I have actually been Publicly Crucified for Arresting A Knife-wielding Teenager

All week, the tributes have actually gathered. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle have not been reluctant to come forward. One female's account of how her boy's life was saved by his 'compassion and humanity' and determination to 'surpass what is expected of a cops officer' is particularly moving.

She composed about how the distressed teenager lost his method life and became known to cops, who were permanently needing to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a father of 3, who wound up talking her young boy down from the ledge, in a metaphorical sense in addition to an actual one.

Not just did he make the teen see that he had a future, he helped him sculpt one out by arranging work experience, although this was not his task. 'We need more officers like PC Castle, not fewer,' this grateful mother concluded.

'That one made me well up,' states Lorne, 46, who is being in his living space in a quiet residential street in Bournemouth, sorting through the thousands of messages he has received this week - some from complete strangers, but others from those he directly assisted.

He appears quite overwhelmed and a little teary (really uncharacteristic, 'or it was before all this', according to his partner Denise), by all the great things individuals have actually been saying about him.

'It's blown me away, to be truthful,' he says. 'To have individuals come back to defend me. I'm not used to this, but it's truly touching.' He keeps reading, on the edge of tears: 'If I 'd died, you couldn't have actually got better tributes.'

And in a method he has actually passed away, because, as he mentions: 'I'm not dead but the police officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'

Who killed PC Castle? Well, according to his employers at Dorset Police, the fatal injury was completely self-inflicted. Recently, he was fired - 'in a manner that was ruthless. Alan Sugar fires people in a nicer method,' he says - after being condemned of gross misbehavior.

'I'm not dead however the cops officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead,' says Castle

His crime? One that was considered so severe that it erased 10 years of unblemished service including citations for bravery.

He jailed a teenage suspect - later on found to have actually remained in possession of a knife - without showing appropriate 'courtesy or respect'. While grappling on the ground with the 15-year-old, who was resisting arrest in January last year, PC Castle shouted, swore and pointed his finger at the suspect, who was proclaiming his innocence.

In the cold light of day, safe in his own home, having simply waved his youngest daughter off to bed, Lorne, newly unemployed, still can't quite think that finger-pointing helped lose him his whole career.

He raises the upseting finger today and waggles it in front of his own nose. 'I require to holster this,' he states, despairingly. Nor can he accept a few of the concerns he had to respond to throughout a 'terrible and embarrassing' three-day gross misconduct hearing.

'For a policeman, the concept of gross misconduct is simply the worst, however among the things I was asked was if I hadn't heard the suspect say that he hadn't done anything. Did I not look at him and believe he might be telling the truth?' He throws both hands up.

'Were they seriously asking me why I didn't succumb to the old, 'it wasn't me, guv' line. Most suspects withstanding arrest say they haven't done anything. I indicate a kid understands that.

'Let's put this into context. We were examining an assault. I have actually detained him. He has actually withstood. I'm struggling on the ground with him. There is a crowd event. I'm attempting to contain this situation but my priority is to make this arrest and keep everybody safe.

'So when he states he hasn't done anything, I'm seriously expected to stop and say, 'Oh, you didn't do it? Dreadfully sorry, young Sir. Let me assist you up! Tally ho! My error!' This is a suspect who did have a knife.'

Denise, who says she 'was so happy to be the partner of a law enforcement officer', participated in every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has actually been there to get the pieces as his life broke down

The shock and bewilderment in his living room is palpable. As is the large disbelief. 'I imply, the audacity of even asking me that. But I understood even before the gross misbehavior hearing started that I was walking to the gallows. And they hung me out to dry.'

He adds: 'Even if I win my appeal, even if I got my job back, I wouldn't have the ability to do it.

'How might I stroll down the street with members of the general public thinking I'm a bully and a goon - all the things I went into the police to challenge.

'My career is gone. I'm never going to get another job, because who would provide me one. My life is ruined. They have actually broken me.'

Denise, who informs me she 'was so proud to be the other half of a policeman', participated in every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has actually been there to pick up the pieces as his life broke down.

The couple, who have daughters aged 27, 18 and 8, inform me that on the day Lorne was informed he was facing gross misconduct charges, he didn't go home - 'due to the fact that how could I tell my other half?' - however walked along Bournemouth beach up until 3am. He was too shocked to think about walking into the sea and states he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'but can comprehend people who do, in this sort of scenario, because the nature of this job isolates you from individuals who aren't authorities, so when the carpet is pulled from under you ... you feel so alone'.

