A NIGHTCLUB CEO says that figures highlighting reports of sex offences in nightclubs "feel like a witch hunt and a direct attack".

An FOI has revealed the number of reported attacks in clubs across Bournemouth over a three-year period, with 17 reported at Cameo and seven at both 1812 and Halo.

The Echo contacted Ty Temel, CEO of Halo, who responded angrily to the figures.

Read more: Sex offences reported in clubs across Bournemouth

He said: “I’m extremely disappointed that I’m even having to comment on this and yet again try and fend off attacks to the late-night economy.

“Firstly, I think putting every incident under one bracket is nothing more than scaremongering.

“The public need to have the real data and know what is deemed as a sexual assault.

“And I don’t mean this to sound insensitive or belittle anyone’s experiences it’s more for the public to understand what it actually is you are saying.

“We as Halo report everything as none of it is acceptable regardless how serious or small it may be we believe this is the right thing to do people should feel safe in venues.

“Part of the problem is, if you report incidents or confiscate drugs you end up in this position where all of a sudden the media is portraying your venue or the industry to have a problem with incidents and drugs but any venue that has zero reports of incidents or drugs are just not reporting and not being truthful.

“We have a duty of care to the public as a venue to provide a safe and fun environment and regardless how bad it may look on us as a venue the right thing to do is report and the fact that we are now being penalised for that is outrageous.”

He added that the report feels like ‘a witch hunt and secondly a direct attack’ towards an ‘already struggling night-time economy’.

“Venues are safe places," he added.  “We have ID scanners that record every single human that comes in regardless of age, we have a team of security, we have CCTV, we have 501 radio system that connects to all venues and police instantly allowing us to share information in real time and we work very proactively work with the police and authorities to ensure we do our best.

“But yet again we are attacking nightclubs because they are an easy target.”

A spokesperson for Cameo said that the safety and enjoyment of its guests is its number one priority and said the venue has extensive CCTV and a 'We Care' scheme.

The spokesperson added: “We would encourage anyone who believes that they may have been a victim of sexual assault to come forward and report it to our team members who are specially trained to support potential victims.”