Shakedown: Adam Welch being search by police officers before last month’s Palace v Wolves game at Selhurst Park. They found ‘no evidence’. Note the steward, wearing a cap and hoodie " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers19cropped-e1751288480660.jpg?fit=300%2C295&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers19cropped-e1751288480660.jpg?fit=444%2C436&ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-206182" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers19cropped-e1751288480660.jpg?resize=444%2C436&ssl=1" alt width="444" height="436" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers19cropped-e1751288480660.jpg?w=444&ssl=1 444w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers19cropped-e1751288480660.jpg?resize=300%2C295&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers19cropped-e1751288480660.jpg?resize=150%2C147&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 444px) 100vw, 444px">
Shakedown: Adam Welch (beige jacket) waiting to be searched by police before the Palace v Wolves game at Selhurst Park. They found ‘no evidence’. Note the steward, wearing a cap and hoodie
EXCLUSIVE: Eagles fans looking forward to celebrating the club’s FA Cup final win at Selhurst Park last month were refused entry to the ground despite a search which, according to the Met Police, found ‘no evidence’
A Crystal Palace fan who was wrongfully detained outside Selhurst Park before the last Premier League game of the season, initially accused of carrying a Class A drug, was later told by a senior police officer that there was “no evidence” to support the allegation and he was free to leave.
Adam Welch and his father, David Welch, still missed the Wolverhampton Wanderers game on May 20, wrecking what they had hoped would be a celebration of Palace’s FA Cup victory.
Inside Croydon’s exclusive report last month about potentially unlawful security searches using sniffer dogs outside Selhurst Park Stadium received strong backing from supporters, several of whom reported having to endure similarly suspicious experiences.
We had reported how a private security firm, InvictaK9, had been hired by the football club to deploy sniffer dogs along Holmesdale Road to detect drugs and pyrotechnics on fans as they queued to enter the stadium.
Sniffing out sports: InvictaK9 were operating sniffer dogs at last year’s Wimbledon tennis " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-17-14-34-15-Facebook.png?fit=300%2C294&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-17-14-34-15-Facebook.png?fit=640%2C628&ssl=1" class=" wp-image-203743" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-17-14-34-15-Facebook.png?resize=383%2C376&ssl=1" alt width="383" height="376" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-17-14-34-15-Facebook.png?w=640&ssl=1 640w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-17-14-34-15-Facebook.png?resize=300%2C294&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-17-14-34-15-Facebook.png?resize=150%2C147&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px">
Sniffing out sports: InvictaK9 were operating sniffer dogs at last year’s Wimbledon tennis championships
But this website’s checks with the National Training Inspectorate for Professional Dog Users confirmed that the search as conducted on our reporter was illegal under the Private Security Industry Act 2001.
The dog handler failed to display any ID or licence, and refused to identify themselves or their employers when challenged.
A spokesperson for NTIPDU added that they were “truly appalled that any person would be subjected to the kind of treatment I have just read about”.
The Security Industry Authority backed this up, telling Inside Croydon that a security firm “contravening licence conditions is a criminal offence under Section 9 of the Private Security Industry Act of 2001”. They added that the company could be prosecuted by the SIA for this breach of the law.
And a spokesperson for the Football Supporters Association told Inside Croydon that they would be raising the matter with the Premier League, ” in particular the need for searching staff to be identifiable”.
Eagles fans’ bulletin boards confirmed a widespread dissatisfaction with the conduct of security handlers outside Selhurst Park, with some suggesting that the examples cited in the report were far from “isolated” incidents.
Adam Welch, 27, and his father David contacted this website to share their experience of an over-zealous and highly suspicious security search which wrecked their experience at the last league home game of the season.
Despite there being “no evidence” against him, Adam Welch was still refused entry to the match by Crystal Palace stewards.
It has all left him angry and bewildered. “It was hands down the worst experience of my life.”
