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

All week, the tributes have put in. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle haven't been reluctant to come forward. One female's account of how her child's life was saved by his 'kindness and humankind' and willingness to 'surpass what is expected of a law enforcement officer' is particularly moving.

She wrote about how the distressed teenager lost his method life and became known to police, who were permanently needing to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a father 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 teenager see that he had a future, he assisted him carve one out by arranging work experience, even though this was not his task. 'We need more officers like PC Castle, not less,' this grateful mom concluded.

'That one made me well up,' says Lorne, 46, who is sitting in his living room in a quiet residential street in Bournemouth, sorting through the countless messages he has actually gotten today - some from strangers, however others from those he directly assisted.

He seems rather overwhelmed and a little teary (really uncharacteristic, 'or it was before all this', according to his better half Denise), by all the nice things people have been saying about him.

'It's blown me away, to be truthful,' he states. 'To have people come back to stand up for me. I'm not used to this, but it's actually touching.' He checks out on, on the brink of tears: 'If I 'd died, you couldn't have got better tributes.'

And in such a way he has died, since, as he explains: 'I'm not dead however the law enforcement officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'

Who killed PC Castle? Well, according to his bosses at Dorset Police, the deadly wound was completely self-inflicted. Recently, he was fired - 'in such a way that was brutal. Alan Sugar fires people in a better method,' he says - after being condemned of gross misconduct.

'I'm not dead but the police officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead,' says Castle

His criminal offense? One that was deemed so major that it cleaned out 10 years of unblemished service consisting of citations for bravery.

He arrested a teenage suspect - later discovered to have actually been in ownership of a knife - without showing appropriate 'courtesy or respect'. While grappling on the ground with the 15-year-old, who was withstanding arrest in January in 2015, PC Castle shouted, 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 daughter off to bed, Lorne, freshly unemployed, still can't rather think that finger-pointing assisted lose him his whole profession.

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 a few of the concerns he needed to respond to throughout a 'devastating and humiliating' three-day gross misbehavior hearing.

'For a cops officer, the idea of gross misbehavior is just the worst, however among the important things I was asked was if I hadn't heard the suspect say that he had not done anything. Did I not take a look at him and believe 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 resisting arrest say they have not done anything. I imply a child knows that.

'Let's put this into context. We were examining an assault. I have actually detained him. He has actually resisted. I'm having a hard time on the ground with him. There is a crowd event. I'm trying to include this scenario but my top priority is to make this arrest and keep everyone 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 mistake!' This is a suspect who did have a knife.'

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

The shock and bewilderment in his living space is palpable. As is the sheer shock. 'I suggest, the audacity of even asking me that. But I knew even before the gross misconduct hearing started 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 task back, I wouldn't be able to do it.

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

'My profession is gone. I'm never going to get another job, since who would give me one. My life is destroyed. They have actually broken me.'

Denise, who tells me she 'was so happy to be the other half of a police officer', attended every day of her hubby's disciplinary hearing and has been there to select up the pieces as his life fell apart.

The couple, who have daughters aged 27, 18 and 8, inform me that on the day Lorne was informed he was dealing with gross misconduct charges, he didn't go home - 'because how could I inform my partner?' - but strolled along Bournemouth beach till 3am. He was too shocked to think about walking into the sea and states he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'but can comprehend individuals who do, in this sort of scenario, since 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 'diminish, become somebody who just isn't Lorne'.

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

'Since all this, I've 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 daddy, openly admired after plunging into the freezing River Avon to conserve an elderly woman, is now making headings for all the incorrect factors.

When the very first murmurings started, recommending this once-admired officer had actually been unfairly dealt with by 'woke' employers who were far gotten rid of from the reality of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved rapidly to protect their position, launching damning video footage, drawn from an associate's body cam, which does undoubtedly reveal PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.

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

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

'It was devastating that Dorset Police might do this to me, that they could wish to ... ruin me,' he says. 'What that selective video footage didn't reveal was the consequences - when this suspect continued to resist arrest.

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

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

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Lorne adds: 'Dorset Police didn't even think it was needed to call that individual as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I needed to firmly insist on it. It paints a really various picture to what occurred and I thank goodness that witness was there, due to the fact that otherwise I 'd believe I was going mad.'

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

He confessed as much during the misbehavior hearing and repeats that sentiment today. 'I need to not have used the language I did. I'm embarrassed and saddened that I did that, which it's out there for everyone to see. But the essence of what happened was, unfortunately required. That was an arrest that needed to be made and I made a judgment call.

'Could I have done it differently? Obviously, but eventually I took a knife off the streets. Another cops force has this motto, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force stated, '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, however his spouse has no qualms. 'No, he did not,' Denise states securely.

'They went out to string him up. Once they chose that they were choosing gross misbehavior, they went trying to find things to support that. I sat there and couldn't believe what they were doing.

'They have actually damaged a great male and taken an excellent police officer off the streets. I still can't believe this. This whole thing seems like such an offense.'

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

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

It is particularly devastating for Lorne that it was colleagues who first complained about his handling of that arrest. He will not comment on their involvement, however it is comprehended that the 2 junior officers who saw it had actually only been in the task for 6 months.

It is likewise comprehended that while, at first, it did not look as if misconduct charges were likely, the choice was taken to initiate them. Lorne was informed of this by Superintendent Ricky Dhanda, head of Professional Standards.

In a remarkable twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been put on restricted duties while he is examined over sexual misbehavior claims. '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 route into the police was a little unusual. He matured in Torquay but relocated to nearby Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.

An eager sportsperson and martial arts professional, he met Denise - who would go on to be a world champion Muay Thai fighter - and they established a sports academy together.

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

He met Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and devotion on a youth task. He convinced him to sign up with the cops - first as a neighborhood assistance officer, then as a PC. Denise agreed that he had actually 'discovered his place' in the authorities.

Undoubtedly, it was a profession at which Lorne stood out. In 2021, he was named 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, duping his stab vest to get in the water, eventually holding a senior female aloft.

He states it did strike him that he was, technically, breaking all the rules and 'might face murder charges' if his attempts to get the female to cling to a life ring went incorrect.

'It did go through my mind that expert standards might inform me I wasn't expected to enter, that I was trying to be a hero. That is the world we operate in.'

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

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

'I 'd been put on restricted responsibilities by then [after the occurrence with the teenager] and informed my superiors were going to 'hold onto' my own up until after the misconduct proceedings.' He was furious, and deeply harmed. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did eventually go, but it felt very much like being the kid at the celebration you weren't welcomed to.'

On the night of the controversial arrest, Lorne was at completion of an 11-hour shift when a call can be found in about a violent masked offender, last seen driving an e-scooter, who was presumed of assaulting an elderly guy and a teenage kid.

Staff at a regional McDonald's had been frightened enough to close their doors before calling for help. Earlier that day, police officers had been warned that there had been a large gang battle and potential suspects were still at big.

There was no reason for Lorne to take that call - the approaching shift might have managed it - however he says he volunteered, 'since that's what you do'.

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

This part is not controversial. The misconduct hearing found no fault with the force utilized to take the suspect to the flooring. It was the tussle that followed that was deemed bothersome.

Did PC Castle lose control? He stresses how fraught that situation was. 'As a policeman, you go into the unidentified and there is a worry there.' He mentions that his managers launched a damning statement which repeatedly referred to the suspect as a 15-year-old boy.

'The story was that he was frightened of me. But he never ever made a grievance. I would argue that he was terrified 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 known, should I have held back since of his age? That is doing an injustice to every family who have lost someone since they were stabbed by a teenager. No, I did not understand that he had a knife, however it was my task to do a threat assessment and I have to say my assessment was area on.'

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

'Do you understand just how much space you need for a machete to be lethal? Quite a lot, because it needs a swing. A knife like this? With a small motion you can be discussing 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 complaint from the suspect.'

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

'Quite the opposite. I remember thinking of the knife and going: 'Jeez, that was close. That might 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 sensation that he has actually been pulled down by his superiors is clear. 'I believed we were all working towards the same thing, which is keeping our community safe. That's all I have actually ever attempted to do and I have actually been publicly destroyed for it.' Lorne describes needing to hand over his badge as 'the worst minute in my life'.

He states he is almost scared to walk the streets he when patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have 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 advantage is the swell of assistance from those who think he has actually been wronged. A GoFundMe account, set up by Chris Amey, the male who motivated him to sign up with the police, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm just humbled, however so grateful. It implies I can pay the mortgage, for now anyhow.'

He returns 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 teenager in Bournemouth. 'As the mum of Cameron Hamilton, who was eliminated by someone using a knife, I thank you for doing your job,' she wrote. 'I am saddened that the authorities force has actually lost such an excellent officer.'