The Melbourne strip club where a British woman was found dead is suspected to have links to outlaw bikie gangs.
The Herald Sun reports investigations into the death of exotic dancer Stacey Tierney, 29, will centre on the entertainment club’s out-of-hours activities and connections with crime gangs.
Stacey Tierney’s body was found inside the Dreams Gentlemen’s Club, which sits on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders streets, on the morning of Monday, 19 December. She was found some 12 hours after she was last seen partying with a group of unidentified men at her place of work.
It is believed the group of men who were with Tierney on the night she died did not call an ambulance out of fear that a police investigation into her death would also look into club operations.
Managers of the club are expected to speak to police in their investigations.
The club spoke for the first time about the 29-year-old's death on Wednesday afternoon after days of silence. In a statement, the club's owners said they were cooperating with Victoria Police's "ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding Stacey’s death".
The statement came after angry social media users attacked the club for not acknowledging Tierney's death, accusing its owners of censoring Facebook posts about the events of that Monday night.
Although homicide detectives have been called to assist police with investigations, authorities are yet to label Tierney's death a murder until results of a post-mortem are conclusive.
It has since been revealed the fitness instructor, who had been living in Australia for three years, had kept her profession a secret from loved ones.
Tierney's uncle, Graham Tierney, told news.com.au he was floored by the news.
“Most of us were unaware,” he said. “It certainly surprised me.”
He said the lack of information they have received about her death has been of great cause of both stress and concern for their family.
“What I heard was that it was a private party inside the establishment when it would be normally closed and these alleged several men who fled the scene without raising any concerns,” he told news.com.au.
“Then where were the staff I assume would be serving them and who authorised the party? Surely the owners must know?”