Adam and David had been heading for the game in buoyant mood. Both long-time season ticket-holders, they had been at Wembley to see Palace’s epic cup final win three days earlier.
On patrol: a sniffer dog search at a recent Crystal Palace game, where staff were properly identified. It has not always been the case " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sniffer-dogs-Crystal-Palace-pixelated-version.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sniffer-dogs-Crystal-Palace-pixelated-version.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1" class=" wp-image-203707" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sniffer-dogs-Crystal-Palace-pixelated-version.jpg?resize=385%2C289&ssl=1" alt width="385" height="289" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sniffer-dogs-Crystal-Palace-pixelated-version.jpg?w=680&ssl=1 680w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sniffer-dogs-Crystal-Palace-pixelated-version.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sniffer-dogs-Crystal-Palace-pixelated-version.jpg?resize=150%2C113&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px">
On patrol: a sniffer dog search at a previous Palace game
They arrived early, around 7.20pm, as they planned to meet friends inside the stadium for a drink and “to savour the once-in-a-lifetime atmosphere and joy”, as David put it.
There were no queues as they reached Gate 2 on Holmesdale Road. They were patted down by security guards and David passed through the turnstile.
Adam was about to follow him when an InvictaK9 dog and handler approached and sniffed his pockets. The dog’s handler, a woman, told Adam the dog had signalled that he “might have something on me”, she asked him to go to be searched.
“I had no problem with having the search done,” Adam told Inside Croydon. “I knew I didn’t have anything on me. I just wanted to get this over as quickly as possible and get into the ground to join my dad and my friends.”
Adam was led a short distance away where another security guard was waiting, together with several police officers. This guard was wearing dark glasses and a black baseball cap, and had a hood pulled up over his head, as shown in photographs taken of the security check.
This security official, thought not to be a part of the InvictaK9 operation, began by searching Adam’s wallet and phone, and then his clothing, starting at his torso and working down.
“He crouched down and was searching my right ankle. I felt him tugging the bottom of my jeans and was about to look down when he got back up. I asked him ‘Am I good to go now?’
“His fist was clenched and when he opened it I saw a small plastic bag containing a white powder. At first I thought it was a joke. I knew the plastic bag wasn’t mine.”
The guard called over a police officer over who asked him where he had found the bag. “He said he got it from my sock,” Adam said. The police officer told Adam he was under arrest for possessing controlled substances.
“I told him straightaway that the bag of powder wasn’t mine and it had been planted on me, but they weren’t having any of it.”
According to Adam, the policeman told him that the powder looked like MDMA or low-level cocaine.
“I knew the bag wasn’t mine. I never touch drugs. I don’t use cocaine and never have.”
A police officer searched Adam but found nothing. He also asked Adam for his name and driving licence. After doing a check, he told Adam there was nothing about him in police records. “I have never ever been in trouble with the police.”
‘Routine’ search: Adam Welch (hands on head while being searched by a police officer in a hi-viz jacket) " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers14-e1751290658832.jpg?fit=255%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers14-e1751290658832.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1" class=" wp-image-206188" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers14-e1751290658832.jpg?resize=507%2C596&ssl=1" alt width="507" height="596" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers14-e1751290658832.jpg?w=612&ssl=1 612w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers14-e1751290658832.jpg?resize=255%2C300&ssl=1 255w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sniffers14-e1751290658832.jpg?resize=128%2C150&ssl=1 128w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px">
‘Routine’ search: Adam Welch (hands on head while being searched by a police officer in a hi-viz jacket) says that that night at Selhurst Park was the worst experience of his life
Adam was by now in a state of shock. “I was scared and didn’t know what was going on.”
As Adam continued to insist he was innocent, a policeman told him he had two choices.
The first was to admit that the drugs were his. He would then be given a caution, which meant his name would go on their database for any future searches, but would not be revealed if anyone conducted a “Disclosure and Barring Service”, a DBS check.
