Nightclub where Cody Fisher was stabbed to death on Boxing Day has licence suspended

The decision was made following a meeting of Birmingham City Council's licensing sub-committee on Friday after West Midlands Police said there had been "serious management failings" during the incident at the club in Digbeth on Boxing Day.

The authority is now reviewing whether the venue should be closed permanently.

Ahead of the hearing, West Midlands Police said Cody Fisher died during “a fight on the dancefloor” and officers who attended shortly before midnight on Boxing Day “described a scene of chaos and evidence of drug use within the premises”.

One sergeant’s account said the club’s security guards asked officers to help them with crowd control following the stabbing, while other “oblivious” staff members were “wandering around all over the place” and began cleaning up the crime scene.

“They have started to clean the dancefloor further down from where the deceased was; officers shouted at them to stop,” the sergeant said.

“While officers are doing CPR, you can see people are just wandering around in the scene freely. As soon as we had more officers on the scene they were removed and the whole dancefloor was cordoned off and the area was made sterile.

“There were hundreds of small drugs bags and nitrous oxide canisters all over the dancefloor. These include the small and the very large nitrous oxide canisters with balloons.”

Officers said they arrested a 22-year-old man in London at around 3am on Thursday in connection with the stabbing.

He is the third person to be arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr Fisher, while four others have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Police arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of murder in Birmingham city centre just after midnight on Wednesday, while a second man, aged 21, was arrested for the same offence several hours later in London.

A knife was recovered from the crime scene and a post-mortem examination confirmed that Mr Fisher died of a stab wound.

Mr Fisher was remembered by his girlfriend, Jess Chatwin, in an emotional message posted on Twitter the day after his murder.

She wrote: “You didn’t deserve any of this. I’m so sorry this has happened to you my baby please come home. I love you forever Cody Fisher.”

A statement published by the police and attributed to Mr Fisher’s family said: “They have broken our hearts; I have lost my best friend. My family and I are asking for privacy and respectfulness at this heart-breaking time.”