Licensee's fury at police handling of pub strip incident

A Northamptonshire licensee has blasted the local police over an incident involving a stripogram in his pub.

Max Course, licensee of the Cock at Roade, in Roade, Northants, claims he has endured eight months of hell after an incident involving a stripogram at a birthday party last summer.

Following a complaint made to the police back in June 2003 he was threatened with the revocation of his licence for allowing a lewd and obscene act to take place in the pub.

It has taken almost a year for the case to be resolved in Mr Course's favour.

Mr Course, who is an ex-policeman, is so enraged by the behaviour of the police that he has resigned from his local Pubwatch.

"I am disgusted with what the police have done. The duress we have been under because of this has been unbelievable," he said.

"I had a minor stroke in September - it could have been as a result of the stress. I am ashamed to have ever worn the uniform."

The nightmare began for Mr Course when a birthday party was hosted in his pub. During the evening a stripogram came and performed for the party.

"I had no idea she was going to arrive," said Mr Course. "But I was hardly going to be a party pooper and say the stripogram couldn't come in when it was a surprise."

Mr Course was immediately contacted by police and told his licence was under threat. However, he then heard nothing for five months until a policeman came to his pub in early December to inform him that he was being issued with a caution.

Mr Course said: "I was absolutely disgusted with the amount of time they took to get back to me. I later heard they went to the Crown Prosecution Service which recommended the revocation of my licence.

"Because of my good record as a licensee they decided to just issue me with a caution. I refused to accept this and took the case to my solicitor.

"We have heard little for the last few weeks and then suddenly we find out the case has been dropped. It is unbelievable. What a waste of time and resources."

A spokesman from Northamptonshire Police said: "The stripogram incident at the pub went a lot further than someone who took off their clothes and left the premises.

"Reports we received suggested that the act was obscene. There were groups of elderly people and teenagers in the pub at the time and we received complaints from a number of people.

"We looked at a number of options, which took some time to explore, and we finally decided to issue Mr Course with a caution, which he refused.

"No further action is being taken but Mr Course has been reminded of his responsibilities."