Licensee ditches pub after 13 hour jail ordeal

A licensee who was subjected to 13 hours in a police cell after failing to record a fight on CCTV is so distraught he is ditching his pub.

Phil Needham, licensee at the Hare & Hounds in Warsop, Nottinghamshire, is quitting the pub he has spent 19 months developing for a quieter village pub 10 miles away.

He said: "We've built a very good relationship with the customers here and have a good business, but we have got to leave all that because of what has happened."

Mr Needham was arrested and accused of perverting the course of justice when police discovered that the CCTV tape he had given them contained footage of the pub during last summer's World Cup - and not of a disturbance in his pub.

He claims he simply forgot to press the record button on the CCTV.

Mr Needham was taken to Mansfield Police station and held in a cell from 3am on Sunday August 20 to 4.30pm later that day.

He said: "I was sitting in the cell thinking what the hell am I doing here? I was woken up by the sound of keys at about nine. My solicitor arrived at 12noon. He told me he had just been called half an hour ago.

"We comply with everything the police ask of us, drugs, responsible drinking, everything, and then I'm treated like this. I was treated like a common criminal and I've done nothing wrong."

Police were called to the pub late on the Saturday night after a regular head-butted a doorman. Mr Needham, who has submitted a complaint and is seeking compensation from the police, claims he had first been threatened with arrest after attempting to convince police to allow his customer to go home.

Superintendent Ian Waterfield of Mansfield Police said: "Whilst I cannot comment on individual cases, the force takes complaints very seriously and has a rigorous complaints procedure in place.

"Members of the public have a right to complain if they feel they have not received a satisfactory level of service."