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

All week, the homages have gathered. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle have not hesitated to come forward. One female's account of how her son's life was conserved by his 'compassion and humanity' and desire to 'surpass what is anticipated of a policeman' is particularly moving.

She wrote about how the distressed teenager lost his way in life and ended up being known to police, who were forever needing to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a daddy of 3, who ended up talking her young boy down from 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 helped him carve one out by arranging work experience, even though this was not his job. 'We need more officers like PC Castle, not less,' this grateful mom concluded.

'That a person made me well up,' states Lorne, 46, who is being in his living room in a peaceful domestic street in Bournemouth, sorting through the thousands of messages he has gotten this week - some from complete strangers, but others from those he straight helped.

He appears quite overloaded and a little teary (really uncharacteristic, 'or it was before all this', according to his other half Denise), by all the good things people have actually been saying about him.

'It's blown me away, to be truthful,' he states. 'To have people come back to defend me. I'm not used to this, but it's truly touching.' He reads on, on the edge of tears: 'If I 'd passed away, you couldn't have got better homages.'

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

Who eliminated PC Castle? Well, according to his managers at Dorset Police, the fatal injury was totally self-inflicted. Last week, he was fired - 'in such a way that was ruthless. Alan Sugar fires individuals in a nicer way,' he says - after being condemned of gross misconduct.

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

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

He detained a teenage suspect - later on discovered 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 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, freshly unemployed, still can't quite believe 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 some of the questions he had to answer during a 'disastrous and humiliating' three-day gross misbehavior 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 had not done anything. Did I not look at him and believe he might be informing the reality?' 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 scenario but my concern is to make this arrest and keep everyone safe.

'So when he says he hasn't done anything, I'm seriously supposed 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 states she 'was so happy to be the wife of a law enforcement officer', participated in every day of her other half's disciplinary hearing and has actually been there to get the pieces as his life fell apart

The shock and bewilderment in his living space is palpable. As is the sheer disbelief. 'I indicate, 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 job back, I wouldn't be able to do it.

'How might I stroll down the street with members of the general public thinking I'm a bully and a punk - all the important things I entered into the authorities force to challenge.

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

Denise, who informs me she 'was so happy to be the wife of a policeman', attended every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has existed to choose 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 told he was facing gross misconduct charges, he didn't go home - 'since how could I inform my other half?' - however walked along Bournemouth beach up until 3am. He was too surprised to think about strolling into the sea and states he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'however can comprehend individuals who do, in this sort of circumstance, because the nature of this job isolates you from people 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 simply isn't Lorne'.

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

'Since all this, I have actually simply seen him alter. He breaks down now. He questions himself. It has been ravaging to enjoy. Even the children state, 'he isn't Dad'.'

Their hero daddy, publicly admired after plunging into the freezing River Avon to conserve an elderly female, is now making headlines for all the incorrect reasons.

When the very first murmurings started, suggesting this once-admired officer had been unfairly treated by 'woke' managers who were far gotten rid of from the reality of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved rapidly to safeguard their position, launching damning video footage, taken from a colleague's body camera, which does certainly show PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.

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

This video, Lorne declares, was provided 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 desire to ... ruin me,' he states. 'What that selective footage didn't show was the consequences - when this suspect continued to resist arrest.

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

'There was only one 999 call made about what was happening there and it originated from a member of the general public who was concerned about me. They contacted us to state that there was an officer having a hard time, who appeared he required back up.'

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Lorne includes: 'Dorset Police didn't even think it was needed to call that individual as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I needed to insist on it. It paints a really different photo to what happened and I thank goodness that witness existed, because otherwise I 'd believe I was freaking.'

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

He confessed as much throughout the misbehavior hearing and repeats that belief today. 'I ought to not have utilized the language I did. I'm embarrassed and saddened that I did that, which it's out there for everybody 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 differently? Obviously, however ultimately I took a knife off the streets. Another authorities force has this slogan, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force said, 'Take a knife; Get your P45'.'

Did he deserve to lose his profession? 'I do not believe that's one for me to address,' he states, but his wife has no qualms. 'No, he did not,' Denise says securely.

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

'They have ruined a good guy and taken a great policeman off the streets. I still can't believe this. This whole thing feels like such an offense.'

There has been outrage about Lorne's dismissal, significantly from those who were as soon as 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's about it. We're becoming too woke. I believe Dorset Police have actually got this enormously incorrect. Do I think he should have to lose his job? Absolutely not.'

It is especially devastating for Lorne that it was associates who initially complained about his handling of that arrest. He won't comment on their involvement, but it is understood that the two junior officers who witnessed it had actually only remained in the task for six months.

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

In an extraordinary twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been put on limited responsibilities while he is examined over sexual misconduct allegations. 'Maybe me and him have different 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 unusual. He grew up in Torquay however transferred to neighboring Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.

An eager sportsperson and martial arts expert, 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 young individuals that brought him into contact with the man who would become his coach - previous Chief Inspector Chris Amey, who had a long profession with both the Met and Dorset Police.

He satisfied Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and dedication on a youth job. He persuaded him to sign up with the police - initially as a community support officer, then as a PC. Denise agreed that he had actually 'discovered his place' in the police.

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

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

He says it did occur to him that he was, technically, breaking all the rules and 'could face 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 might inform me I wasn't expected to go in, 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 actually held the ropes as I entered' were also commended but, bizarrely, when it came to the invitations for the ceremony, Lorne didn't receive one.

'I 'd been placed on limited responsibilities already [after the occurrence with the teen] and informed my superiors were going to 'keep' my own until after the misconduct procedures.' He was furious, and deeply injured. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did ultimately go, but 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 came in about a violent masked transgressor, last seen driving an e-scooter, who was presumed of assaulting an elderly man and a teenage kid.

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

There was no factor for Lorne to take that call - the approaching shift could have handled it - however he states he offered, 'since that's what you do'.

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

This part is not contentious. The misconduct hearing discovered no fault with the force utilized to take the suspect to the floor. It was the tussle that followed that was considered troublesome.

Did PC Castle lose control? He stresses how fraught that circumstance was. 'As a cops officer, you go into the unidentified and there is a fear there.' He explains that his employers released a damning declaration which repeatedly described the suspect as a 15-year-old kid.

'The narrative was that he was scared of me. But he never 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 have to be 16. Even if I had known, should I have held back because of his age? That is doing a disservice to every household who have actually lost somebody because they were stabbed by a teenager. No, I did not understand that he had a knife, however it was my job to do a risk evaluation and I need to state my evaluation was area on.'

The knife that fell from the suspect's waistband was little however potentially fatal, especially at close quarters, he mentions.

'Do you understand just how much area you require for a machete to be lethal? Quite a lot, because it requires 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 stating 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 believing that it had been a catastrophe?

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

He will not criticise the junior officers who raised the complaint, 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 been let down by his superiors is clear. 'I thought we were all working towards the very same thing, which is keeping our community safe. That's all I have ever tried to do and I have actually been openly destroyed for it.' Lorne explains needing to turn over his badge as 'the worst minute in my life'.

He says he is almost afraid to walk the streets he once patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have actually 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 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 sign up with the cops, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm just humbled, but so grateful. It suggests I can pay the mortgage, in the meantime anyway.'

He goes back to those messages again. One sent on Facebook originates 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 killed by somebody using a knife, I thank you for doing your task,' she composed. 'I am distressed that the authorities force has lost such an excellent officer.'