THE owners of a nightclub described as the most violent in Sussex said the police did not give her a chance before closing it down.

Yvonne Newton-Turner and her husband Julian were on holiday in Italy when The Trek Nightclub was closed down and they came home to find their living and their pride and joy was lost.

The 65-year-old said she had told police they were going away when they handed officers CCTV footage of an attack outside where a doorman suffered life changing facial injuries.

"The way the police have done this is very disappointing and the councillors have believed them that this is the Ok corral," she said.

The police listed 13 incidents in their appeal to close the venue in Blatchington Road, Seaford with one officer describing it as “like a scene from the wild west” after the most serious attack.

Police said two members of door staff were assaulted, one left with a fractured eye socket and bleeding on his retina, after two men were thrown out the club and there was also a fight involving what witnesses described as 50 people in the street.

In the most recent incident a clubber was knocked unconscious in Broad Street – two minutes away - and police said it involved people who had been at the Trek.

The club has been directly linked to four incidents of grievous bodily harm, three of actual bodily harm and fiver further assaults.

Violent attacks included women headbutted on the dancefloor, people knocked unconscious and left with broken bones and teeth.

The owner said she has 27 CCTV camera and if she had been given the exact dates and times of the incidents and a chance to speak at the meeting she could have defended herself.

The suspension is in place ahead of another meeting next month but she said their finances will be so badly hit they will not have a chance to recover.

Sussex Police’s head of licensing Jean Irving described the club as the most violent premises she had seen in her eight years in the role.

She said she had to act quickly once evidence had been gathered to prevent more violence as soon as possible.

Ms Irving said: “I have been stunned by the level of violence.

“This is without a doubt one of the most violent premises I have had to deal with.

“And there has been premeditated violence.

““Residents have heard people walking to the club saying ‘I hope we have a ruck as good as last.

Residents have been left terrified. One who called 999 on hearing the disturbance on September 11 told police they feared “one day someone will be killed”.

Ms Irving said she had met with residents who said they had been “forced to sleep in their bathrooms at the back of their houses to avoid the noise of fighting, shouting and swearing keeping them awake. They told us of customers of the Trek defecating on their door steps and them living in fear for their own safety.

She added: “This is completely unacceptable."

*A man has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm against the bouncer on September 11 and bailed until November.

NIGHTCLUB OWNERS FEAR FOR FUTURE AFTER SHUTDOWN

IN SLEEPY Seaford, officers did not expect to walk into a scene like the Wild West.

Police said after two men were kicked out of The Trek Nightclub for fighting, 50 people left the club and, in small groups, began fighting among themselves in the road outside.

A bouncer was hit so badly in the face he suffered a fractured eye socket and bleeding on his retina.

But when you arrive at the Trek to meet the owners on a sunny morning in the peaceful town, they are not the couple you might expect to find running the club.

“This is my life,” Yvonne Newton-Turner said.

She has run the venue for 31 years and lives upstairs.

Mrs Newton-Turner was a long-running chairwoman of the town’s pubwatch scheme, is degree educated like her husband and has a long history of running clubs.

She first became a licence holder when she opened the Zodiac nightclub in Brighton’s West Street 47 years ago.

She is a director of the Federation of Small Businesses, having been regional chairwoman.

The pair are heavily involved with the Seaford Martello Rotary Club.

Her husband Julian has twice been president and provides the mobile bar for its major fundraising events like Motorfest.

He is also a former director of Seaford Rugby Football Club, having lived in the town for 35 years.

They remember going to pubwatch meetings at the fondly remembered seafront Beachcomber pub, which has been replaced by flats.

Mrs Newton-Turner said: “I understand councillors on the panel closing us down if the police are saying we are running the OK Corral and all this but they did not give me the opportunity to defend myself and I could easily done that with CCTV.

“They knew I was out of the country.

“I was completely shocked because I was due to have a meeting with the police this Tuesday to discuss 39 incidents in nine months.

“We wanted to come to some sort of arrangement.

“We want to work out exactly what is going on in the town because there does seem to be a rise in aggression.”

Mrs Newton-Turner said she understands there are always incidents when there are groups of people drinking but said reports have been embellished.

Neighbours have told The Argus they have become shocked at the level of violence and have to stay away or sleep in rooms at the back of their houses at weekends to avoid the noise.

Some residents go out in high-vis jackets to stop people from defecating, having sex or urinating and taking drugs near their front doors.

The residents said people throw glass they have bought on the way towards the club, which sells only plastic bottles and uses plastic cups.

But Mrs Newton-Turner said: “They move in next to a nightclub and then having got a cheap deal they make out there is noise.

“But I’m not saying there haven’t been incidents outside.

“This woman who says people defecate – I’ve got CCTV so if it’s happening when people leave we can check and my door staff are there to keep people calm and get them away as quietly as possible.”

Sussex Police have successfully applied to Lewes District Council to suspend the venue’s licence ahead of a full review hearing next month.

The couple are now not sure their finances will last long enough to stay in business.

Mrs Newton-Turner said: “This is what I’ve done all my life.

“It is my life. It’s what I do.

“ I don’t do it for the money. I do it because when I was younger I used to love going out dancing and I love the atmosphere.

“I’m not a pub person, if we go out we might go out for a meal.

“I’ve been here for 31 years and the club has been here for 43 years.

“And for 25 of those years I was chairman of pubwatch and worked very closely with the police.

“In all that time I never seemed to have as many problems.

“They claim there has been an increase since October last year although our records do not show that.”

Mrs Newton-Turner said on one occasion when there was trouble in the street a car turned up and men got out with a baseball bat and a screwdriver.

She said this was indicative of troublemakers turning up in Seaford unrelated to the club.

Julian, 60, a full-time manufacturing manager, said: “We were in Verona and at Lake Garda and we did not know about any of this.”

The couple now fear for their own livelihood and that of their staff.

Mrs Newton-Turner added: “We are reasonable people who have done a reasonable job.”

“The town will be dead.

“It’s going to have a huge impact on the people who work in the club and all the taxi drivers.

“We are the only nightclub between Brighton and Eastbourne but we’ve not got the faintest idea of what we are going to do.

“We don’t know whether our money will run out.”

A STRING OF MINDLESS AND BRUTISH INCIDENTS

October 4, 2015 Drunk woman kicked a police officer and spat at passers by after being detained by door staff.

December 13 Drunk woman slapped door staff in the face during an argument about her coat.

December 19 Drunk man who had been in Trek kicked another man in the face, breaking his jaw.

December 25 Drunk man assaulted another clubber.

February 7, 2016 Woman hit in the face, had her hair pulled and was sat on by another woman in club.

March 20 Drunk woman assaulted, then passed out in the smoking area of the club. She was left with a black eye.

April 3 Door staff found man with a cut lip on the ground in the smoking area. Although his injury was consistent with having been punched he insisted he had fallen over.

April 9 Woman headbutted in face by another woman on dance floor, causing serious nosebleed and swelling.

May 1 “Extremely” drunk man punched in face and fell to ground causing head injury near the club.

May 28 Door staff intervened when man headbutted on dance floor. A fight broke out and two members of door staff were assaulted.

July 24 Police called to 40 people fighting. Some said to have weapons including baseball bats. One man suffered a fractured cheekbone, broken nose and two chipped teeth.

September 11 Two door staff assaulted, one was punched in face and suffered facial injuries, the second still fears he may have been blinded by the attack.

September 18 Man punched to face and knocked unconscious in Broad Street. Suspect arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm.