A FORMER head doorman of the Dance Academy has told a

Plymouth court a man was allowed into the club after being

found to be carrying drugs.

Gareth Grimes, who was head doorman at the dance club for

several months in 2004, said he introduced a tough regime

whereby one in three people entering the Union Street venue

were searched.

He described one occasion when he stopped two men and found

they were both carrying pills – one had three and the other

considerably more.

The normal policy at the club was simply to eject anyone

caught with three pills or less, after confiscating the drugs,

but Mr Grimes said on this occasion manager Thomas Costelloe

asked him to let the man stay.

Following the incident, Mr Grimes said he was called to the

office of Dance Academy owner Manoucehr Bahmanzadeh, who told

him “his friends were very disappointed” because “their evening

had been ruined”.

Mr Grimes was asked if he was sacked following that

conversation but he said “no”.

“Let's say that we parted company,” he added.

Lawyers for Costelloe and Bahmanzadeh said their clients did

not recall those conversations with Mr Grimes.

Bahmanzadeh, 51, of Union Street, Costelloe, 37, of

Westminster Close, Honiton, and Justin Hayward, 26, of Limerick

Place, St Judes, all deny allowing a Class A drug – ecstasy –

to be sold in the Dance Academy.

All the charges relate to a period from December 2005 to May

2006, when police ran undercover operations in the club,

culminating in a raid which closed it down.

Mr Grimes left in September 2004, before bar manager Hayward

was employed at the Dance Academy.

The jury is no longer considering the case against Nezan

Ahmed, 35, formerly of Dorchester Avenue, Whitleigh.

He was initially being tried along with the others in his

absence as he attempted to return to the UK.

But as he has been unable to return because of immigration

controls, the court has decided it is not appropriate to hear

his case at the present time.

The trial of the other three men continues.