All week, the tributes 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 child's life was conserved by his 'compassion and humanity' and determination to 'go beyond what is expected of a law enforcement officer' is particularly moving.

She composed about how the struggling teen lost his method life and became known to authorities, who were forever 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 a literal one.
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Not only did he make the teen see that he had a future, he helped him carve one out by setting up work experience, although this was not his task. 'We require more officers like PC Castle, not less,' this grateful mother concluded.

'That a person made me well up,' says Lorne, 46, who is being in his living space in a peaceful property street in Bournemouth, sifting through the thousands of messages he has actually received this week - some from strangers, however others from those he directly assisted.

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

'It's blown me away, to be sincere,' he states. 'To have people return to stand up for me. I'm not used to this, but it's truly touching.' He continues reading, on the brink of tears: 'If I 'd passed away, you couldn't have actually got nicer tributes.'

And in such a way he has actually passed away, due to the fact that, as he explains: 'I'm not dead but 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 entirely self-inflicted. Last week, he was fired - 'in a way that was brutal. Alan Sugar fires individuals in a nicer method,' he says - after being found guilty of gross misconduct.

'I'm not dead but the law enforcement officer I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead,' states Castle

His crime? One that was deemed so severe that it eliminated 10 years of unblemished service including citations for bravery.

He jailed a teenage suspect - later discovered to have been in ownership of a knife - without showing adequate '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 proclaiming his innocence.

In the cold light of day, safe in his own home, having simply waved his youngest daughter off to bed, Lorne, freshly out of work, still can't rather think that finger-pointing assisted lose him his entire career.

He raises the offending finger today and waggles it in front of his own nose. 'I need to holster this,' he states, despairingly. Nor can he accept some of the concerns he had to address 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 hadn't done anything. Did I not look at him and believe he might be telling the reality?' 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 resisting arrest state they haven't done anything. I mean a kid understands that.

'Let's put this into context. We were investigating an attack. I have actually apprehended him. He has resisted. I'm having a hard time on the ground with him. There is a crowd gathering. I'm attempting to contain this scenario but my concern is to make this arrest and keep everybody 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 mistake!' 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 spouse's disciplinary hearing and has actually been there to get the pieces as his life broke down

The shock and confusion in his living space is palpable. As is the large shock. 'I mean, the audacity of even asking me that. But I understood even before the gross misconduct hearing started that I was walking 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 would not be able to do it.

'How might I walk down the street with members of the public thinking I'm a bully and a goon - all the important things I went into the police force to challenge.

'My profession is gone. I'm never going to get another job, because who would provide me one. My life is messed up. They have actually broken me.'

Denise, who informs me she 'was so proud to be the other half of a law enforcement officer', participated in every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has existed to pick up the pieces as his life broke down.

The couple, who have children aged 27, 18 and 8, tell me that on the day Lorne was informed he was facing gross misbehavior charges, he didn't go home - 'since how could I tell my partner?' - but strolled along Bournemouth beach up until 3am. He was too shocked to think of walking into the sea and says he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'however can understand people who do, in this sort of circumstance, because 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 'shrink, become somebody who simply isn't Lorne'.

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

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

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

When the first murmurings began, recommending this once-admired officer had been unjustly treated by 'woke' managers who were far gotten rid of from the truth of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved rapidly to safeguard their position, releasing damning video footage, taken from a coworker's body web cam, which does indeed reveal PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.

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

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

'It was ravaging that Dorset Police might do this to me, that they might want to ... destroy me,' he says. 'What that selective footage didn't reveal was the after-effects - when this suspect continued to resist arrest.

'It took 4 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 came from a member of the public who was concerned about me. They contacted us to say that there was an officer struggling, who looked as if he needed back up.'

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Lorne includes: 'Dorset Police didn't even think it was necessary to call that person as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I had to insist on it. It paints a very different picture to what occurred and I thank goodness that witness existed, since otherwise I 'd believe I was freaking.'

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

He admitted as much throughout the misbehavior hearing and repeats that belief today. 'I need to not have used 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 took place was, unfortunately essential. 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 ultimately I took a knife off the streets. Another police 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 profession? 'I don't think that's one for me to answer,' he states, however his wife has no qualms. 'No, he did not,' Denise states strongly.

