It followed their guilty pleas for working without a licence at a popular Eastbourne family restaurant; this is a breach of the Private Security Industry Act (PSIA) 2001. The prosecutions were brought by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
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 sentence on 08 January 2021.
Reyano Leon, from Bromley was fined £500. He was handed a Proceeds of Crime confiscation order of £5,670.49 and was required to pay £500.77 by 22 January 2021.
Nathan Salmon, the SIA's criminal investigations manager, said:
Chung and Leon were unlicensed. They knew they were unlicensed, and they paid a heavy penalty for their criminality. They have also incurred criminal records. These men were working illegally and betrayed the trust of the venue whose customers comprise families and young people.
Chung and Leon appeared at Hastings Magistrates' Court last July. Chung pleaded guilty to working as an unlicensed security operative on 106 occasions at the Eastbourne venue. He worked illegally right up to the moment on 08 January 2020 when the SIA's Criminal Investigation Team sent him a letter inviting him to Eastbourne Police Station for a formal interview.
Reyano Leon also pleaded guilty at Hastings Magistrates' Court in July to working as an unlicensed security operative 91 times at the same venue. Leon worked between 31 May 2019 and 29 September 2019 despite his SIA licence expiring on 23 March 2019.
Sussex Police passed the case onto 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.
Notes:
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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.
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The offence relating to the Private Security Industry Act (2001) that is mentioned in the above news release is: Section 3 - working without a licence.
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The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) sets out the legislative scheme for the recovery of criminal assets with criminal confiscation being the most commonly used power. Confiscation occurs after a conviction has taken place.
