I ve Been Publicly Crucified For Arresting A Knife-wielding Teenager

All week, the homages have gathered. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle haven't been reluctant to come forward. One woman's account of how her son's life was saved by his 'kindness and mankind' and determination to 'go beyond what is expected of a cops officer' is especially moving.


She blogged about how the troubled teenager lost his method life and ended up being known to authorities, who were permanently having to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a father of 3, who wound up talking her kid below the ledge, in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal one.


Not only did he make the teen see that he had a future, he assisted him sculpt one out by setting up work experience, even though this was not his task. 'We need more officers like PC Castle, not less,' this grateful mom concluded.


'That a person made me well up,' says Lorne, 46, who is sitting in his living room in a quiet property street in Bournemouth, sifting through the countless messages he has actually gotten today - some from complete strangers, but others from those he directly helped.


He seems quite overwhelmed and a little teary (extremely uncharacteristic, 'or it was before all this', according to his spouse Denise), by all the nice things people have actually been stating about him.


'It's blown me away, to be truthful,' he states. 'To have individuals return to defend me. I'm not used to this, however it's actually touching.' He continues reading, on the verge of tears: 'If I 'd passed away, you couldn't have actually got better homages.'


And in a manner he has actually died, because, as he points out: 'I'm not dead but the law enforcement officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'


Who eliminated PC Castle? Well, according to his managers at Dorset Police, the deadly injury was entirely self-inflicted. Last week, he was fired - 'in a method that was ruthless. Alan Sugar fires people in a nicer way,' he says - after being found guilty of gross misconduct.


'I'm not dead but the policeman I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead,' states Castle


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


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


In the cold light of day, safe in his own home, having just waved his youngest child off to bed, Lorne, newly unemployed, still can't rather believe that finger-pointing assisted lose him his whole career.


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


'For a policeman, the idea of gross misbehavior is just the worst, but one of the things I was asked was if I had not heard the suspect say that he hadn't done anything. Did I not take a look at him and think he might be informing the truth?' He tosses 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 mean a child knows that.


'Let's put this into context. We were investigating an attack. I have actually detained him. He has resisted. I'm struggling on the ground with him. There is a crowd gathering. I'm attempting to include this situation but my concern is to make this arrest and keep everyone safe.


'So when he states he hasn't done anything, I'm seriously supposed to stop and state, '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 better half of a policeman', participated in every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has actually existed to select up the pieces as his life broke down


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


He includes: 'Even if I win my appeal, even if I got my job back, I would not have the ability to do it.


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


'My career is gone. I'm never ever going to get another task, since who would offer me one. My life is destroyed. They've broken me.'


Denise, who informs me she 'was so happy to be the wife of a law enforcement officer', participated in every day of her husband's disciplinary hearing and has actually been there to get 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 told he was dealing with gross misbehavior charges, he didn't go home - 'since how could I tell my spouse?' - however walked along Bournemouth beach till 3am. He was too shocked to think of walking into the sea and states he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'but can comprehend individuals who do, in this sort of situation, since the nature of this task isolates you from individuals who aren't authorities, so when the rug is pulled from under you ... you feel so alone'.


Denise states she has actually seen him 'shrink, end up being someone who simply isn't Lorne'.


'My hubby is an outbound, bubbly, glass-half-full person, who is a natural leader and motivator,' she describes. 'He's the most moralistic person I understand - our kids will back me up on that. And he's the sort of male who never contacted ill even when he was ill.


'Since all this, I have actually simply seen him change. He breaks down now. He doubts himself. It has actually been ravaging to watch. Even the kids say, 'he isn't Dad'.'


Their hero father, publicly admired after plunging into the freezing River Avon to conserve a senior female, is now making headlines for all the incorrect factors.


When the first murmurings started, recommending this once-admired officer had been unfairly treated by 'woke' bosses who were far gotten rid of from the truth of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved quickly to safeguard their position, launching damning video footage, drawn from a colleague's body webcam, which does undoubtedly reveal PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.


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


This footage, Lorne claims, was provided out of context, cherry-picked to 'not tell the full story'.


'It was ravaging that Dorset Police might do this to me, that they might desire to ... ruin me,' he says. 'What that selective footage didn't show was the after-effects - when this suspect continued to withstand arrest.


'It took four officers to get him in handcuffs. That video does not show the crowd around us, whom I could see in my peripheral vision.


