News / Crime
Police officers sacked over vigilante death
Two police officers convicted of misconduct in their handling of the death of Bijan Ebrahimi have been sacked from the force.
PC Kevin Duffy, 52, and PCSO Andrew Passmore, 56, knew Ebrahimi was at risk of harm and failed to make contact with him before he was beaten to death and burned on the estate where he lived after being wrongly branded a paedophile, an internal misconduct hearing has found.
Both officers had already been convicted of the criminal offence of misconduct in public office for mishandling calls from the Iran-born Ebrahimi, who was registered disabled, in the run to his death on Capgrave Crescent in Brislington in 2013.
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On Friday, an internal police panel found Duffy had brought discredit on Avon and Somerset police, and ruled he, alongside Passmore, should be dismissed.
Police officer and PCSO sacked over Bijan Ebrahimi vigilante murder case https://t.co/tXZTt0VCDt pic.twitter.com/wAc8ghpWUS
— BBC Bristol (@BBCBristol) January 22, 2016
Ebrahimi was beaten to death by his neighbours James and Norely who accused him of being a paedophile and his body was set on fire. James is serving a life sentence while Norley is serving four years.
Ebrahimi had called police days before his beating, claiming to have been assaulted by James. When police turned up they arrested Ebrahimi for breach of peace and he was taken away to the cheers of a crowd which gathered in the courtyard.
After being released, Ebrahimi called the 101 non-emergency number 12 times with further complaints about his neighbours.
He was told Duffy would visit him, but he never showed up. Passmore was told to visit the estate for a foot patrol, but later lied about how long he had spent in the area.
Duffy and Passmore remain on unconditional bail, pending their sentencing at Crown Court.
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