Several pubs were used to launder dirty cash, police claim; Sensational claims made against John Henry Sayers in a 2008 Newcastle court case which can only now be told.

Byline: ADAM JUPP ; DAN WARBURTON

DETAILS can finally be revealed today of how John Henry Sayers allegedly ran businesses to launder underworld cash.

Magistrates were told the convicted armed robber used a string of legitimate firms to "wash" dirty money.

They included, it was claimed, pubs where serious crimes, including rape, have taken place but where police were met with a wall of silence.

And it was said Sayers, 47, of Fossway, Byker, hid in the shadows by installing criminal associates to front his firms for him.

The claims were made at a magistrates' court hearing in Gosforth where Sayers' girlfriend Louise Smith and business partner Phillip Thynne were refused an alcohol licence because of their close links to him.

The Chronicle did not publish details of the hearing because at the time as Sayers was involved in separate criminal proceedings.

And it is only now the convicted tax cheat has been freed following the collapse of a jury nobbling trial that the full report of the case can be revealed.

Police revealed their concerns during a bid to obtain an alcohol licence for La Gabbia restaurant, in Shieldfield, Newcastle, which was then run by Ms Smith and Mr Thynne.

The pair's company was dissolved last March and the restaurant has since been taken over by someone completely unrelated to them or to Sayers.

But during the hearing, in February 2008, the application was rejected by magistrates.

At the time Chief Insp Bob Ryan told the court that police believed Sayers, who was jailed for 15 years for armed robbery in 1990, would be "the one who gets all the money" from La Gabbia.

He told how he could be linked to a string of businesses, including pubs which had been the scenes of horrific crimes.

He said: "It is quite simple. He uses threats of violence and violence itself to control and move into companies when he wants to control the area. It is our belief that John Henry Sayers has a number of interests and controls a number of licensed premises in Newcastle and other areas around the North East.

"The problem is when he gets involved certain things do not get reported to the police, licensing objectives are ignored and we have got concerns about pubs that are not profitable becoming profitable.

"But the key issue is that pubs he controls are not well managed and they avoid calling the police like the plague and don't want us there because of interference with their objectives."

Chief Insp Ryan said he believed Sayers was behind a company called Empire Pubs.

The company's HQ was Westburn Lodge, owned by Sayers, and one of its directors was soccer hooligan Mark Mennim, who was banned from every ground in England and Wales for 26 months in 2004.

A former secretary of Empire Pubs is John Edward Thompson, 42, who was convicted of a serious assault at Hobo's nightclub in 1989, along with Viv Graham and Sayers' brother Stephen.

Graham was gunned down on New Year's Eve 1993 in an infamous unsolved murder.

The court heard Empire Pubs could be linked to two previous firms, including one involving another of Sayers' associates, Alan Coe.

Coe and Sayers were convicted of money laundering in 2008 after detectives uncovered a huge tax swindle worth hundreds of thousands.

Chief Insp Ryan said: "We believe Empire Pubs started off as a company called Neptune Inns and started to control a number of premises in Newcastle. To start with, Neptune Inns had company directors Alan Coe and Robert Orange and, lo and behold, after a couple of years, it went into receivership and another company called Pubs 4 Us with similar directors, along with Mark Mennim, was set up.

"That went into administration and Empire Pubs emerged, with a director being Mark Mennim again, and all of these companies controlled the same pubs and, generally speaking, bills like business rates are not paid and the companies wind up with significant debts."

The court was told Neptune Inns once owed Newcastle City Council pounds 157,000, while Empire Pubs owed more than pounds 35,000, and Chief Insp Ryan said one pub operated by Empire Pubs, the Mill Inn, on Westgate Hill, could be strongly linked to Sayers.

He said: "Again, with most of his premises, we find the management are lacking, so when officers entered, they were trying to find who the manager was but what they found was a note, which was there, saying 'To all staff, tables to be cleaned last thing at night. Please check fridges are stocked after every shift. No more credit to be given without authorisation from John Sayers or Stephen Sayers. Thanks, Pat'."

Another mentioned was The Greyhound, on Newcastle's Pitt Street, which was owned by Sayers' father John Brian. It had links to both Mennim and Coe and was the scene of an alleged serious sexual assault.

Chief Insp Ryan said: "In relation to the Greyhound, again, he has always argued he has never been involved in it. That has come from his father John Brian Sayers, who owns the premises.

"In one incident, we visited the pub at 10pm and Mark Mennim was present and he said he was the new relief manager. The officer noticed there were underage drinkers there, and the same officers went a second time and saw further persons who were underage and recognised a couple from the previous visit."

Chief Insp Ryan added: "There was an allegation of rape at the premises and the police found out, visited, and found Alan Coe was present, and when they first spoke to him, they went to a different room, and he was fairly cooperative, but a short while later, John Henry Sayers joined them and all of a sudden the detective sergeant found the enquiries were held up by a wall of silence. Lo and behold, some time later, the victim of this rape, which was a nasty one in the toilets, dropped her complaint."

The Westburn Lodge was also the scene of a serious assault claim, and Chief Insp Ryan said: "On May 19, 2007, a man was seriously assaulted in the Westburn Lodge. Three men, wearing masks, came in and slashed him with a knife or some kind of sharp instrument. He left and went to a nearby house and an ambulance was called. There was no contact from the premises itself, even though there was blood everywhere inside."

Magistrates were told how police spoke to staff who denied any knowledge, but it later emerged cleaners had mopped up blood.

Chief Insp Ryan said: "I was stunned that a licensee of a premises where someone has been seriously assaulted with knives, where there is blood everywhere, hasn't bothered to contact the police. I would've thought that would be the first thing they would do."

Another pub owned by John Henry was Harrogate House, in Shieldfield, which was previously run by Mennim's son Sean Sharp. In 2006 there were two burglaries at White's Hotel, near to Harrogate House. CCTV showed property from the burglary being taken into the pub and a search led to it being recovered.

Sean Sharp was later convicted of handling stolen goods and handling counterfeit goods and Chief Insp Ryan said this was further evidence of premises linked to Sayers attracting criminal behaviour.

Chief Insp Ryan added: "Every time we have been to a hearing regarding pubs like Harrogate House or the Greyhound, what we tend to find is denials that Mr Sayers is involved in this or that but every time we look, there is another link.

"Everything is hidden, everything is put through people who are friends, relatives or people he feels he can trust through his reign of violence - every time there is something that proves a link to Mr Sayers, but he tries to keep out of the way."

CAPTION(S):

Thynne were working for John Henry Sayers IN CONTROL John Henry Sayers, and right, from top, Harrogate House pub, The Mill Inn, Westburn Lodge and The Greyhound pub

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Publication:	Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England)
Date:	Jan 10, 2011
Words:	1343
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