'There was just one 999 call made about what was occurring there and it came from a member of the general public who was concerned about me. They contacted us to say that there was an officer having a hard time, who looked as if he required back up.'


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Lorne includes: 'Dorset Police didn't even believe it was needed to call that individual as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I needed to insist on it. It paints an extremely various picture to what took place and I thank goodness that witness existed, since otherwise I 'd think I was freaking.'


This is an extremely uncomfortable - and divisive - 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 sentiment today. 'I should not have actually used the language I did. I'm ashamed and saddened that I did that, which it's out there for everyone to see. But the essence of what happened was, sadly 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? Naturally, but eventually I took a knife off the streets. Another police force has this slogan, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force stated, 'Take a knife; Get your P45'.'


Did he deserve to lose his profession? 'I do not think that's one for me to respond to,' he says, but his other half has no qualms. 'No, he did not,' Denise states strongly.


'They went out to string him up. Once they decided that they were going for gross misbehavior, they went looking for things to support that. I sat there and could not think what they were doing.


'They have ruined an excellent man and taken a good policeman off the streets. I still can't believe this. This entire thing seems like such a violation.'


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


Former Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martyn Underhill informed Radio Solent this week: 'This officer overreacted, utilized bad language - that has to do with it. We're becoming too woke. I believe Dorset Police have actually got this massively wrong. Do I think he should have to lose his job? Never.'


It is especially ravaging for Lorne that it was associates who initially grumbled about his handling of that arrest. He won't discuss their participation, however it is comprehended that the 2 junior officers who saw it had actually just been in the job for 6 months.


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


In an extraordinary twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been positioned on limited responsibilities while he is examined over sexual misconduct accusations. 'Maybe me and him have various decision-making procedures,' is all Lorne will say. So who is Lorne Castle - and how will history judge him?


His path into the police was a little uncommon. He matured in Torquay however relocated to nearby Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.


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


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


He satisfied Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and devotion on a youth task. He persuaded him to sign up with the police - initially as a community assistance officer, then as a PC. Denise concurred that he had actually 'found his location' in the authorities.


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


In 2017, he saved someone in a medical emergency then, in 2023, he plunged into the Avon, ripping off his stab vest to get in the water, ultimately holding an elderly lady aloft.


He states it did take place to him that he was, technically, breaking all the rules and 'could deal with murder charges' if his attempts to get the female to hold on to a life ring failed.


'It did go through my mind that expert requirements could inform me I wasn't supposed to enter, that I was attempting to be a hero. That is the world we run in.'


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


Fellow officers 'who had held the ropes as I went in' were also applauded however, bizarrely, when it concerned the invitations for the ceremony, Lorne didn't get one.


'I 'd been placed on limited tasks already [after the incident with the teen] and informed my superiors were going to 'keep' my own up until after the misconduct procedures.' 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 party you weren't invited to.'


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


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


There was no factor for Lorne to take that call - the oncoming shift might have handled it - however he says he offered, 'because that's what you do'.


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


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


Did PC Castle lose control? He stresses how filled that situation was. 'As a law enforcement officer, you enter into the unknown and there is a worry there.' He explains that his employers released a damning statement which consistently referred to the suspect as a 15-year-old young boy.


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


'And I did not know he was 15 - to ride an e-scooter you need to be 16. Even if I had known, should I have kept back because of his age? That is doing a disservice to every household who have lost someone because they were stabbed by a teen. No, I did not understand that he had a knife, however it was my job to do a danger evaluation and I need to state my evaluation was area on.'


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


'Do you understand how much space you require for a machete to be lethal? Quite a lot, since it needs a swing. A knife like this? With a small movement you can be discussing a severed artery.'


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


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


'Quite the opposite. I remember thinking of the knife and going: 'Jeez, that was close. That might have gone terribly'.'


He will not criticise the junior officers who raised the problem, other than to refer me to that witness who called 999. 'He thought I was on my own there.'


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


He states he is nearly afraid to stroll the streets he once patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have actually put a target on my head. I do not even understand if we can stay here, as a family, which is heartbreaking because this is our neighborhood.'


The only upside is the swell of assistance from those who believe he has been mistreated. A GoFundMe account, set up by Chris Amey, the guy who encouraged him to sign up with the police, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm just humbled, however so grateful. It indicates I can pay the mortgage, for now anyhow.'


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


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


This makes Lorne wish to sob - for himself and his family, yes, however also for those people he promised to serve.


'I did my task,' he duplicates. 'And I have actually been crucified for it.'