr Heyes was employed as a steward and had not been trained on physical intervention and how to responsibly ensure the safety of himself and others.

During an altercation at the event, Heyes intervened and ejected those involved. These actions are classified as licensable conduct for which he was not licensed. Merseyside Police informed the SIA, who launched an investigation.

Liverpool Magistrates Court sentenced Scott Heyes on 2 October. He received a 12-month Community Order, 200 hours of unpaid work and 15 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days. He must pay 114 victim surcharge and prosecution costs of 600.

The court sentenced Sean Dunn on 7 November to a Community Order for a period of 6 weeks with an electronically monitored curfew requirement. This requires him to remain indoors between 8pm and 7am. He was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of 114 and prosecution costs of 500. His SIA door supervisor licence has now been revoked.

Mark Chapman, Criminal Investigations Manager at the SIA, said:

Properly licensed door supervisors acting in accordance with their training are equipped to deal with and de-escalate potentially volatile situations and keep the public safe. When unlicensed individuals engage in activities like this, including ejecting people from a venue, they put themselves and others in danger.

We rightly expect everyone in the private security industry, including security company directors, to ensure that all operatives adhere to these rules. As these linked prosecutions demonstrate, the SIA will continue to take robust action to enforce our regulations and to protect the public. This includes prosecuting a failure to provide relevant information when we lawfully request it under our powers.

Notes to editors

By law, security operatives working under contract must hold and display a valid SIA licence. Information about SIA enforcement and penalties can be found on GOV.UK/SIA.

The offences relating to the Private Security Industry Act 2001 that are mentioned above are:

• Scott Heyes: section 3 engaging in licensable conduct without a licence
• Sean Dunn: section 9 contravening licence conditions; section 19 obstructing SIA officials or those with delegated authority, or failing to respond to a request for information

Further information

The SIA is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the UK, reporting to the Home Secretary under the terms of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. The SIAs main duties are the compulsory licensing of individuals undertaking designated activities, and managing the voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS).

For further information about the SIA or to sign up for email updates visit www.gov.uk/sia. We also post articles and updates on WordPress. The SIA is on LinkedIn, Facebook (Security Industry Authority) and Twitter (@SIAuk)..

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