Taunton company director sentenced for providing unlicensed security
A Somerset man has been handed a suspended jail sentence after he provided unlicensed security to a party attended by 400 under 18-year-olds.
Dean Parkinson of Taunton, director of Palladis Security Services Ltd, was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on 17 March 2021.
On 2 October 2020 Parkinson pleaded guilty to operating a security company without a licence, working without a licence, and deploying unlicensed door supervisors.
Parkinson was also required to pay a £1,200 contribution to court costs plus £122 as a victim surcharge. Palladis Security Services Ltd was given a conditional discharge for 2 years and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £21.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) prosecuted Parkinson after he provided illegal security services at a Christmas and birthday party for 400 under 18-year-olds on 20 December 2019 in Somerton, Somerset. The party caused a disturbance and Avon and Somerset Police attended the scene. The police spoke to the party organiser, who confirmed that they had appointed Dean Parkinson and Palladis Security to supply security.
When the police questioned Parkinson, he failed to show a valid licence for himself or the four other security workers deployed to the event. When SIA investigators took over the case, Parkinson repeatedly refused to supply them with the detail they needed.
At sentencing, magistrates ruled that Parkinson’s behaviour was deliberate and dishonest, and that he had put vulnerable young people at risk by using unlicensed and untrained security. In passing sentence, the magistrates made clear that they would have sent Parkinson to prison because of the serious nature of his offending, were it not for the fact that he is carer for his 6 children.
Nathan Salmon, the SIA’s criminal investigation manager said:
The licensing regime is there to protect the public. Parkinson and his business claimed, falsely, to be a legitimate security provider. He sought to avoid prosecution by ignoring the SIA.
This unlicensed company director deployed unlicensed, and presumably untrained and un-vetted, people to an event where there were a lot of young people present. This could have compromised the safety of those present and led to police being called, placing a drain on local resources.
Further information:
- The Security Industry Authority is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the United Kingdom, reporting to the Home Secretary under the terms of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Our main duties are: the compulsory licensing of individuals undertaking designated activities; and managing the voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme.
- For further information about the Security Industry Authority visit www.gov.uk/sia. The SIA is also on Facebook (Security Industry Authority) and Twitter (SIAuk).
- Media enquiries only please contact: 0300 123 9869, media.enquiries@sia.gov.uk