Pressure is mounting on Croydon police to answer key questions about its officers' conduct amid allegations they unlawfully shut down a town-centre nightclub that also claims it was warned not to admit black customers.
The Metropolitan Police could face legal action from Dice Bar in High Street after a Croydon Council licensing committee dismissed the force's bid to restrict the venue's opening hours despite heavy pressure.
In an embarrassing defeat for Croydon licensing officers, councillors on Friday voted to take no action against the venue after reading more than 400 pages of police documents in support of an application to review the nightclub's licence.
Following the meeting, the Met faced allegations it had misled councillors and the press by claiming it had not ordered the venue to stop playing bashment music - a Jamaican genre, also known as dancehall, that Dice Bar owner Roy Seda said police had told him was "unacceptable".
The ban prompted allegations of racial profiling by police.
Roy and Farrah Seda with their Dice Bar team after last weeks licensing hearing
James Rankin, the barrister representing the Met, told the committee on Friday: "The initiative came from Mr Seda himself. It had absolutely nothing to do with police.”
But a recording of a meeting earlier this year between Mr Seda, his wife Farrah, who co-owns the nightclub, and licensing officers appears to prove the venue was pressured to stop playing bashment.
RELATED: Dice Bar owner: Police 'do not want black people going out' in Croydon
In the clip, Sergeant Michael Emery, head of the borough's licensing team, says: "You were told about this before Christmas. Why has it taken until now to decide now that you want to change the music?"
During a separate meeting, Sgt Emery is also alleged to have pushed Mr Seda not to admit black customers to his club.
In documents submitted to the committee, the nightclub owner claimed licensing officers "do not want want black people" going out in Croydon.
He cited a meeting with on January 2 last year when Sgt Emery is said to have discouraged him from accepting customers from neighbouring bar Yates's, which has since shut down.
Mr Seda said: "After exhausting all questions, and going around in circles, the penny dropped. Yate’s had a majority of black customers.
“I asked the two officers directly: “Are you saying that I shouldn’t let black people into my venue?”
“I looked over to Sgt Emery, who raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes as he looked at me, he then nodded several times."
He added: "It is clear for me to see, the licensing police do not want black people coming to Croydon’s night time economy as they have discouraged me from having black customers, and have been discouraging Jamaican music."
Sgt Emery strongly denied the allegation, which has also been disputed by Croydon's top cop.
Sgt Emery told the meeting: "In response to the statement from Mr Seda, I categorically deny that, it is completely untrue and I would never make such a claim.
"To suggest that, to me, is personally insulting."
Srg Michael Emery, centre, denied he told the owners of Dice Bar not to admit black customers
In a statement issued following the meeting, Chief Supt Andy Tarrant, borough commander, said: "A number of allegations have been made by the PLH [premises licence holder] about the conduct of our officers.
"We dispute those allegations. If the licence holder wants to make a formal complaint it will be fully investigated, and any evidence he has looked at."
He also defended the licensing team's decision to apply for a review of Dice Bar's licence after Mr Seda said the force had "thrown the kitchen sink" at him.
The application's supporting documents were more than 16 times longer than those submitted in March to a committee reviewing the licence of a Club 791, a Thornton Heath nightclub with a lengthy history of violence and security problems including a serious stabbing last year.
The Dice Bar application cited more than 50 concerns police have had with the venue between January 1, 2015 and February 21 this year, ranging from fights outside the club and underage drinking to clubbers wearing trainers and stuffed animal heads blocking CCTV cameras.
But Dice Bar's barrister, Sarah Clover, said the force's claims were "evidentially worthless" and described the police document as as a "voluminous waste of paper”.
She added: "This is not a gentle or a balanced review, this is really going for gold.
"The police review application is very clearly saying they are 'systematically failing' and there is 'catastrophic management' but that is not what the evidence shows at all."
Among the incidents cited by the police documents is a fight in Surrey Street in June last year that led to the 24-hour closure of Dice Bar.
RELATED: Dice Bar owners planning legal action over "completely unlawful" closure by police
Papers signed by Sgt Emery said CCTV showed one of the men, believed to have been a customer at Dice Bar, hiding "what we believe may be a knife” in his jumper.
Over the following week Sgt Emery held several meetings with Dice Bar’s owners Roy and Farrah Seda about the footage and on June 27 Chief Inspector Peter McGarry issued the bar with a closure order.
But later in the documents Detective Constable Saqib Ali, the officer investigating the fight, sates: “You cannot see what he is concealing on his person”.
Barrister Sarah Clover, representing the Dice Bar, said questions the evidence was "just one example of the discrepancies between the police allegations and what can actually be seen in the empirical evidence".
She also said the temporary closure of the club had been "completely unlawful" because it was not approved by magistrates.
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