Security operative prosecuted for working with cloned SIA licences

November 2, 2023

On Tuesday 17 October, Victor Obi pleaded guilty at Bexley Magistrates’ Court for three offences contrary to the Fraud Act 2006.

The court ordered Mr Victor Obi to pay £1,538 in fines, £1,300 contribution towards prosecution costs and £3,000 in compensation making it a total of £5,838.

Mr Obi’s sentence followed his guilty pleas to the court for using two fraudulent Security Industry Authority (SIA) licences as a door supervisor at venues in the greater London area on 74 occasions between June 2021 and October 2021.

The SIA brought the case as a result of ongoing investigations in the use of fraudulent SIA licences in London. Mr Obi was found to be working with two fraudulent licences with his own photograph but with the names of legitimate SIA licence holders. Mr Obi was interviewed under caution at the SIA’s head office by the SIA’s criminal investigators. He was shown evidential material at the interview and Mr Obi provided no comment replies to questions put to him.

He was charged with two offences contrary to section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 and one offence contrary to section 6 of the Fraud Act 2006.

Mr Obi was sentenced for the Section 6 offence and ordered to pay a total of £5,838 at a rate of £500 per month with the first payment due within 28 days. He will be required to pay £500 per month thereafter until the full amount has been paid off. The amount should be paid off within 12 months.

Nicola Bolton, one of the SIA’s criminal investigation managers, said:

Mr Obi chose to work as an unlicensed security operative across venues in London putting patrons at risk by his actions. The licensing regime is there to protect the public so that only trained and suitable people can be licensed. He decided to use cloned licences which amounts to the possession of articles for use in frauds under section 6 of the Fraud Act 2006. Along with paying the fine, Mr Obi now has a criminal record.

We are continuing to combat the use of cloned SIA licences and remind industry to conduct thorough due diligence checks on licences of those operatives they deploy. The security features embedded in an SIA licence will help aid employers and they should also request secondary identification documents from the licence holder.