Aymen Essa from Cardiff was fined £100 by Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court, and he was ordered to pay £846 prosecution costs and a £40 victim surcharge.

The prosecution was brought by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) who was informed by South Wales Police that Mr Essa was working illegally without an SIA licence at a Rhondda construction site within an industrial estate on 9 January 2023.

South Wales Police officers responded to an alarm at the site on 8 January 2023 and when they arrived at the site, they noted Aymen Essa working as a security guard who was wearing a high-visibility jacket. Police officers sought from Mr Essa his SIA licence which he didn’t have. Police officers found that he was deployed by a Cardiff-based security company that held the security contract for the industrial estate.

The case was referred to the SIA’s Criminal Investigations team who invited Essa for an interview under caution at Cardiff Bay Police Station on 23 May 2023. Essa joined the interview but failed to answer any of the investigator’s questions and he said: “take me to court”. The SIA is also pursuing a prosecution against the company responsible for deploying Mr Essa.

Mark Chapman, one of the SIA’s criminal investigations managers, said:

Aymen Essa was found working illegally at a construction site in Rhondda. His previous history meant that he is not a fit and proper person to hold an SIA licence, and this latest activity will add to his criminal record. Employers are reminded of their responsibility to carry out thorough due diligence checks on the people they engage to ensure that they are licensed and therefore suitable to do the responsible job of protecting the public and premises. A failure to do so will inevitably lead to further action being taken by the regulator.