Derbyshire company director fined for security licence infringement

October 26, 2021

On Monday 18 October, Mark Longden from the High Peaks area pleaded guilty to a criminal offence at Derby Magistrates’ Court for failing to provide information to the Security Industry Authority (SIA) when requested. The court fined Longden £200. He must also pay £500 court costs and a victim surcharge of £34.60. The SIA brought the prosecution, which took place after Longden failed to appear in court in May when a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Longden, whose SIA licence is currently suspended, is a director of Nighthawk SEC@Solu Ltd. SIA investigators approached him in December 2020 seeking information about a fellow director of the company. He failed to engage with the SIA for several reasons, one being that he’d moved and had failed to advise the SIA of his new address. Informing the SIA of a change of address is a condition of holding an SIA licence.

When the SIA’s investigators located Mr Longden at another address and served a further, formal request for information, he again failed to engage with them. This left the SIA no other option but to prosecute him.

Jen Hart, one of the SIA’s Criminal Investigations Managers said:

Mr Longden has now got a criminal record for committing a criminal act for failing to supply information when we formally asked for it and likewise for breaching his licence conditions.