'SECRET' witness testimony and details of CCTV footage of a mass brawl in Epping has been published by the district council ahead of a new licence hearing into nightclub One9Five this Wednesday (October 21).
The release of the previously banned material marks a u-turn for the authority, which claimed in a meeting two weeks ago that the public and press should not be allowed access to further information because it could prejudice the police's investigation and any up and coming trials.
The Guardian challenged the ruling - newspapers are banned by law from publishing potentially prejudicial information but this does not mean the public and press can be excluded from such meetings.
This newspaper launched legal proceedings against the decision shortly afterwards.
The hearing came following the mass brawl on Saturday September 26 in Cottis Lane and the High Street, in which eight men were stabbed and many others injured.
But now the council has published much of the information unrestricted on its own website, including a highly detailed description of CCTV footage of the fighting, along with witness statements.
The documents also reveal the police drove down Cottis Lane and past the nightspot in a car at 2.30am – a minimum of 15 minutes before the fighting began.
The documents only contain descriptions of CCTV footage taken from outside Club One9Five and do not offer a complete account of everything that happened.
According to the description, commissioned by the venue, the footage shows a man trying to get into Club One9Five but is refused entry at around 2.27am.
The man is joined by some other men, and has a “cordial” conversation with the doorman, before the group walks away to another part of the alleyway.
However at this point, according to the description, they are seen looking and pointing at another group towards the direction of the High Street and Club Edge, which is next door to One9Five.
Something is then apparently thrown at the group outside One9Five, hitting one of the men on the side of the head.
There is then a sudden “surge” of men in the alleyway from the direction of the High Street – which the representatives of One9Five stress involved people who did “not appear” to have come from their venue.
A group, of around 35 to 50 people, is then seen charging down the alleyway towards the taxi offices at the end of Cottis Lane.
People scatter and some flee back into Club One9Five. Someone closes a door into One9Five, plunging part of the alleyway into darkness.
There are then two further waves of people running down the alleyway, and two people are seen in the CCTV footage lying on the floor.
The ambulance service are seen arriving five minutes later, and the police arrive a further 10 minutes after that.
In other parts of the documents, the owner of One9Five Scott Cummings claims the temporary suspension of his venue's licence has cost him £45,000 in lost business already.
Two witnesses quoted in the documents - including a doorman at Club One9Five - say the fight started outside Club Edge.
The owners of both Club Edge and Club One9Five have stressed their premises had nothing to do with the disturbance.
Letters of support for One9Five from the Epping branch of Toni&Guy and from James Clements, owner of the Piano Lounge in the High Street, are also included in the documents, along with complaints from neighbours living nearby.
Wednesday's hearing is to be held at 10am at the district council's offices in Epping High Street. It is unclear at this stage whether the public will also be banned from this meeting.
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