Denise says she has actually seen him 'shrink, become someone who just isn't Lorne'.

'My other half is an outbound, bubbly, glass-half-full individual, who is a natural leader and motivator,' she discusses. 'He's the most moralistic individual I know - our children will back me up on that. And he's the sort of man who never employed ill even when he was ill.

'Since all this, I've just seen him alter. He breaks down now. He doubts himself. It has actually been devastating to see. Even the kids state, 'he isn't Dad'.'

Their hero dad, openly admired after plunging into the freezing River Avon to save an elderly female, is now making headlines for all the wrong factors.

When the first murmurings began, recommending this once-admired officer had been unjustly treated by 'woke' employers who were far gotten rid of from the reality of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved quickly to safeguard their position, launching damning video footage, taken from a coworker's body webcam, which does indeed show PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.

He's taped telling the suspect to 'stop shrieking like a little b ** ch' and warning him: 'I'm gon na smash you'.

This video, Lorne claims, existed out of context, cherry-picked to 'not inform the full story'.

'It was ravaging that Dorset Police might do this to me, that they might want to ... destroy me,' he states. 'What that selective video footage didn't reveal was the aftermath - when this suspect continued to withstand arrest.

'It took four officers to get him in handcuffs. That video footage doesn't show the crowd around us, whom I might see in my peripheral vision.

'There was just one 999 call made about what was occurring there and it originated from a member of the general public who was worried about me. They contacted us to say that there was an officer struggling, who appeared he needed back up.'

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Lorne includes: 'Dorset Police didn't even think it was necessary to call that individual as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I had to demand it. It paints a very various photo to what took place and I thank goodness that witness was there, due to the fact that otherwise I 'd think I was going mad.'

This is an exceptionally troubling - and dissentious - case. There is no concern that Lorne made judgment errors in his handling of that arrest on January 27, 2024.

He admitted as much during the misbehavior hearing and repeats that belief today. 'I ought to not have used the language I did. I'm ashamed and saddened that I did that, which it's out there for everybody to see. But the essence of what occurred was, regrettably necessary. That was an arrest that required to be made and I made a judgment call.

'Could I have done it in a different way? Obviously, however eventually I took a knife off the streets. Another cops force has this slogan, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force stated, 'Take a knife; Get your P45'.'

Did he should have to lose his profession? 'I don't think that's one for me to address,' he says, but his partner has no qualms. 'No, he did not,' Denise states firmly.

'They headed out to string him up. Once they chose that they were going for gross misbehavior, they went trying to find things to support that. I sat there and could not believe what they were doing.

'They have actually ruined a great guy and taken a good law enforcement officer off the streets. I still can't believe this. This entire thing feels like such an infraction.'

There has been outrage about Lorne's termination, notably from those who were when in the ranks of Dorset Police.

Former Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martyn Underhill told Radio Solent this week: 'This officer overreacted, used bad language - that has to do with it. We're becoming too woke. I believe Dorset Police have got this massively wrong. Do I believe he was worthy of to lose his task? Absolutely not.'

It is particularly devastating for Lorne that it was colleagues who first grumbled about his handling of that arrest. He won't talk about their participation, however it is understood that the two junior officers who experienced it had actually only remained in the job for six months.

It is also comprehended that while, initially, it did not appear misbehavior charges were likely, the choice was taken to initiate them. Lorne was notified of this by Superintendent Ricky Dhanda, head of Professional Standards.

In a remarkable twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been placed on restricted responsibilities while he is investigated over sexual misconduct claims. 'Maybe me and him have various decision-making processes,' is all Lorne will say. So who is Lorne Castle - and how will history judge him?

His route into the police was a little uncommon. He matured in Torquay however moved to close-by Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.

A keen sportsperson and martial arts specialist, he satisfied Denise - who would go on to be a world champ Muay Thai fighter - and they set up a sports academy together.

It was his deal with youths that brought him into contact with the man who would become his coach - former Chief Inspector Chris Amey, who had a long profession with both the Met and Dorset Police.

He fulfilled Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and devotion on a youth job. He encouraged him to sign up with the police - initially as a neighborhood assistance officer, then as a PC. Denise concurred that he had 'discovered his place' in the cops.

