CLUB STAFF: WE WARNED COPS ‘SOMEONE WAS GOING TO BE KILLED’

THEY SAY CONCERN WAS RAISED WEEKS BEFORE DEATH OF SKA LEGEND’S GRANDSON

STAFF at Club M say they warned police “someone was going to be killed” weeks before Fidel Glasgow was stabbed to death outside.

The shocking claim came just days before a council meeting to decide if the club’s licence should be scrapped.

West Midlands Police called for the review after Fidel - the grandson of Coventry ska legend Neville Staple - was fatally stabbed outside the club on September 1.

But a spokesman for the violence-hit club, on Hertford Place, said: “We told police three weeks before this happened [Fidel was stabbed] that someone was going to be killed if they [police] didn’t tackle the gangs outside the club.

“Where does the responsibility lie?”

The claim was put to Coventry Police, but Chief Superintendent Mike O’Hara did not respond to it directly.

He instead said: “We held a number of meetings with the club’s management team in the lead up to the tragic death of Fidel Glasgow.

“The club was already on an action plan following a previous incident and officers were working with the management team to resolve the issues.

“We have received a number of photographs taken in the area which have been assessed and added to our wider intelligence picture. There is no evidence of drug offences within them.”

The force says the club has a history of violence, with three stabbings, a sexual assault, other violence and thefts related to the venue in the last six months alone.

It is also the second time the club’s licence has been up for review.

It first avoided closure in 2016 after a string of violent incidents, including one which left a man with life-changing injuries.

Although the spokesman admitted there had been a problem with people hanging around outside the club, he said it was the police’s responsibility to police the streets.

“The stabbings have never been in the club,” the spokesman added.

“Where does the police responsibility for the streets take place?

“We can’t do the police’s job.”

Fidel had been banned from the club, according to police documents prepared for the council licence hearing.

The club’s spokesman alleged Fidel had never been in the club on the night he was stabbed despite the police documents claiming he was part of a small group inside the club who had gone outside to confront a large group.

“He had been banned for two years,” the club’s spokesman added.

“It [the stabbing of Fidel] was at 5.30 in the morning. Our last admission was around 2am.

“In the Licensing Act it says we have to protect the public from harm. That’s all we have done. We’ve knocked people back.

“If someone turns back up an hour and half after he’s been refused admission and then he’s in a fight round the back, how can we do anything?”

He added that bouncers were not insured off the premises so could not have intervened.

The spokesman acknowledged the club had had a problem with groups of people congregating outside.

He alleged other clubs in the town were now “petrified” they would now move outside their venues and see them dragged into licencing issues.

“These people will go somewhere.”

Whatever the decision councillors come to today, the club will not be reopening.

The spokesman said too much revenue had been lost while it was forced to shut by an interim licence review hearing days after the stabbing on September 5.

“Whatever happens, we’re not going to be there,” he added. “We can’t afford to be going back there.

“You’ve got 20 people that have lost their jobs.”