No tolerance for venues that don't stop knives as club where man was stabbed loses licence
Police chiefs have said they will not tolerate venues that don't prevent knives from being bought in after a club had its licence revoked.
The comments come after Valesha's nightclub, known locally as the colliseum, on Newport Street, had its licence taken away following the death of 29-year-old Akeem Francis-Kerr last month.
Mr Francis-Kerr was stabbed in the club just after 5am on March 11, and died shortly afterwards.
The premises have since had their licence permanently revoked by Walsall Council following a licence summary review requested by West Midlands Police.
Chief superintendent, Phil Dolby, Commander at Walsall Local Policing Area, said: "We cannot tolerate premises where appropriate measures are either not in place or not managed correctly and a knife can be brought in with the risk of or, as in this case resulting in someone being killed.
"The safety of the public cannot be compromised and we strive to ensure the venues across our town are properly and diligently managed."
The venue had its licence permanently revoked by Walsall Council's sub-committee on Tuesday following a history of licence breaches, incidents of assault, disorder and robbery.
The chief superintendent continued: "We know there have also been concerns around recent knife crime in the town and we've been working hard, alongside partner agencies across Walsall to reduce the risk of violence."
At Tuesday's hearing, Gary Grant, a barrister acting on behalf of West Midlands Police said the venue had been agreed under a voluntary undertaking that no one would be allowed in after 4.30am following its reopened in December 2022, but this was 'regularly breached'.
He added that it had been a 'highly problematic premises' both before its closure during the pandemic and after December last year.
The committee was told by him that there had been a long track record of the venue "being a magnet for people prone to criminality, including most worrying of all gang nominals".
And Mr Grant said there were "too many incidents of anti-social behaviour, drunkenness, violence and disorder, both under the old and new regime".
He also said that Valesha Andersen, who jointly runs Vision Leisure that the premises is leased to, had been forced to change the company providing security staff after it was believed two members of the door team were dealing drugs in the men's toilets.
Mr Grant said on the night Mr Francis-Kerr was fatally stabbed, the venue had breached a condition relating to the search of revellers to ensure weapons were not brought into the nightclub.
Edward Wilson, 39, from Oldbury, has been charged with Akeem's murder and appeared at Birmingham Crown Court last month and remanded into custody.
The licensing committee sat for nearly seven hours before breaking for deliberations of two and a half hours.
