Owner of Atesh speaks out after fatal stabbing at his Milton Keynes venue

The owner of Atesh bar and restaurant has told the council he is “very sad” at the death of 28-year-old Nagiib Maxamed, who was stabbed at the premises on December 27.

Mr Ates spoke at a licensing committee following an urgent request from Thames Valley Police to suspend Atesh’s licence because the licensing objectives for the prevention of crime and disorder and of public safety are not being met.

During the meeting, police outlined how they believed Atesh failed to immediately release CCTV footage of the night upon request, or to immediately report the incident to emergency services, or to close down the event and only did so when officers insisted.

Mr Ates told the committee he wanted to “work with the police” in its investigation, adding he had spoken with officers “every day”.

He also told the committee he would no longer hire the venue out for private functions.

A second man was also injured during the incident, which happened at around 1.30am.

Five people, all from Birmingham, have now been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. They remain in police custody.

Atesh has subsequently seen its licence suspended.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Ates: “I’m very sad for what happened that night – something I don’t want to happen that people die next to my premises or on the street. I want to be together with the community to stop knife crime.

“I called ten security that night that tried to make it safe for people and…we searched everyone, every single person we searched.”

When Mr Ates learned someone was hurt on the night, he claimed the venue stopped selling alcohol and tried to keep punters inside: “I asked if someone called the police and they said, ‘yes’. I was shocked as well, and I wanted to make everybody safe.

“I told security to take everyone inside because now we had to find out what happened. I told the staff to stop selling alcohol at the bar."

He added: “Police came to me and said: ‘We have to close’. And I said: ‘Yeah, we are going to close – but there are a lot of people inside and we want to make the people safe’. I didn’t want people to be panicked.

“When I saw the police came, I told the DJ: “Stop the music now, we are going to close.”

He added: “We want to help [police] to find out. We have to stop knife crime...They think we didn’t help, the police – that’s not true. I want to work close with them. What they ask, everything I’ve given to them. I have nothing to hide.”

Anyone with information about the incident should call Thames Valley Police on 101 quoting ref: 43210581126, or online via the TVP website.

If you have information but do not wish to speak with police, you can report anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or online.