The Home Office and Sussex Police have dropped a request to revoke the premises licence for a popular Brighton restaurant.
But the Home Office immigration enforcement team still believes that Donatello’s licence should be revoked for three months – despite “compelling mitigation”.
The immigration enforcement team is expected to press its case at a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing review hearing tomorrow (Wednesday 11 January).
The Home Office applied for the council to review Donatello’s licence after a raid by immigration enforcement officials on Wednesday 9 November.
The raid on the family-run business took place less than two years after much-loved owner Sue Addis was killed at her home in Brighton – and before the resulting trial has concluded.
Officials initially said that they found a Russian man, four Uzbekistani men and an Ivory Coast woman working without the correct visas at the restaurant, in Brighton Place.
But papers published less than a day before the review hearing reveal an exchange of correspondence that lessens the threat to Donatello.
Sussex Police withdrew its support for the Home Office request to revoke Donatello’s licence after reading through paperwork including a witness statement by one of Sue Addis’s sons, Mikele Addis.
Mikele Addis is a director of the family firm, Pietro Addis and Sons, and the premises licence holder for Donatello.
The police also took into account written exchanges between the company’s solicitor Nicholas Perkins and immigration officials.
Sussex Police licensing officer Mark Thorogood said: “On reading the witness statement, we believe the directors have acknowledged and taken on board the seriousness of their action in regards to the failure to conduct the appropriate employment checks and that, going forward, safeguards have been put in place to ensure there is no repeat of this.
“It is important to note that the circumstances which instigated the review process have been recorded within our systems and could form part of any future decision to review the licence.”
Mr Thorogood said that, previously, “we have never had any concerns over breaches of the premises licence conditions or had incidents reported to us requiring police attendance”.
He added: “Because our concerns raised have been addressed within the witness statement, we no longer believe we will have anything of weight to add to the proceedings and officially withdraw our representation.”
Home Office official Elliot Andrews, an inspector in the immigration compliance and enforcement team, asked whether Donatello would accept a three-month suspension of its licence.
Mr Perkins, a partner at solicitors Dean Wilson who specialises in licensing and litigation, rejected the offer and asked the Home Office to drop the licence review entirely.
Mikele Addis said in a witness statement that his late mother, Sue, ran the restaurant until she was killed in January 2021. She was in charge of accounts, administration and payroll.
Mr Addis’s nephew Pietro Addis, 19, the son of his brother and fellow director Leo, is due to go on trial charged with murder next month.
Pietro Addis has admitted killing his grandmother and offered a guilty plea to manslaughter but denies murder.
The restaurant’s licence permits the sale of alcoholic drinks from 11am until midnight from Sunday to Thursday and from 11am on Fridays and Saturdays until 1am.
The business can also serve food and non-alcoholic drinks until 2am on Saturday and Sunday mornings and until 1am for the rest of the week. However, Donatello’s published closing time is 10.30pm.
Mr Addis said that new staff had since been interviewed by the manager or head chef and asked to bring in their passports and visas which were checked and copied.
He said that the staff carrying out the interviews had misunderstood the term “seasonal worker” in the work visas presented to them.
Five of the six workers found by immigration officials were registered on the payroll and had national insurance numbers.
A staff member who joined on Monday 7 November – two days before the raid – had not provided her visa details before starting work in the kitchen. And the office staff did not know that her documents had not been presented.
Since the raid, Mr Addis and his brother Leo have dealt with all employment issues. They have also retained a specialist company, Bedrock Human Resources, to vet all existing and new employees.
A council licensing panel is due to start the review hearing at 10am tomorrow (Wednesday 11 January) at Hove Town Hall.