'They headed out to string him up. Once they decided that they were choosing gross misconduct, they went looking for things to support that. I sat there and couldn't believe what they were doing.

'They have actually destroyed a great man and taken a great law enforcement 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, especially from those who were once 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 ending up being too woke. I believe Dorset Police have actually got this massively wrong. Do I think he should have to lose his task? Absolutely not.'

It is especially devastating for Lorne that it was coworkers who initially complained about his handling of that arrest. He will not discuss their participation, but it is comprehended that the 2 junior officers who experienced it had only remained in the task for six months.

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

In a remarkable twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been put on restricted tasks while he is investigated over sexual misconduct 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 authorities force was a little uncommon. He grew up in Torquay however moved to neighboring Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.

An eager sportsperson and martial arts expert, he met 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 people 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 fulfilled Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and commitment on a youth task. He encouraged him to sign up with the police - initially as a community assistance officer, then as a PC. Denise agreed that he had 'found his location' in the police.

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

In 2017, he conserved someone in a medical emergency then, in 2023, he plunged into the Avon, off his stab vest to go into the water, eventually holding a senior female aloft.

He says it did strike him that he was, technically, breaking all the rules and 'might deal with manslaughter charges' if his efforts to get the female to stick to a life ring went wrong.

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

But his desire to do the ideal thing won out and he got an award from the Humane Society for that rescue.

Fellow officers 'who had actually held the ropes as I went in' were likewise applauded but, bizarrely, when it pertained to the invitations for the event, Lorne didn't receive one.

'I 'd been placed on restricted responsibilities by then [after the incident with the teen] and informed my superiors were going to 'keep' my own till after the misconduct procedures.' He raged, and deeply harmed. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did eventually go, but it felt really much like being the kid at the party you weren't welcomed to.'

On the night of the controversial arrest, Lorne was at the end of an 11-hour shift when a call came in about a violent masked transgressor, last seen driving an e-scooter, who was believed of assaulting a senior man and a teenage boy.

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

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

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

This part is not controversial. The misbehavior hearing discovered no fault with the force used to take the suspect to the flooring. It was the tussle that followed that was considered troublesome.

Did PC Castle lose control? He worries how fraught that situation was. 'As a law enforcement officer, you enter into the unknown and there is a worry there.' He mentions that his bosses released a damning declaration which consistently described the suspect as a 15-year-old kid.

'The story 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 need to be 16. Even if I had understood, should I have held back since of his age? That is doing a disservice to every family who have lost somebody due to the fact that they were stabbed by a teen. No, I did not understand that he had a knife, however it was my job to do a risk assessment and I need to say my assessment was area on.'

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

'Do you understand just how much space you need for a machete to be deadly? Quite a lot, because it needs a swing. A knife like this? With a tiny 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 grievance from the suspect.'

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

'Quite the opposite. I remember thinking about the knife and going: 'Jeez, that was close. That might 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 thought I was on my own there.'

But the sensation that he has been let down by his superiors is clear. 'I believed we were all working towards the very same thing, which is keeping our community safe. That's all I have ever attempted to do and I have been openly ruined for it.' Lorne describes needing to turn over his badge as 'the worst moment in my life'.

He says he is almost scared to stroll the streets he when patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have put a target on my head. I don't even know if we can stay here, as a family, which is heartbreaking due to the fact that this is our neighborhood.'

The only advantage is the swell of support from those who believe he has actually been wronged. A GoFundMe account, established by Chris Amey, the man who encouraged him to sign up with the cops, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm just humbled, however so grateful. It suggests I can pay the mortgage, in the meantime anyway.'

He returns to those messages once again. One sent out 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 teen in Bournemouth. 'As the mum of Cameron Hamilton, who was eliminated by somebody using a knife, I thank you for doing your task,' she wrote. 'I am saddened that the police has lost such a great officer.'
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This makes Lorne desire to weep - for himself and his household, yes, but also for those people he guaranteed to serve.

'I did my job,' he repeats. 'And I have actually been crucified for it.'