Party venue where murder took place had a history of violence

Joshua Green, 27, was fatally stabbed when violence broke out on the dance floor during an R’n’B music-themed party at the Stars and Mayfair party suites in Queen’s Road.

Fellow revellers were also badly hurt during the fracas but refused to co-operate with police.

Two men, aged 19 and 22, have been arrested on suspicion of his murder and released on bail, pending further inquiries.

Following the murder, South Yorkshire Police asked for the licence of the Stars and Mayfair suite to be reviewed.

Members of Sheffield Council said that, as there was already a knife arch at the premises on New Year’s Eve and a person still died, “no conditions could deal with the problems immediately” and that a suspension pending the full review was “the reasonable and proportionate interim step”.

Bosses at the premises appealed the decision and pointed out that most bookings for 2012 were weddings and birthday parties.

However, according to the report from a meeting of the licensing sub-committee on January 9, councillors said that the “evidence of the police and the premises conflicts” and they “considered the police to be the experts in crime and disorder”.

They added that “if Stars and Mayfair were to open, there would be another serious incident”.

Following that interim meeting, the licensing board will now consider the Stars and Mayfair licence at a meeting at Sheffield Town Hall on Tuesday, January 31.

Members have a variety of options open to them, such as revoking the licence completely, suspending it for a period of time or imposing new conditions upon it.

In the report set to go before that meeting, police superintendent Martin Hemingway says that various violent incidents took place at the party suites prior to New Year’s Eve.

One night in May last year a member of security staff called police, saying there was “potential for something to happen” and he felt you could “cut the atmosphere with a knife”.

On July 10, a woman called police saying that her two sons had been assaulted at the premises the previous night by six youths, who “jumped them as they left the premises”.

Later that month, police were called to the Stars and Mayfair after a brawl broke out at a wedding, which resulted in one man being arrested for glassing another.

On August 27, Mr Hemingway says, police were again called after around 50 people began brawling at a party.

On the night Mr Green was killed, the first call to police was at 2.41am, when the call handler heard “female screaming and lots of disturbance in the background”.

Police were called several times in the next half hour and were told that “a male had been stabbed and was conscious at that time but was seriously injured”.

A further ambulance was required for a woman with “a stab wound to her side” and officers were also told that one man was outside the building with a head injury.

Mr Hemingway’s report says: “At 3.23am an injured male was conveyed by a relative’s car to hospital. It was believed that he had a two-and-a-half inch cut to his head. The relatives who conveyed him were very obstructive to the police.

“At 3.29am the injured female was transported to hospital by relatives. She refused to provide police with details of how either her or the deceased male had been injured.”

The superintendent adds that known gang members “frequent the premises” and there “may be potential for further serious crime and disorder to take place”.

The licensing meeting begins at 10am next Tuesday. Nobody from the Stars and Mayfair was available for comment yesterday.