On Thursday 15 December 2022, Abdul-Semiu Adeniyi Badmos from Manchester was ordered by Manchester Crown Court to do 150 hours unpaid work within a 12-month period, plus five rehabilitation activity requirement days and to pay a victim surcharge. The sentencing follows his guilty plea on 8 December to using a forged document in a fraudulent attempt to gain an SIA licence.
On 6 July 2019 Badmos applied to the SIA for a door supervisor's licence. He submitted a counterfeit passport with his application as proof of his identity.
SIA staff were suspicious of the passport and sent it to the National Document Fraud Unit for further analysis. The SIA's suspicions were proved correct as it was indeed confirmed that the passport was a fake.
The SIA opened a criminal investigation and invited Badmos to an interview under caution on 03 October 2019. However, he failed to engage with them and the security regulator's legal services, therefore they brought a prosecution against Badmos.
His Honour Judge Potter said:
Mr Badmos had arrived in the UK some years ago with a valid visa but had then overstayed. He had no convictions prior to entering the pleas to the two counts on this indictment. The defendant had made the very foolish decision to obtain a false passport in order to apply for a job. The offences were serious despite the fact that Badmos had quickly realised that the passport was in fact false. Given that the false passport had not been used for the purposes of travel (which would have attracted immediate imprisonment), he has been handed a community sentence. Badmos tried to obtain employment in the private security by using false documents.
Mark Chapman, one of the SIA's criminal investigations managers, said:
This is a cautionary tale of a person who sought to gain an SIA licence using a counterfeit passport. All applications for licences are scrutinised and any suspicions will be subject to rigorous examination. As in this case the robust processes and thorough investigation by the SIA prevented an unlicensed person from working in the UK's private security industry. We will consider prosecuting anyone who tries to defraud the system. The licensing regime is there to protect the public and Mr Badmos' dishonesty has now landed him with a community sentence and a criminal record.
Notes:
- Identity Documents Act (2010) Section 4 - Possession of identity documents for an improper purpose
- The offence relating to the Fraud Act (2006) is: Section 7 - Fraud by production of a false document
- By law, security operatives working under contract must hold and display a valid SIA licence
- Read about SIA enforcement and penalties
