Singer's club shut over stabbings

Natasha Hamilton owns the city centre bar

A Liverpool nightclub owned by Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton has been temporarily closed amid police fears of a gang war.

The club, H, was linked to a double stabbing this week and Merseyside Police now fear revenge attacks.

A spokesman for Ms Hamilton has denied the allegations and has pledged to cooperate with the authorities.

A licensing committee in Liverpool decided to suspend the club's licence until a full review hearing in October.

The bar, which attracts Liverpool's celebrity set, was initially closed in the early hours of Monday after two men arrived at a hospital with serious stab wounds.

If we don't act now we could be sitting here next week following a fatality Pc Stuart Moore

They told officers they had been involved in an altercation at H, in Victoria Street in the city centre, but refused to co-operate further.

When police arrived at the club, they found that blood spots, which could have been vital evidence, had been cleaned away.

Police believe that two men and a woman, who were thought to be linked to the stabbing, were thrown out of the premises before officers arrived.

The club denies the stabbing took place on its premises and denies ejecting anybody connected with the incident.

Pc Stuart Moore, of Merseyside Police's licensing unit, told the hearing: "If we had statements from those men we would establish beyond all doubt the incident took place inside the premises, a bladed instrument was used and known criminals do frequent the premises and were in attendance that night."

Gang fears

He added: "We do have serious concerns of retaliatory attacks and if we don't act now we could be sitting here next week following a fatality."

The hearing was told the club was told by police last month to stop some Liverpool gangsters frequenting the venue.

The club said that as police are not allowed to name names or issue pictures for data protection reasons, security staff were unclear about who to refuse entry to.

Police had also issued the club door staff with metal detector wands to search for weapons, but the wands were not used on Sunday night.

Manager Emma Cowin told the hearing she had ordered blood to be cleaned away from the bar as she did not know about the stabbings and thought it was from a nose bleed.

The doorman who was on duty that night told the hearing there was nothing going on inside the club, but someone told him there had been a stabbing on the street.

Committee chairman Councillor Malcolm Kelly said: "The considered view of the committee is that, given the statement of Merseyside Police about the risk of retaliatory attacks and the apparent frequency of known criminals at the premises, we should suspend the licence until a full review hearing."