Walsall nightclub Discotheque.Life stripped of licence after dad died outside Lichfield Street venue

Superintendent Pervez Mohammed called an urgent review after customer Kevin Taylor died outside the club, known better as DeCode, on December 7. Taylor had only ‘taken a few steps’ when he was allegedly involved in an altercation with someone who had also left the venue.

Mr Taylor, 51, was found unconscious shortly before 5am on December 7 after being allegedly punched. He was later pronounced deceased by medics.

Kejuan Malone, Birmingham, was charged with manslaughter and was due to give a plea at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday, January 7, but did not do so.

The urgent summary meeting was called by West Midlands Police on the grounds that the venue was associated with ‘both serious crime and serious disorder’. At the meeting on December 12, Walsall Council’s licensing committee decided to issue a 28-day suspension on licensable activities, pending a full hearing.

The full hearing took place on January 6. West Midlands Police licensing officer, Jennifer Mellor, described the CCTV footage of the incident as ‘heartbreaking’. In her statement, Ms Mellor said CCTV footage showed the venue’s security staff saw Mr Taylor on the floor nearby but failed to tell police - leaving her “appalled”.

She said the venue then closed down, but Mr Taylor was left outside on the pavement. Eventually, a CCTV operator sees someone carrying out CPR and calls police and paramedics - 25 minutes after the assault.

She said: “During the time period, Mr Taylor laid on the floor, the venue or staff did not phone the police or ambulance service. They did not report this to management as the owners informed the police they were not aware of the incident. They did not preserve the scene, the venue closed the shutters leaving an injured male on the floor outside their venue.”

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West Midlands Police Sergeant James Whittaker said the CCTV footage was ‘harrowing’. In his statement, it said: “The CCTV footage shows the offence being committed and once Kevin Taylor was on the floor, metres away from the venue itself, there appears to be staff that had either been hired or employed by Decode night club that had gone over to Kevin Taylor and failed to assist in any way, either medically or supportively to ensure that he was OK.

“It was harrowing to witness so many members of the public, which includes door staff, look at Taylor on the floor and not offer any intervention and in most circumstances, stand, stare and take photos and/or videos of Taylor on the floor.”

While the death of Kevin Taylor triggered the licence review for the premises, officer Mellor stated several other alleged incidents involving the club in the months before December 7. On June 1, it was reported that a female punched a male in the face after she accused the male of spiking a drink that he offered to buy her.

On October 7, a male was reportedly knocked unconscious who had just exited DeCode. He was approached by an unknown male and hit, suffering a bleeding nose, swollen eye and face. It was heard that on October 6, a male was hospitalised with a ‘ripped ear’ when 20 youths attacked him. Officer Mellor said none of the incidents had been reported to the police by the venue.

West Midlands Police also had concerns over the Sunday events being held at the club. In the meeting, it was heard that the events would be publicised on social media without a location. Hours before the event was due to happen, the location would be announced.

Officer Mellor questioned how the licence holder or management could facilitate staffing and security requirements given the short notice of each event. While Isaac Cobbinah-Koompong is the licence holder of DeCode, it is his brother, Jacob Cobbinah, who is the director.

Officer Mellor said Jacob Cobbinah called her after the venue was issued a 28-day ban on the licence on December 12. She said: “Jacob Cobbinah called back stating he had watched the footage and in his opinion this was ‘not a fight, it was one punch’. Mr Cobbinah continued with this had nothing to do with his venue as his shutters were down and the door staff finished at 04.30 hours so were not employed by him after that time. He continued stating he felt this was a personal attack on him and his venue.”

It was also heard that Jacob Cobbinah had left the venue at 2.30am on the night of the incident, and left someone in charge who he did not know the full name of. Officer Mellor said that Jacob Cobbinah didn’t know the name or qualifications of the staff member in charge, showing that the venue wasn’t following important safety rules. She said this showed a lack of care for customers' safety and poor leadership, and added management was booking private events without thinking about public safety or crime.

Mellor said that when Mr Taylor was hurt and lying on the floor, the venue didn’t help him. The staff, including the head doorman, left, and only one person tried to help. Because the venue already was not following rules, the police believe adding new rules won’t help.

Saying leadership was failing, she added: “We believe the licensing objectives have been seriously undermined, which resulted in a fatal outcome, and it really doesn’t get much worse than that.”

The meeting heard the licence was transferred to Isaac Cobbinah-Koompong in April 2024. He is also the premise licence holder at East Lagon on Market Square in Bloxwich. It is understood the Bloxwich venue was going to close. The legal representative for Cobbinah-Koompong, Duncan Craig, said the conditions on the licence were not clear or easy to understand. Craig said: “West Midlands Police said that the licensing objectives have not been promoted as they could or should. On behalf of my client, that is an unreasonable conclusion to draw. My client understands what a desperately sad situation this is. He understands he is a responsible person as the licence holder and is in the firing line.”

However, he said that while there had been shortfalls, conditions on the licence were not always clear.

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He said: “The easiest thing for you to do is to revoke this licence. But I’m going to ask you to consider a more nuanced approach. I invite you to delete all existing conditions and replace them with the ones which I have proposed which are contained in page one. My client understands the position he is in and he didn’t push back any of these conditions.”

The conditions included comprehensive staff training, refresher training, a refusals register, incident book, ID scanner on entry, search on entry, introduction of a dispersal policy, conditions relating to public safety, the installation of a bleed kit among several others.

Craig added: “It just can’t be the answer every time something bad happens and somebody has not quite been compliant with the licence that you take the business away.”

Gary Grant, legal representative for Walsall Council, said: “The sub-committee have considered all the representations from West Midlands Police as well as those made by Mr Craig on behalf of the licence holder. The decision of the sub-committee at the full review is to revoke the premises licence. The sub-committee went onto consider what interim steps should be in place pending any appeal or the expiry of the appeal period and have determined that the suspension of the licence is appropriate and proportionate in order to promote the licensing objectives. That decision is enforced as of immediately. The full written decision will be forwarded to the parties in the coming days.”