Alcohol licence hearing held in private for ex-Filey pub landlord who received suspended jail sentence

Scarborough Council’s licensing sub-committee made the decision after a request from Andrew Quinn that the hearing be held in private so he could discuss his family.

The committee, which met on Tuesday, was being asked to decide whether to revoke or suspend a personal licence held by Mr Quinn after the council called for a review following his conviction.

In September Mr Quinn was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for a year after pleading guilty to one count of criminal damage and two counts of actual bodily harm (ABH).

York Crown Court, sitting in public, heard that Mr Quinn, formerly the landlord of the Station Hotel pub in Filey, attacked his mother-in-law following a row over some fish and chips she had bought for a family dinner.

Prosecutor Matthew Collins said Mr Quinn hit the elderly woman in the head, knocking her to the floor after he had earlier pulled a chair out from under her, causing her to bang her head.

The court heard he had reacted after the “frightened” woman, who is almost a foot smaller than the 6ft-tall Mr Quinn, slapped him.

At today’s licensing hearing, at Scarborough Town Hall, the three-person committee of councillors was told by their legal advisor that there was “a presumption” that proceedings should be held in public unless it was in the “public interest” not to do so.

Mr Quinn told the committee that he wanted the hearing to be closed due to “family matters”.

Despite a representation from the Local Democracy Reporting Service arguing against the exclusion, committee chairman Cllr Jane Mortimer, along with Cllrs Stewart Campbell and Neil Heritage, moved ahead with holding the hearing in private.

Two members of North Yorkshire Police’s licensing team, there to observe the hearing, a reporter and one member of the public, there to support Mr Quinn, were all asked to leave the hearing.

A copy of the decision will be released at a later date, though details of the discussion will remain private.

Scarborough Council has been approached for a comment.