Alternatively, if Adam continued to deny the drugs were his, he would be taken to Windmill Road custody suite to be interviewed formally and held in the cells, and then appear in court in the morning. All of that would appear on police records for anyone to see, including potential employers.
The police, Adam said, asked him at least 10 times to admit the drugs were his, adding each time that he was under arrest.
One policeman told Adam that another officer had seen the security guard take something from his right sock. “I felt completely helpless and under pressure to admit to something I knew I was innocent of.”
Welch noticed that other officers were questioning the steward who had conducted the search.
The police told Welch that they were going to test the powder and asked if he wanted to watch. The test was conducted at a table beside the search area. The police quickly confirmed that the powder in the bag was cocaine.
“I was in shock,” Welch says. “My world had fallen apart.”
To Welch’s relief, his father now arrived.
After trying to reach Adam by phone from inside the ground, David had spoken to a police officer who told him he had been found with “a pouch of white powder” and had been arrested. “I said, ‘That’s just ridiculous’,” David Welch told Inside Croydon.
After having already gone through the Selhurst Park turnstiles into the ground, David Welch had gone out into the street where he found Adam “with tears in his eyes” surrounded by a group of police officers.
One told him that Adam had been offered a caution and that, if he agreed. “he would be on his way”.
Adam Welch said: “My dad agreed that I shouldn’t say I was guilty of something when I wasn’t.”
David Welch asked to see what the guard said he had found and they showed him the bag.
He asked the police which security guard claimed to have found the cocaine on Adam. They pointed to the man wearing a hood, baseball cap and dark glasses.
No response: the Metropolitan Police failed to respond to questions about their policies when working with private firms at football matches " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1" class=" wp-image-205611" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?resize=377%2C251&ssl=1" alt width="377" height="251" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?resize=150%2C100&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?resize=768%2C511&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?w=1477&ssl=1 1477w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Scotland-Yard-2.jpg?w=1280&ssl=1 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px">
No response: the Metropolitan Police failed to respond to questions about their policies when working with private firms at football matches
The security guard refused to allow his ID badge to be photographed. When David Welch asked the police to provide the name and other details of the security guard, they refused.
With kick-off time approaching inside the stadium, the season ticket-holders discussed what they should do. “Adam said he could not admit to something he had not done and I agreed wholeheartedly. If I had believed for one minute there was even a 1% chance it was his cocaine I would have said he should accept the caution and thank his lucky stars it ended there,” David Welch said.
He told the police officer that his sonwould go to the custody station to make a statement.
“I was terrified,” Adam Welch said of the prospect of spending the night in a police cell.
Another police officer now crossed the road and made a call on his mobile. A few minutes later he called Adam over and told him there was “no evidence” that the cocaine was his and he was free to go, adding that there was no evidence to support Adam’s claim that the drugs had been planted, either. Which meant that the bag of cocaine had somehow just appeared as if by magic…
David Welch says that instead of feeling a sense of relief, he felt consumed with anger at the injustice of what had occurred. By now, it was 20 minutes into the game, but a Palace steward told them that Adam could not enter the ground because drugs had been found on him.
“I told him that the police said there was no evidence of that, but he still said ‘No’,” David said. “We decided to just go home. It should have been the biggest night of celebrations but was ruined.”
The Welches believe that the football club has questions to answer about the behaviour of the security guard. They have also aired suspicions over apparent collusion between the security crew and the police.
The Metropolitan Police has never answered questions from Inside Croydon about its policies for policing London’s football grounds and working alongisde private security firms.
Adam Welch told Inside Croydon: “We were so much looking forward to the celebrations at the match. I wanted to experience that with my dad and my friends.
“But now I will never get that back.”
Read more: Something doesn’t sniff right as security firm breaks the law
Read more: Palace fans’ forums express outrage over dodgy dog searches
Read more: 83-year-old Palace fan shaken by Selhurst security shakedown
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