Undoubtedly, it was a profession at which Lorne excelled. In 2021, he was called community officer of the year, after having been twice awarded commendations.

In 2017, he saved someone in a medical emergency situation then, in 2023, he plunged into the Avon, swindling his stab vest to go into the water, eventually holding an elderly female aloft.

He says it did strike him that he was, technically, breaking all the guidelines and 'might deal with manslaughter charges' if his efforts to get the lady to hold on to a life ring went wrong.

'It did go through my mind that professional standards could tell me I wasn't supposed to go in, that I was trying to be a hero. That is the world we run in.'

But his desire to do the ideal thing triumphed and he received an award from the Humane Society for that rescue.

Fellow officers 'who had actually held the ropes as I went in' were also applauded however, bizarrely, when it pertained to the invites for the event, Lorne didn't get one.

'I 'd been placed on limited tasks already [after the occurrence with the teen] and told my superiors were going to 'hold onto' my own up until after the misbehavior proceedings.' He raged, and deeply injured. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did eventually go, however it felt quite like being the kid at the celebration you weren't invited to.'

On the night of the controversial arrest, Lorne was at completion of an 11-hour shift when a call came in about a violent masked transgressor, last seen driving an e-scooter, who was suspected of attacking a senior man and a teenage boy.

Staff at a local McDonald's had actually been scared enough to close their doors before calling for aid. Earlier that day, law enforcement officer had actually been alerted that there had actually been a large gang fight and possible suspects were still at large.

There was no factor for Lorne to take that call - the oncoming shift could have managed it - but he says he offered, 'since that's what you do'.

The suspect was quickly found and when he resisted arrest, Lorne 'took him down to the ground'.

This part is not contentious. The misbehavior hearing discovered no fault with the force utilized to take the suspect to the flooring. It was the tussle that followed that was deemed problematic.

Did PC Castle lose control? He worries how stuffed that circumstance was. 'As a police officer, you go into the unknown and there is a worry there.' He mentions that his employers launched a damning statement which repeatedly referred to the suspect as a 15-year-old young boy.

'The story was that he was scared of me. But he never made a complaint. I would argue that he was scared of getting caught.

'And I did not know he was 15 - to ride an e-scooter you have to be 16. Even if I had known, should I have kept back due to the fact that of his age? That is doing an injustice to every family who have lost somebody because they were stabbed by a teenager. No, I did not know that he had a knife, but it was my job to do a risk evaluation and I need to say my assessment was spot on.'

The knife that fell from the suspect's waistband was small but possibly deadly, especially at close quarters, he explains.

'Do you understand just how much area you require for a machete to be fatal? Quite a lot, because it needs a swing. A knife like this? With a tiny motion you can be speaking about a severed artery.'

He shakes his head. 'I can keep saying sorry for swearing. But I made that arrest. I took a knife off the streets. There was no injury. No grievance from the suspect.'

Did he go off that shift believing that it had been a catastrophe?

'Quite the opposite. I keep in mind thinking of the knife and going: 'Jeez, that was close. That could have gone severely'.'

He won't criticise the junior officers who raised the problem, aside from to refer me to that witness who called 999. 'He thought I was on my own there.'

But the feeling that he has actually been pulled down by his superiors is clear. 'I thought we were all working towards the exact same thing, which is keeping our neighborhood safe. That's all I have ever tried to do and I have been openly ruined for it.' Lorne describes needing to turn over his badge as 'the worst minute in my life'.

He says he is almost scared to walk the streets he once patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have put a target on my head. I don't even understand if we can stay here, as a family, which is heartbreaking since this is our neighborhood.'

The only advantage is the swell of support from those who think he has been mistreated. A GoFundMe account, set up by Chris Amey, the man who motivated him to join the police, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm simply humbled, however so grateful. It implies I can pay the mortgage, for now anyway.'

He goes back to those messages again. One sent on Facebook comes from another mother, Sarah Robinson, who lost her kid Cameron Hamilton in 2023. The

18-year-old was stabbed to death by another teenager in Bournemouth. 'As the mum of Cameron Hamilton, who was killed by somebody using a knife, I thank you for doing your job,' she composed. 'I am distressed that the police has lost such an excellent officer.'