THE licensing board at North Ayrshire Council will have to delay their decision on whether to revoke the personal licence of a convicted criminal.

It comes after Joseph Henry Fitzsimmons asked that his case be adjourned to the next meeting of the licensing committee when they last met on September 5.

The case was brought to the board as the area’s Chief Constable exercised their right to report to the Board where he considers that any Personal Licence Holder has acted in a manner which is inconsistent with any of the Licensing Objectives.

This relates to information regarding a holder’s criminal received by Mr Fitzsimmons which was not supplied by the Licence Holder within one month after the date of the conviction.

Failure to do so without reasonable excuse is an offence under Section 82(5).

On January 18, 2021the licence holder was convicted of Assault to Severe Injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment and was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

These circumstances were reported to the licensing board via letter on June 30 of this year, this letter was distributed to Members at the meeting.

Meeting documents state that: “The Chief Constable considers that the Licence-Holder has acted in a manner inconsistent with the Licensing Objective “Preventing Crime and Disorder”, and therefore requests the Board to revoke the licence.”

The decision was due to be made on September 5 however, a decision will now not be reached until the board’s next meeting on October 31.

This is due to Mr Fitzsimmons asking that the meeting be adjourned so he could come back with legal representation.