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All week, the tributes have actually put in. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle have not thought twice to come forward. One lady's account of how her boy's life was conserved by his 'kindness and mankind' and desire to 'surpass what is expected of a policeman' is particularly moving.

She blogged about how the struggling teenager lost his way in life and ended up being understood to authorities, who were permanently needing to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a father of 3, who wound up talking her young boy down from the ledge, in a metaphorical sense in addition to an actual one.

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

'That one made me well up,' says Lorne, 46, who is being in his living space in a quiet domestic street in Bournemouth, sorting through the thousands of messages he has actually received today - some from strangers, but others from those he straight helped.

He appears rather overwhelmed 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 been saying about him.

'It's blown me away, to be honest,' he says. 'To have individuals come back to stand up for me. I'm not utilized to this, but it's really touching.' He checks out on, on the edge of tears: 'If I 'd died, you couldn't have got better homages.'

And in a manner he has actually passed away, due to the fact that, as he mentions: 'I'm not dead however the policeman I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'

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

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

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

He arrested a teenage suspect - later found to have remained in possession of a knife - without showing adequate 'courtesy or respect'. While grappling on the ground with the 15-year-old, who was resisting arrest in January in 2015, PC Castle screamed, 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 child off to bed, Lorne, freshly jobless, still can't rather believe that finger-pointing assisted 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 states, despairingly. Nor can he accept some of the questions he had to respond to during a 'devastating and embarrassing' three-day gross misconduct hearing.

'For a law enforcement officer, the concept of gross misconduct is just the worst, but one of the things I was asked was if I had not heard the suspect say that he hadn't done anything. Did I not take a look at him and believe he might be telling the fact?' 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 state they haven't done anything. I indicate a child understands that.

'Let's put this into context. We were investigating an assault. I've detained him. He has actually resisted. I'm having a hard time on the ground with him. There is a crowd gathering. I'm attempting to contain this situation however my top priority is to make this arrest and keep everyone safe.

'So when he says he hasn't done anything, I'm seriously expected to stop and state, '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 happy to be the other half of a law enforcement officer', participated in every day of her spouse's disciplinary hearing and has actually existed to pick up the pieces as his life fell apart

The shock and bewilderment in his living room is palpable. As is the sheer shock. 'I mean, the audacity of even asking me that. But I understood even before the gross misbehavior 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 could I walk down the street with members of the public thinking I'm a bully and a criminal - all the things I went into the police to challenge.

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

Denise, who tells me she 'was so proud to be the wife of a law enforcement officer', went to every day of her other half's disciplinary hearing and has actually existed to select up the pieces as his life broke down.

The couple, who have daughters 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 - 'because how could I tell my spouse?' - but strolled along Bournemouth beach up until 3am. He was too shocked to think about walking into the sea and says he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'but can understand individuals who do, in this sort of circumstance, due to the fact that the nature of this job isolates you from people who aren't police, so when the rug is pulled from under you ... you feel so alone'.

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

'My partner is an outgoing, bubbly, glass-half-full individual, who is a natural leader and incentive,' she . 'He's the most moralistic individual I understand - our children will back me up on that. And he's the sort of man who never called in sick even when he was ill.

'Since all this, I've simply seen him change. He breaks down now. He questions himself. It has actually been ravaging to view. Even the children say, 'he isn't Dad'.'

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

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

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

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

'It was ravaging that Dorset Police might do this to me, that they might wish to ... damage me,' he states. 'What that selective video didn't reveal was the aftermath - 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 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 worried about me. They called to say that there was an officer struggling, who appeared he required back up.'

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

This is an extremely 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 throughout the misconduct hearing and repeats that sentiment today. 'I should not have 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 took place was, regrettably necessary. That was an arrest that needed to be made and I made a judgment call.

'Could I have done it differently? Naturally, however eventually I took a knife off the streets. Another police has this slogan, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force stated, 'Take a knife; Get your P45'.'

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

'They went 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 think what they were doing.

