the times | Thursday November 11 2021 V2 21
News
The founder of one of Soho’s most
exclusive nightclubs has been charged
with bribery offences alongside a
Metropolitan Police officer and secur-
ity bosses after a seven-year corruption
investigation.
Ryan Bishti, 41, the entrepreneur
behind Cirque le Soir and other clubs in
the capital, will appear in court next
month. He has been charged with
conspiracy to commit bribery along-
side Frank Partridge, a former sergeant
in the Westminster police licensing
unit.
Partridge, 48, was suspended from
that supplied door staff to Soho night-
spots. His ex wife, Soraya Henderson,
55, is also alleged to have been part of
the conspiracy. Bishti’s mother Pamela,
66; Hassan Serdoud, 54, who runs
another security company; Anna Gi-
nandes, 44; and Eamonn Mulholland,
54, are also accused. Serdoud has also
been charged with bribery.
The group will appear at Westmin-ster magistrates’ court, in central
London, on December 21.
The Met said a file was initially
passed to the CPS in December 2017
and the charges brought “following
further work”.
On its website Cirque le Soir, whose
clientele has included the actor
Benedict Cumberbatch and the singer
Rhianna, describes itself as one of theAn eight-stone dog called Beast
that mauled a ten-year-old boy to
death had been with its new own-
ers for less than a fortnight.
Jack Lis was killed in the house
of a friend after they walked home
from school on Monday afternoon.
The powerful brown and white
animal, which was shot seven
times by armed officers as it tried
to escape the property, is being ex-
amined to check if it is an illegal
breed banned in Britain.
A 28-year-old woman has been
arrested on suspicion of being in
Dog that mauled boy to death was recently sold
charge of a dog dangerously out of
control causing injury resulting in
death. She was released on condi-
tional bail.
Two men – a 34-year-old and a
19-year-old from the Caerphilly
area — voluntarily attended a
police station and were questioned
on suspicion of the same offence
before being released.
Jack’s schoolfriend ran out into
the street in Penyrheol, Caerphilly,
south Wales screaming for help
but he died before paramedics
could get to him.
The “very large” dog was called
Beast by its previous owner when itwas offered for sale on Facebook in
October and was described as
weighing 115lbs. Neighbours de-
scribed the animal as an “Amer-
ican bulldog or a pitbull” but it may
be a cross-breed with the banned
Pit Bull Terrier.
An advertisement for the animal
was posted on October 29 claiming
it was “great with people”.
The advert said the animal was
15 months old but “unfortunately
does not like other dogs”.
It said: “I’ve tried my best with
him, I have other dogs and can not
put them at risk. He needs some-
one with time.”Will Humphries
Nurse who lost limbs
to sepsis killed herself
A
former nurse
who loved to
dance despite
losing three
limbs to sepsis
was found hanged during
lockdown (George
Sandeman writes).
An inquest heard how
Jayne Carpenter, 53, had
sent her husband Robert,
56, to pick up their
family dog, Harriet, on
December 7. He returned
to their home in Merthyr
Tydfil to find his wife
dead. “She was in
constant pain and knew
she would never get
better. Covid was the
tipping point, she was
very down because she
couldn’t dance and
socialise and do the
things that kept her
going,” Carpenter said in
a post on social media
last year paying tribute
to his partner of nearly
30 years.
“Jayne loved to keep fit
— dancing was her life,”
he told The Sun.
“Although she was in
great pain she was able
to do that with her
friends at the gym.
“But all that stopped
and she’s had a very
difficult 12 months.”
Carpenter was
diagnosed with
neutropenic sepsis after
visiting her doctor
complaining of a cough
in 2016. It is a life-
threatening overreaction
by the immune system to
an infection. She was put
on a ventilator as her
health declined and
gangrene set into her
limbs with doctors
deciding multiple
amputations were
needed to save her life.
After she was in a
coma for nine weeks two
teams of surgeons
removed her left arm
below the elbow, both
legs and four fingers of
her right hand in five
hours of surgery. After
coming round from her
surgery, she asked her
husband: “Why did you
let me live?”
He revealed she had
offered him the chance
to walk away from their
marriage but he told her:
“I married you not for
your arms or legs but
because I love you.”
He said after her
surgery she “put all her
effort into regaining her
life” and “amazed us as a
family”.
The former nurse at
the Royal Gwent
Hospital in Newport
campaigned to highlight
the dangers of sepsis and
was honoured by the
Royal College of Nursing
for her efforts.
She also tried to raise
money to have
pioneering surgery on
her limbs that was not
available on the NHS.
In the operation, a
prosthetic limb would
have been attached to
her remaining bone,
meaning that she wouldnot have to use normal
prosthetics that can lead
to rubbing and
infections.
Carpenter wrote on
her GoFundMe page:
“The surgery will enable
me to live the life of an
able-bodied person. All
the things I loved doing
and my independence
were stripped from me
overnight.”
However, after her
mental health declined
last year, the inquest was
told that she had twice
taken an overdose.
Tests showed that on
the day she died she had
drunk “a large quantity
of alcohol” but police did
not find a note stating
her intention to take her
own life.
Recording a narrative
verdict, Dr Sarah-Jane
Richards, assistant
coroner for south Wales
central, said,
“Undoubtedly, her loss of
limbs inflicted a life-
changing loss to this
previously healthy and
active woman” and that
her death was “in the
context of traumatic,
life-changing events
having challenged her
desire to live”.
Her husband described
Carpenter as “an
amazing person” and
said: “the brightest star
in my sky has burnt out.”n p t i h “ATHENA PICTURESJayne Carpenter
campaigned to raise
awareness of the dangers
of sepsis after her legs and
arm were amputated in five
hours of surgeryNeighbours described the dog as
an “American bulldog or pitbull”Soho nightclub founder faces bribery charge
Fiona Hamilton Crime Editor his duties when he was arrested in 2015,
and has since left the Met.
The Crown Prosecution Service yes-
terday confirmed the pair and six
others had been charged with con-
spiracy to commit bribery between
February 1 2013 and June 25 2015.
The Met said the charges followed a
long-running investigation by the anti-
corruption command. Officers exam-
ined “allegations of corruption by
police licensing officers in Westmin-
ster, and inappropriate relationships
between police officers and people run-
ning local businesses”.
Also charged is Terry Neill, 55, the
former boss of TSS, a security company
“most exhilarating clubbing brands in
the world”.
Previously its management said it
was all about “conspicuous consump-
tion”, where guests sip expensive
champagne served by dwarfs as they
are entertained by live circus shows.
Minimum spends start from as “little as
£100 a head”.
The club came under fire in 2015
when promoters warned regular guests
not to bring “fat girls”, although man-
agement dissociated themselves from
the comments. Bishti is also part of the
joint venture that revived the famous
Windmill theatre, which introduced
the first nude showgirls to London.How The Times
reported the
initial arrests in
February 2016.
Eight people in
total face charges