Sex offender’s links with strip club spark fury

The Pussycat Club will continue to operate after submitting paperwork saying its manager will now be Kristopher McGrath, not his father Kenneth who is serving three years behind bars for paying for the sexual services of a child.

But The Argus has revealed McGrath senior will retain close financial links to the venue in Grand Parade, Brighton.

Neighbours said yesterday they would have submitted objections to the licence application had they known the full story.

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said she was “disappointed” with Brighton and Hove City Council’s decision and called on councillors to think again, describing the firm’s paperwork as “nothing but a fig leaf”.

She said: “I’m very disappointed that officers have chosen to grant a license for the continued operation of the Pussycat Club.

“The so-called ‘condition’ of the license - that company director and convicted sex offender Kenneth McGrath has no further input into its management or operation - is little more than a fig leaf, given that he will still have a clear vested interest in the business via the debenture.

“I hope that councillors will challenge this decision, as well as identifying ways to ensure greater regulation of strip clubs to better protect those who work in them.”

Although the club is 200ft from the Royal Pavilion it falls into the constituency of Kemptown Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who is also a city councillor until he steps down later this month.

Mr Russell-Moyle declined to comment on the story.

Rose-Marie Lyons, 61, who lives three doors away from the club, said: “If I’d known that I would have objected. It’s absolutely not right that the council has renewed the licence.

“I just think it’s outrageous and disgusting that someone like that can get a licence renewed on a business he’s involved in.”

Her neighbour Katherine Carson, 36, said: “That’s not good at all, that’s not right.

“If I’d know that that’s what was going on I would have written to object.”

Eleanor Callaghan, 34, owner of Dig For Victory clothes shop in Edward Street, 100ft from the club, said: “It doesn’t sound right at all. If we had received a letter or notification from the council asking what we thought, then if we’d known all that, we would have objected.”

Adrian Willard, co-owner of Tiger Bones Tattoos across the street from the club, said: “I don’t agree that it’s going to get a licence again.”

A tenant of nearby apartment block Royal View in Edward Street who declined to give his name said: “It seems like a pretty shady situation.

“I think elected councillors should look at that decision again.”

COUNCILLORS SILENT OVER DECISION

IF NO objections are submitted to a licence application – or if they are withdrawn as in this case – the application is processed by officers, not elected councillors, and granted as a matter of course.

The council is empowered to license sexual entertainment venues under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.

But Brighton and Hove has its own, stricter, policy on the matter, written to close a potential legal loophole.

The city policy states: “A licence will not normally be granted or renewed... under the following circumstances... that if the licence were to be granted or renewed, the business to which it relates would be managed by, or carried on for the benefit of, a person other than the applicant, who would be refused the grant or renewal of such a licence if he made the application himself.”

Not every licensing councillor looks at each application. That is done by three-person panels. But yesterday The Argus emailed all 15 councillors on the committee, attaching our investigation, and asking if they agreed with the decision or would seek to overturn it.

Only Councillor Lynda Hyde, opposition spokeswoman on licensing, replied, writing: “I was surprised when the police withdrew their objections taking into account the complex nature of the ownership of the Pussycat Club.”

But, she stressed, if objections are withdrawn it is policy to cancel the panel and have officers approve the application.

Cllr Dee Simson said she had not seen the papers.

The following councillors did not respond: Steve Bell (Con), Julie Cattell (Lab), Denise Cobb (Con), Lizzie Deane (Green), Penny Gilbey (Lab), Tracey Hill (Lab), Saoirse Horan (Lab), Nick Lewry (Con), Jackie O’Quinn (Lab), Dick Page (Green), Alex Phillips (Green), Lee Wares (Con).

We rang Councillor Adrian Morris (Lab) who was due to chair the panel on the Pussycat Club before the meeting was cancelled.

He explained: “The police withdrew their objection, therefore the application was granted. The person involved has been removed from the licence.”

Asked if he had read The Argus’s detailed coverage of the matter Cllr Morris replied: “Why should I?”

PAPER TRAIL SHOWS CONVICT’S INVOLVEMENT

TODAY’S angry response comes following a weeks-long Argus investigation into the relicensing of the Pussycat Club.

TIMELINE

2015: Kenneth McGrath says he wants a “girl Friday” to work on his yacht in Majorca, hosting hen parties. When a girl recommended by a friend arrives there are no parties and McGrath takes advantage of the 17-year-old’s isolation and vulnerability to coerce her into a sexual act. He makes her sign a document saying it was part of her contract.

October 23, 2017: Long-scheduled relicensing process for the Pussycat Club begins. An A4 sign is posted by the door stating simply that owner “Saltire Investments” is seeking to use the premises as a sexual entertainment venue, giving a 30-day window for objections to be lodged.

November 10: McGrath is convicted of paying for the sexual services of a child.

November 15: Sussex Police object to the licence application on the grounds McGrath is not a fit and proper person.

November 20: Saltire Investments (owned by the McGrath family) submits an application to change the designated premises supervisor (DPS) on the licence to Kenneth McGrath’s son Kristopher.

December 1: McGrath is sentenced to three years in jail.

Early December: Sussex Police withdraw their objection because Kenneth McGrath will not be the DPS.

December 15: The Argus reveals the entire agenda for the relevant council licensing meeting has been redacted.

December 19: The licensing meeting is cancelled.

Acting head of regulatory services Jo Player approves the application in the absence of any objections and relicenses the venue for 12 months.

A condition is added to the licence that Kenneth McGrath will not have any input into the management running or operation of the club or the company and will not be on-site during its hours of operation.

December 19: The Argus publishes its investigation into Kenneth McGrath’s ongoing financial links to the venue’s parent company Saltire Investments.

Today: Club neighbours tell The Argus they would have objected to the application if they had known the full story and MP Caroline Lucas calls on the council to review its decision.

The application to vary the DPS for the Pussycat Club was made by the business owner Saltire Investments Ltd which has one director: Kenneth McGrath’s 29-year-old son, Kristopher. Kenneth McGrath left the company in 2013.

But in 2012 Saltire created a “debenture” of more than £350,000, which is still owing.

A debenture is a legal document securing a loan against assets of the business to which the loan is made.

The debenture for £353,556 is secured against Saltire’s assets including the leasehold of the Pussycat and a yacht in Majorca.

The debenture makes its owner entitled to the business assets if it gets into trouble.

The people entitled to the debenture, with a vested interest of a third of a million pounds in the business, are Kenneth McGrath, and Dawn Strong at the same address.