Cottesloe pub security company previously fired for letting in bikies

Nicole Cox, Police Reporter From: The Sunday Times May 21, 2011

Nightclub Flawless fired a security company for letting in bikies.

THE security company sacked by a Cottesloe pub after a death linked to the Rock Machine bikie club was fired last month by another venue for admitting Comancheros members.
The Sunday Times has learnt that known Comancheros and their associates were let into the Subiaco club Flawless by Nightlife Security Services bouncers despite attempts by the club's management to bar them. It is understood a worker was hit as she tried to intervene.

Last week The Sunday Times revealed that the Ocean Beach Hotel terminated Nightlife Security's contract after door staff allowed Rock Machine bikies into the venue on May 8. Witnesses said bouncers welcomed the bikies into the pub, hugging and shaking hands, before 29-year-old musician Andy Marshall was allegedly thrown 7m to his death by a Rock Machine associate.

Last Sunday, Nightlife Security bouncers clashed with Comancheros at Thornlie's Lakers Tavern when they were refused entry because they were wearing club patches. Police said one bouncer was bashed unconscious and another needed medical treatment to remove a security radio earpiece that became stuck in his ear after a blow to the head.

Nightlife Security Services general manager Wayne Russell confirmed this week that Comancheros had been allowed entry to Flawless. He said the head doorman had allowed them in "to keep the peace" and had planned to call the Gang Crime Squad to remove them, but the call to police was never made.

But he denied his company was embroiled in WA's bikie scene and rejected suggestions the company had been sacked from Flawless, saying he had surrendered the contract because management had interfered with security operations.

A spokesman for Lakers Tavern said Nightlife Security Services was still employed by the pub.

Rock Machine associate Stefan Pahia Schmidt, 25, has been charged with murder over Mr Marshall's death. He will next appear in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on June 15.

Mr Marshall's body was returned to his family in New Zealand this week, and a funeral for him is to be held in the North Island town of Tauranga tomorrow .