I Have Actually Been Publicly Crucified For Arresting A Knife-wielding Teenager

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All week, the homages have actually poured in. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle have not been reluctant to come forward. One female's account of how her kid's life was saved by his 'kindness and humanity' and determination to 'surpass what is anticipated of a cops officer' is especially moving.


She blogged about how the troubled teen lost his way in life and became understood to police, who were forever having to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a dad of 3, who ended up talking her boy down from the ledge, in a metaphorical sense as well as an actual one.


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


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


He seems rather overloaded and a little teary (really uncharacteristic, 'or it was before all this', according to his spouse Denise), by all the great things individuals have been saying about him.


'It's blown me away, to be sincere,' he states. 'To have individuals come back to stand up for me. I'm not utilized to this, but it's truly touching.' He reads on, on the brink of tears: 'If I 'd passed away, you could not have got nicer tributes.'


And in a method he has passed away, because, as he points out: 'I'm not dead but the policeman I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'


Who killed PC Castle? Well, according to his employers at Dorset Police, the deadly injury was totally self-inflicted. Last week, he was fired - 'in a method that was harsh. Alan Sugar fires individuals in a better method,' he says - after being found guilty of gross misconduct.


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


His criminal activity? One that was considered so severe that it erased 10 years of unblemished service consisting of citations for bravery.


He jailed a teenage suspect - later found to have been in belongings of a knife - without showing appropriate 'courtesy or regard'. While grappling on the ground with the 15-year-old, who was resisting arrest in January in 2015, PC Castle yelled, 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 just waved his youngest child off to bed, Lorne, newly jobless, still can't quite think that finger-pointing helped lose him his whole career.


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


'For a policeman, the concept of gross misconduct is just the worst, however one of the important things I was asked was if I hadn't heard the suspect state that he had not done anything. Did I not look at him and think he might be informing the fact?' He throws both hands up.


'Were they seriously asking me why I didn't fall for the old, 'it wasn't me, guv' line. Most suspects withstanding arrest say they haven't done anything. I mean a kid knows that.


'Let's put this into context. We were examining an assault. I've detained him. He has actually withstood. I'm struggling on the ground with him. There is a crowd event. I'm attempting to include this situation but my concern 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 proud to be the spouse of a law enforcement officer', went to every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has existed to get the pieces as his life fell apart


The shock and confusion in his living space is palpable. As is the sheer disbelief. 'I suggest, the audacity of even asking me that. But I understood even before the gross misbehavior hearing began that I was strolling 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 be able to do it.


'How could I walk down the street with members of the general public thinking I'm a bully and a goon - all the important things I entered into the cops force to challenge.


'My profession is gone. I'm never going to get another task, since who would give me one. My life is messed up. They've broken me.'


Denise, who tells me she 'was so happy to be the better half of a law enforcement officer', went to every day of her hubby's disciplinary hearing and has actually existed to pick up the pieces as his life fell apart.


The couple, who have daughters aged 27, 18 and 8, tell me that on the day Lorne was informed he was dealing with gross misbehavior charges, he didn't go home - 'because how could I inform my partner?' - but walked along Bournemouth beach until 3am. He was too shocked to consider strolling into the sea and says he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'however can understand individuals who do, in this sort of situation, because the nature of this task isolates you from people who aren't authorities, so when the rug is pulled from under you ... you feel so alone'.


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


'My husband is an outbound, bubbly, glass-half-full person, who is a natural leader and incentive,' she describes. 'He's the most moralistic person I understand - our children will back me up on that. And he's the sort of man who never hired sick 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 devastating to watch. Even the children say, 'he isn't Dad'.'


Their hero dad, publicly lauded after plunging into the freezing River Avon to save a senior lady, is now making headlines for all the wrong reasons.


When the first murmurings started, suggesting this once-admired officer had actually been unjustly dealt with by 'woke' managers who were far gotten rid of from the reality of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved quickly to protect their position, launching damning video footage, taken from a coworker's body cam, which does certainly show PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.


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


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


'It was ravaging that Dorset Police could do this to me, that they could want to ... ruin me,' he says. 'What that selective video didn't show was the aftermath - when this suspect continued to withstand arrest.


'It took 4 officers to get him in handcuffs. That video does not reveal the crowd around us, whom I could see in my peripheral vision.


'There was just one 999 call made about what was taking place there and it originated from a member of the public who was worried about me. They called to state that there was an officer struggling, who looked as if he required back up.'


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Lorne includes: 'Dorset Police didn't even think it was required to call that individual as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I had to demand it. It paints an extremely various photo to what happened and I thank goodness that witness existed, because otherwise I 'd believe I was going mad.'


This is an incredibly unpleasant - and divisive - case. There is no concern that Lorne made judgment mistakes in his handling of that arrest on January 27, 2024.


