A Milton Keynes restaurant and bar has seen its licence suspended after a man was stabbed to death at its venue.

Atesh in Grafton Gate East has been ordered to cease trading with immediate effect following an urgent request from Thames Valley Police (TVP).

The decision was made by Milton Keynes Council’s licensing committee on Tuesday night.

A murder investigation has been launched after 28-year-old Nagiib Maxamed was stabbed to death at the restaurant on December 27.  

Three people, a 25-year-old man, a 29-year-old and a 34-year-old woman, all from Birmingham, have been arrested on murder and attempted murder. They remain in police custody.

A post-mortem found Mr Maxamed died from a stab wound to the chest.

A second man was also injured during the incident which happened at around 1.30am. He remains in hospital.

The local authority found during a licensing meeting held on January 4 that the licensing objectives for the prevention of crime and disorder and of public safety “are not being met”.

It heard from TVP that the management failed to immediately release CCTV footage when requested by officers.

It also heard how staff failed to immediately report the incident to emergency services.

The council also heard from police how management failed to close down the event in which the incident occurred, and only did so when police insisted so as to “preserve the scene”.

It also heard of the ten door staff on duty, two were not carrying Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence badges, while the badges of others were being worn incorrectly.

The council also heard from police that none of the venue’s security staff were wearing body cameras that night.

A TVP licensing officer: “The difficulty in getting the venue to agree to close down the event will have caused initial delays into what is a very serious incident that we were trying to investigate.

“It is not our opinion that the venue was complying with their licence conditions, nor were they promoting the licensing objectives.”

Speaking at the meeting on Tuesday, a representative from Atesh’s management: “I’m very sad for what happened that night. I want to be together with the community to stop knife crime.”

Atesh also said it had given police "everything it had been asked for".

Management also told the committee that everybody going in the venue had been searched on entry.

When Atesh learned someone was hurt on the night, it claimed the venue stopped selling alcohol and tried to keep punters inside: “I asked if someone called the police and they said yes. I was shocked as well and I wanted to make everybody safe.

“I told security to take everyone inside because now we have to find out what happened. I told the staff to stop selling alcohol at the bar.

“Police came to me and said 'we have to close' and I said, 'yeah, we’re going to close but there’s a lot of people inside and we have to make the people safe'.”

Atesh added: "I want to help the police, I have nothing to hide."

Anyone with information about the incident should call Thames Valley Police on 101 quoting ref: 43210581126, or online via the TVP website.

If you have information but do not wish to speak with police, you can report anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or online.