THE owner of the Dance Academy has been jailed for nine

years and the DJ and general manager for five after being found

guilty of allowing the 'rampant' sale of ecstasy in the

club.

Owner Manoucehr Bahmanzadeh and DJ/general manager Thomas

Costelloe were each found guilty earlier this month of

permitting the use of the premises for the supply of Class A

drugs – namely MDMA, the chemical name for ecstasy – between

December 1, 2005, and May 8, 2006.

At Plymouth Crown Court, Bahmanzadeh was sentenced to nine

years – of which he must serve at least half – and Costelloe

received a five-year jail term. In addition, he was sentenced

to one month each on two charges of possession of cannabis and

ecstasy, to which he had pleaded guilty at an earlier

hearing.

Throughout a six-week trial investigators claimed the sale

of the drug at the Dance Academy was 'rampant' and drug deals

'overt and blatant'. At the sentencing yesterday, Judge Francis

Gilbert QC rejected claims by Bahmanzadeh's barrister, Anthony

Donne QC, that the Iranian-born club owner had taken steps to

tackle the sale of ecstasy in the club. In mitigation, he

argued Bahmanzadeh, 51, was more guilty of being 'stingy' by

not paying for more door staff than of 'deliberately'

permitting the sale of ecstasy to increase ticket sales.

Instead, Judge Gilbert QC said Bahmanzadeh and Costelloe

purposely allowed the sale of the drug to 'better the club's

reputation and profits'.

He agreed with police that there had been 'large-scale,

blatant supply and use of ecstasy in the Dance Academy, of

which you were both well aware and turned a blind eye'.

Judge Gilbert said: “You knew what was going on and the

extent of it and did as little as you could to keep the police

off your backs.”

He also said that the zero-drugs policy was only ever for

the ears of the police, and referred to a number of witnesses

who gave evidence during the trial including undercover

officers who openly purchased drugs from dealers, many of whom

were later convicted.

He noted how one undercover officer, who gave evidence

behind a screen, said the drug-dealing was 'so overtly done in

front of the main bar that anyone working there couldn't miss

it'.

He returned to the evidence of a former head doorman who

said there was 'never any enthusiasm to stop drugs going into

the club' and rounded on Costelloe, who was said to have told

the same head doorman his policy of searching one customer in

three was 'excessive'.

Judge Gilbert also noted the number of people who were given

first aid and later taken away in an ambulance if they were

'ill' in the club and he noted how a girl aged only 15 had 'no

problems' getting into the club.

He reminded both men as they stood in the dock that on the

night of the raid there were around 200 customers – supposedly

a quiet night by Dance Academy standards – yet 469 ecstasy

pills had been found by officers, 'with more crushed on the

floor'.

Judge Gilbert said: “The truth is ecstasy was part of the

culture of the premises; the music was associated with the

taking of ecstasy. Ecstasy was a major factor in attracting

people to the club and its profitability.”

He told Bahmanzadeh that he did not care 'what damage or

devastation' happened to people who took ecstasy in his club,

adding: “As long as they paid their money you were happy.”

He said that Bahmanzadeh's pride in having built up the

largest and most popular club in the South West was more a

pride 'in the profit it made for you'.

He noted how Bahmanzadeh had paid out around £500,000 in

1997 for the club, borrowing from banks, friends and family. By

2005 he had paid off his debts, investing an additional

£200,000 in the premises.

The profits from the Dance Academy allowed him to purchase

other premises, including a home in Cyprus and the Cooperage.

It is understood Bahmanzadeh also still owns the Phoenix public

house behind the ill-fated nightclub.

Judge Gilbert, recognising Bahmanzadeh was banking between

£30,000 and £40,000 a week from the club, said he had not found

a comparable case in law but, working on the basis that

Bahmanzadeh 'knowingly permitted the selling of drugs to make

profits', he looked to tariffs set for drug suppliers earning

similar sums.

He then sentenced Bahmanzadeh to nine years in jail, telling

him he would spend 'at least half of that' behind bars, with 19

days on remand to count in his benefit.

As the stunned Bahmanzadeh was cuffed to a security guard,

Judge Gilbert turned his attentions to Costelloe, whom he

called Bahmanzadeh's 'trusted lieutenant' who 'did nothing to

stop' the sale of drugs in the club.

He said Costelloe, aged 37, had cynically lied to police

about his efforts against drugs deals 'when you had ecstasy in

your own home' and had even asked a drug-dealer to bring

cannabis to the club for his own use.

He told Costelloe: “You knew you were breaking the law but

did not care.

“I will accept that in terms of profit your gain was very

limited; if anything, you were underpaid. Your profit was in

being the man running the biggest club in the South West.”

He then sentenced Costelloe to five years, with two

one-month sentences for drug possession to run concurrently.

His 19 days on remand are also to count in his favour.

Judge Gilbert, on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service,

postponed Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) proceedings until

Bahmanzadeh and Costelloe had produced the necessary

information about their assets.

The proceedings will see Devon and Cornwall Constabulary's

Economic Crime Unit study the pair's finances with a view to

seizing property bought with criminally-made profits –

particularly those made from the Dance Academy. In addition, a

request was made for an application by the CPS for £100,000 in

costs to be postponed until the POCA proceedings had begun.

The CPS also asked that there be an order for forfeiture –

but not destruction – of drugs found as part of the

investigation.

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