He admitted as much throughout the misconduct hearing and repeats that belief today. 'I need to not have actually utilized 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 happened 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? Naturally, but eventually I took a knife off the streets. Another police has this slogan, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force said, 'Take a knife; Get your P45'.'


Did he should have to lose his career? 'I do not think that's one for me to answer,' he says, but his better 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 searching for things to support that. I sat there and could not think what they were doing.


'They have actually damaged a good guy and taken an excellent authorities officer off the streets. I still can't think this. This entire thing seems like such a violation.'


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


Former Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martyn Underhill told Radio Solent this week: 'This officer overreacted, utilized bad language - that has to do with it. We're ending up being too woke. I think Dorset Police have got this enormously wrong. Do I believe he should have to lose his task? Absolutely not.'


It is particularly devastating for Lorne that it was coworkers who first grumbled about his handling of that arrest. He will not talk about their participation, however it is understood that the 2 who experienced it had only been in the job for six months.


It is likewise understood that while, at first, it did not appear misconduct charges were likely, the choice was taken to prompt them. Lorne was notified of this by Superintendent Ricky Dhanda, head of Professional Standards.


In an amazing twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been put on restricted duties while he is examined over sexual misbehavior allegations. 'Maybe me and him have various decision-making processes,' is all Lorne will state. So who is Lorne Castle - and how will history judge him?


His route into the police was a little uncommon. He grew up in Torquay but relocated to close-by Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.


A keen sportsman and martial arts professional, he fulfilled Denise - who would go on to be a world champion Muay Thai fighter - and they set up a sports academy together.


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


He fulfilled Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and dedication on a youth task. He convinced him to sign up with the authorities - first as a community assistance officer, then as a PC. Denise concurred that he had actually 'discovered his location' in the authorities.


Undoubtedly, it was a profession at which Lorne stood out. In 2021, he was named neighborhood officer of the year, after having actually been two times awarded commendations.


In 2017, he saved someone in a medical emergency situation then, in 2023, he plunged into the Avon, duping his stab vest to go into the water, eventually holding a senior woman up.


He states it did happen to him that he was, technically, breaking all the guidelines and 'could deal with murder charges' if his attempts to get the lady to hold on to a life ring went incorrect.


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


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


Fellow officers 'who had held the ropes as I entered' were also commended but, bizarrely, when it concerned the invitations for the event, Lorne didn't get one.


'I 'd been put on limited tasks already [after the event with the teen] and told my superiors were going to 'hold onto' my own up until after the misconduct procedures.' He raged, and deeply hurt. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did ultimately go, however it felt extremely much like being the child 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 was available in about a violent masked offender, last seen driving an e-scooter, who was believed of assaulting an elderly man and a teenage boy.


Staff at a regional McDonald's had actually been scared enough to close their doors before calling for assistance. Earlier that day, law enforcement officer had been warned that there had actually been a big gang fight and potential suspects were still at big.


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


The suspect was rapidly found 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 used to take the suspect to the floor. It was the tussle that followed that was deemed troublesome.


Did PC Castle lose control? He worries how fraught that circumstance was. 'As a cops officer, you go into the unknown and there is a fear there.' He points out that his managers released a damning statement which repeatedly referred to the suspect as a 15-year-old kid.


'The story was that he was frightened of me. But he never ever made a grievance. I would argue that he was frightened of getting captured.


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


The knife that fell from the suspect's waistband was small but potentially lethal, especially at close quarters, he points out.


'Do you know just how much space you require for a machete to be deadly? Quite a lot, because it needs a swing. A knife like this? With a small motion you can be speaking about 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 grievance from the suspect.'


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


'Quite the opposite. I remember considering the knife and going: 'Jeez, that was close. That could have gone badly'.'


He will not criticise the junior officers who raised the problem, aside from to refer me to that witness who called 999. 'He believed 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 same thing, which is keeping our community safe. That's all I have ever tried to do and I have actually been openly damaged for it.' Lorne describes having to turn over his badge as 'the worst moment in my life'.


He says he is practically scared to walk the streets he once patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have actually put a target on my head. I do not even know if we can stay here, as a family, which is heartbreaking because this is our community.'


The only upside is the swell of assistance from those who believe he has been wronged. A GoFundMe account, established by Chris Amey, the guy who motivated him to join the authorities, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm simply humbled, but so grateful. It means I can pay the mortgage, for now anyway.'


He goes back to those messages again. One sent on Facebook comes from another mom, Sarah Robinson, who lost her kid 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 eliminated by somebody using a knife, I thank you for doing your job,' she wrote. 'I am distressed that the cops force has lost such a great officer.'
wikipedia.org

This makes Lorne desire to cry - for himself and his household, yes, however also for those individuals he assured to serve.


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

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