Age: 42
Sex: male
Date: 24 Jan 1999
Place: Oceans Room Nightclub, Morley Street, Brighton
Jay Abatan died after being attacked outside the Oceans Room nightclub in Brighton.
He was punched and fell and hit his head on the pavement fracturing his skull and died five days later in hospital.
Two men were charged with his manslaughter within 24 hours, but the charges against them were later dropped and they were cleared of assaulting him. It was heard that it had not been possible to determine who threw the punches that knocked Jay Abatan down.
They were however charged with affray and causing actual bodily harm to Michael Abatan, but were found not guilty.
Jay Abatan was from Eastbourne and had been an accountant. He had been to the club with his brother and a friend who were also attacked outside the club.
His inquest in October 2010 returned a verdict of unlawful killing.
It was later reported that the police themselves knew of 57 errors that they made during the handling of the investigation.
In 2022 it was claimed that the attack had been racially motivated and that the police had not given enough consideration to that possibility during the initial investigation.
The investigation into his death was called Operation Dorchester.
