Seydina Samb pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order of 80 hours unpaid work and 10 days rehabilitation activity requirement with the Probation Service. He was also ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £95.

On 21 October 2021 regional investigators from the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and officers from West Midlands Police were doing a routine inspection of clubs and pubs in Birmingham’s city centre. The inspection included a bar in Victoria Street and the SIA inspectors checked the licences of two men who were working on the door; both men were wearing black security uniforms.

One man was not displaying a licence and could not produce one when asked. A licence was produced by the head doorman in the name of Seydina Samb but it actually belonged to another, legitimate licence holder. The man, Seydina Samb promptly left the venue. SIA investigators inspected the bar’s signing-in book, and it revealed that Samb had worked there previously eight times in October 2021.

The other door supervisor was working legally with a legitimate door supervisor’s licence.

The SIA began a criminal investigation and SIA investigators tried repeatedly to engage with Seydina Samb. He failed to engage until he pleaded not guilty to the charges at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 31 October 2022.

On sentencing District Judge Bristow said:

Samb gave a thoroughly dishonest representation to the company in using the fraudulent licence.

The judge added that:

Those who work on the doors are in a highly trusted position, dealing with people involved with disorder and criminality.

He expressed the concern of the court that:

Samb presented a licence card with his photo and name on it but used someone else’s SIA licence details.

He added that:

Those who put themselves in trusted positions, both as an employee and a door supervisor, should not do so by dishonest means.

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

The purpose of the SIA’s licensing regime is to protect the public. Seydina Samb has pleaded guilty to working with a fake licence in Birmingham’s city centre. The venue and its patrons deserve better by having security