'They have ruined a good guy and taken a good cops officer off the streets. I still can't think this. This entire thing seems like such an offense.'

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 told Radio Solent today: 'This officer overreacted, used bad language - that has to do with it. We're ending up being too woke. I think Dorset Police have actually got this massively wrong. Do I believe he deserved to lose his job? Absolutely not.'

It is particularly devastating for Lorne that it was associates who initially complained about his handling of that arrest. He won't talk about their participation, however it is comprehended that the 2 junior officers who saw it had actually only remained in the job for 6 months.

It is also understood that while, initially, it did not appear misconduct charges were likely, the choice was required to instigate them. Lorne was notified of this by Superintendent Ricky Dhanda, head of Professional Standards.
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In a remarkable twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been put on restricted duties while he is examined over sexual misconduct accusations. 'Maybe me and him have different decision-making processes,' 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 however transferred to close-by Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.

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

It was his work with young people that brought him into contact with the guy who would become his coach - former Chief Inspector Chris Amey, who had a long career with both the Met and Dorset Police.

He satisfied Lorne in 2013 and was impressed by his drive and commitment on a youth task. He convinced him to join the cops - first as a neighborhood assistance officer, then as a PC. Denise concurred that he had actually 'found his place' in the police.

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

In 2017, he saved someone in a medical emergency then, in 2023, he plunged into the Avon, ripping off his stab vest to enter the water, ultimately holding an elderly female aloft.

He states it did take place to him that he was, technically, breaking all the rules and 'might face manslaughter charges' if his attempts to get the lady to hold on to a life ring failed.

'It did go through my mind that professional requirements could 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 ideal thing won out and he received an award from the Humane Society for that rescue.

Fellow officers 'who had actually held the ropes as I went in' were also commended but, bizarrely, when it came to the invitations for the ceremony, Lorne didn't get one.

'I 'd been placed on restricted duties by then [after the occurrence with the teenager] and told my superiors were going to 'hold onto' my own until after the misconduct procedures.' He raged, and deeply injured. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did eventually go, however it felt quite like being the kid at the party you weren't welcomed 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 thought of assaulting a senior man and a teenage young boy.

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

There was no reason for Lorne to take that call - the oncoming shift might have managed it - however he states he offered, 'because 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 contentious. 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 deemed problematic.

Did PC Castle lose control? He stresses how filled that situation was. 'As a law enforcement officer, you enter into the unknown and there is a worry there.' He points out that his employers launched a damning declaration which repeatedly described the suspect as a 15-year-old kid.

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

'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 kept back due to the fact that of his age? That is doing a disservice to every family who have actually lost someone due to the fact that they were stabbed by a teenager. No, I did not know that he had a knife, however it was my task to do a danger evaluation and I need to say my assessment was spot on.'

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

'Do you understand how much area you need for a machete to be fatal? Quite a lot, due to the fact that it needs a swing. A knife like this? With a tiny movement you can be talking 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 believing that it had been a catastrophe?

'Quite the opposite. I keep in mind thinking of the knife and going: 'Jeez, that was close. That might have gone badly'.'

He won't criticise the junior officers who raised the complaint, besides to refer me to that witness who called 999. 'He believed I was on my own there.'

But the sensation that he has actually been let 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 been publicly ruined for it.' Lorne explains needing to turn over his badge as 'the worst moment in my life'.

He says he is practically 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 remain here, as a family, which is heartbreaking due to the fact that this is our neighborhood.'

The only benefit is the swell of assistance from those who think he has actually been mistreated. A GoFundMe account, established by Chris Amey, the guy who encouraged him to sign up with the police, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm just humbled, however so grateful. It indicates I can pay the mortgage, in the meantime anyhow.'

He goes back to those messages again. One sent out on Facebook comes from another mother, 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 utilizing a knife, I thank you for doing your task,' she wrote. 'I am saddened that the police has actually lost such an excellent officer.'

This makes Lorne wish to cry - for himself and his family, yes, however likewise for those individuals he promised to serve.

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