I've been Publicly Crucified for Arresting A Knife-wielding Teenager
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All week, the tributes have actually gathered. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle have not hesitated to come forward. One woman's account of how her child's life was saved by his 'kindness and humankind' and desire to 'go beyond what is expected of a law enforcement officer' is particularly moving.

She blogged about how the distressed teen lost his way in life and became known to cops, who were permanently having to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a dad of 3, who wound up talking her kid below the ledge, in a metaphorical sense in addition to a literal one.
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Not only did he make the teen see that he had a future, he assisted him sculpt one out by arranging work experience, even though this was not his task. 'We need more officers like PC Castle, not fewer,' this grateful mother concluded.

'That a person made me well up,' says Lorne, 46, who is sitting in his living room in a peaceful residential street in Bournemouth, sifting through the countless messages he has received today - some from complete strangers, however others from those he straight helped.

He appears quite overwhelmed and a little teary (extremely 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 truthful,' he says. 'To have people return to defend me. I'm not used to this, however it's truly touching.' He continues reading, on the edge of tears: 'If I 'd died, you couldn't have got nicer tributes.'

And in a way he has died, since, as he points out: 'I'm not dead however the authorities officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'

Who killed PC Castle? Well, according to his employers at Dorset Police, the deadly injury was completely self-inflicted. Last week, he was fired - 'in such a way that was harsh. Alan Sugar fires people in a nicer way,' he states - after being condemned of gross misconduct.

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

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

He detained a teenage suspect - later found to have actually been in ownership of a knife - without displaying sufficient 'courtesy or regard'. 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 professing his .

In the cold light of day, safe in his own home, having just waved his youngest child off to bed, Lorne, freshly jobless, still can't quite think that finger-pointing assisted 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 needed to answer throughout a 'disastrous and humiliating' three-day gross misconduct hearing.

'For a policeman, the concept of gross misconduct is simply the worst, but among the important things I was asked was if I had not heard the suspect state that he had not done anything. Did I not take a 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 resisting arrest state they have not done anything. I indicate a child knows that.

'Let's put this into context. We were examining an assault. I have actually apprehended him. He has actually resisted. I'm struggling on the ground with him. There is a crowd event. I'm trying to contain this situation however my concern is to make this arrest and keep everybody 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 help 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', attended every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has been there to select up the pieces as his life fell apart

The shock and bewilderment in his living space is palpable. As is the sheer 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 includes: 'Even if I win my appeal, even if I got my job 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 important things I entered into the police to challenge.

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

Denise, who informs me she 'was so proud to be the better half of a cops officer', attended every day of her other half's disciplinary hearing and has been there to get the pieces as his life fell apart.

The couple, who have children aged 27, 18 and 8, tell me that on the day Lorne was told he was facing gross misbehavior charges, he didn't go home - 'due to the fact that how could I inform my spouse?' - however walked along Bournemouth beach until 3am. He was too shocked to consider walking into the sea and says he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'however can comprehend individuals who do, in this sort of scenario, since 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 says she has seen him 'diminish, end up being someone who just isn't Lorne'.

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

'Since all this, I have actually just seen him change. He breaks down now. He questions himself. It has been devastating to watch. Even the children state, 'he isn't Dad'.'

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

When the very first murmurings began, recommending this once-admired officer had actually been unjustly treated by 'woke' managers who were far eliminated 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 camera, which does certainly show PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.

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

This video footage, Lorne declares, was provided out of context, cherry-picked to 'not inform the complete story'.

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

'It took four officers to get him in handcuffs. That video footage 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 taking place there and it originated from a member of the general public who was concerned about me. They contacted us to say that there was an officer struggling, who appeared he needed back up.'

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Lorne adds: 'Dorset Police didn't even think it was essential to call that individual as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I needed to demand it. It paints a very different picture to what happened and I thank goodness that witness was there, since otherwise I 'd believe I was freaking.'

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

He confessed as much during the misbehavior hearing and repeats that belief today. 'I ought to not have used the language I did. I'm embarrassed and saddened that I did that, and that it's out there for everyone to see. But the essence of what occurred was, unfortunately required. 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 police has this slogan, 'Take a knife