Dance Academy owner jailed for nine years
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.
123 Comments
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by Olivia, London
Saturday, October 11 2008, 7:17PM
“Reading from the comments I've randomly chosen, this is a world that says, "Bad is good and good is bad." Each individual has got his/her own system of justice. If the particular situation could easily affect such persons, the penalty has to be zero or empathy.
Persons in the entertainment industry can certainly put up notices of zero intolerance and warnings that they are working closely with the police since they are all well aware of the fact that the selling, buying and taking of drugs are a common feature of the night life.
Working in partnership with the police will safeguard proprietor and managers.
The police don't have to falsely claim to involve pub and club owners and managers. All they need is an undercover sting!
The persons, who are crying out about the sentences by making comparisons with other judicial decisions, should make it their business to lobby their MPs about their concerns about what seems like a lack of justice for the victims they claim to be concerned about. Their message should be the same for all: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."
There is corruption and injustice in several places and several ways but get the balance right and examine your own self, see how many fingers point back at you.
There are so many double standards in societies all over the world- a global thing- due to the desensitising of the conscience in today's world. It is the effect of feeding the mind on violence and immoral images and behaviour, which have come to become the norm.
But what I can clearly see is that there is and has not been a turn around, and humans have come to the point beyond having the ability to learn, not only from written information but also from experience. Nothing is impacting enough to wake them up, except for a small, tiny minority who have been individual, bold and strong enough to uphold what is really beneficial. Such persons who have learned to value and appreciate life and the things that really make for happiness- other humans. Who knows what is the "Golden Rule", today? Both young and adult are equally ignorant of the answer! It's just one example of an immoral world with a darkened heart, which has lost all moral sense and the ability to reason.
It is a world that will soon wake up, with no choice in the matter!
One thing people today could do instead of the shallow things they do, which lead to the kinds of comments above, is to take time to get an education. Education is free in Britain and yet people whose first, and in most case, only language, is English, can't spell, don't know the constructs of the language and don't have the ability to express themselves in writing or verbally. That is why foul abusive language has become so prevalent.
The young don't want to finish school because they are in a big hurry to think they are grown up. They leave school prematurely; make the next generation and the cycle starts all over again. But who's going to break it? Parents? The government?
Truth hurts," it is said, so wake up to reality or verbally abuse me. What's new? I'm all for reality and truth, not lies and dreams.”
by abi, plymouth
Wednesday, September 17 2008, 11:22AM
“i kind of agree with both arguments here, yes there was a drug problem in dance academy, but these people were not hanging round on strret corners pushing smack on 10 year olds. i went to academy every weekend for years, sometimes i did a couple of pills but most of the time i went to have a good old dance and a really good time which you could always guarentee there. i refused to go anywhere else in town as the rest of the pubs and clubs are full of people who want to fight and get hammered and men trying to grope you! this was never the case in dance academy. my partners aunty was murdered in plymouth a couple of years ago and i also know the friends of roxanne and jade who were killed in the crash by ricky herbert, these families lives have been ruined....whos lives were ruined from the brilliant nights in academy??? tom and manouch both got longer sentances than these people. it just doesnt make sence to me! brick back D.A....and wearing fluffy boots is not a crime so get over it!”
by solmaz, London
Sunday, August 17 2008, 10:33PM
“Hey Manooch, Just heard the news. How dould they even think of you as a drug dealer????
Justice will be done one day... They have got it wrong... and so really very wrong... have faith and hang in there...
these are dark days and seem so unfair, the truth will be out soon... be blessed.”
by a human being, somewhere on earth
Sunday, August 17 2008, 10:27PM
“I totally agree with long sentences for does who deal with drugs, BUT I really find this crazy that they have given such long sentence to someone who was so totally against drugs. I know Manochehr Bahmanzad from Brighton... I have no doubt that this guy has never been, is not and will never be a drug dealer... there are people that stab kids and for God sake are let off!!! How ironic that in this case even the police appear to have got it wrong!
Now I am addressing Kenny: Kenny are you not the Kenny I know who uses drugs himself?? haha, very convincing... go get your facts right kenny the little one!”
by nemesis, skaro
Tuesday, August 05 2008, 3:39PM
“hey there Manouche, just read in the herald that a serial pedophile WITH PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS has been let off to go home and do it again!!! Try and get that judge for your appeal !!!!”
by miller, bristol
Sunday, August 03 2008, 1:31PM
“i am in a state of shock, obviously the club was shut down which was bad enough as it was no different to any other club over the last 20 years holding dance music events. I knew unfortunately that the club would probably realistically never re-open again, in my own opinion due to council/police corruption which like many other people felt a loss and cheated. Obviously knew that the courts would make an example of the dealers that were caught but i had no idea that the owner and tom would face what they have, and basically been treated as some kind of gangsters running a drugs racket, totally unbelievable but not really as nothing surprises me anymore in this country, the law is an ass, the justice system is beyond belief. To the people who are glad the da has gone- how can you honestly say these sentences are just? they received more than the dealers. good luck in overturning these ridiculous laughable sentences, there is a facebook group-free tom costelloe for those interested”
by Marc, Plymouth, Devon.
Thursday, July 24 2008, 10:40AM
“I think the artist makes a serious point.
I'm a betting shop manager and I know (so perhaps knowingly it can be argued) people come-in to my shop go to the toilets and take drugs (not Ectascy, a relatively soft drug despite its Class A status which itself stems from a 1970s mindset, but Heroin).
Apart from shutting the toilets which I cant do or by putting CCTV inside them whch I cant do I am powerless to stop people taking drugs. So does that may me cuplrible? Is a ordinary working man like me next to banged up for 5 or 9 years?”
by T, West Hoe
Wednesday, July 23 2008, 8:56PM
“Ben, Plymouth - i'm sure Bob will take your threats seriously, written in 'text speak'. You ought to spell correctly if you want to call other individuals 'dumb'.”
by Steve Jake, Plymouth
Wednesday, July 23 2008, 8:34PM
“Make no mistake what we have seen are twisted and corrput processes at play.
Tom and Manoucher, in my view, do not deserve the sentences they have. Measures were in place, although perhaps these could have been stregthened. The Police were invited by the owner to be present on the door (at the onwer's cost), but the Police refused.
It's a sad time to think that two people are in prison for a non-direct, non-deliberate crime. And that the world famous Dance Academy sits in silence.
Drugs are a sympton of modern society - like it or not. I would like to see drug laws changed somewhat and a more pragmatic as opposed to idealistic stance taken.
The crack-house legislation was extended here for political and local authority gain. This is not an example of best practice.
I wish Tom and Manoucher all the very best and hope an appeal judge sees through what Karl Marx calls 'false conciousness'.
The Dance Academy will always be with me, too special to put in words.”
by ben, plymouth
Wednesday, July 23 2008, 8:20PM
“to bob from saltash and the ppl like you jealous! im his family you beter listen: we dont need the money from drugs we got more then wot u stupid ppl think at ma country,so we wont be hungry,grow up and b an adult person,council wanted the bulding and they have to put police involve, and coz there is no JUSTICE they got 2b in prison!!!!!!! by the way mr cleaver do you realy think there is no DRUGS no more in ply coz academy is shout? if you do so YOU ARE REALY DUMB, y POLICE dont stop the drugs in the city????? dont 4get that the police cod have help us much more beter!!!! you r not even worth to spend time,,,,, gd luck to you n the ppl think it was right JUSTICE....................”