Michelin chef wins £20,000 payout after boss ranted about 'unreliable Mexicans' and 'threatened to call the Home Office'
A head chef has won £20,000 for racial and sexual orientation harassment after his boss ranted that 'Mexicans were not reliable people'.
A tribunal heard the comments came after head chef Cesar Omar Perez Vargas walked out of a busy Sunday shift because he had been given an 'unreasonable' 60 customers to cook for - more than he was contracted to serve.
Musician and then owner of the business Francis Rockcliff said that he would call the Home Office to make sure he was 'sent back to the country that you belong'.
He also said he would tell officials that 'you have been sexually harassing all the male staff.'
Mr Perez Vargas took the upmarket Pot Kiln gastropub in Thatcham, West Berkshire, to a tribunal.
During the proceedings, Mr Rockcliff denied that a social media post referring to Michelin trained chefs as 'people with sautéed egos' was 'directed' at the chef.
But a panel found that anyone who was aware of the circumstances around the end of the chef's employment may consider that this is 'exactly who they were referring to'.
The judge upheld Mr Perez Vargas' complaints of unfair dismissal and race and sexual orientation harassment and awarded him £20,444.24 in compensation.
The tribunal, held in Reading, heard that Mr Perez Vargas starting working as a chef for the Pot Kiln in November 2019.
But in April 2022 an 'extra burden' was placed on kitchen staff when the Pot Kiln went from having four chefs to two.
Mr Perez Vargas said things 'came to a head' on a busy shift that August. The tribunal panel heard that after walking out, Mr Rockcliff followed the chef outside and the pair ended up having a heated conversation on the street which left Mr Perez Vargas feeling 'shocked, threatened, insecure'.
The chef claimed his boss told him: 'I knew that you Mexicans were not reliable people. I will call the Home Office and make sure that they send you back to the country that you belong. I will also tell them that you have been sexually harassing all the male staff.'
He also alleged Mr Rockcliff told him that he will 'make sure that no one will give you a job anymore'.
Mr Rockcliff - a musician who goes by the professional name of 'Rocky Rockcliff' - denied making those comments.
That evening, Mr Rockliff went to the chef's home and collected his keys.
Reading employment tribunal, where a panel upheld Mr Perez Vargas' complaints of unfair dismissal and race and sexual orientation harassment and awarded him £20,444.24 in compensation
The following day, Mr Perez Vargas - who felt as if staff were being 'overworked' - handed in a letter of resignation.
It was heard that Mr Rockcliff sent a text message to staff the following day on how he was 'changing the kitchen culture'.
'I finally lost all the dinosaurs/old brigade chefs to my great relief,' he wrote.
The director also wrote that he was 'not sure that Eastern Europeans or Latin Americans have an innate understanding of English regional cookery and/or Mediterranean classic cuisine'.
It was heard that Mr Rockliff also made a social media post referring Michelin trained chefs as 'people with sautéed egos who have lost their mojo for the love of cooking and who have overcooked their wallets for fame over food'.
During the hearing, Mr Rockcliff was 'emphatic in stating that he is not racist'.
The tribunal said that while Mr Rockliff has a 'tendency to talk about people in stereotypical terms', they concluded he did not discriminate against the chef.
Employment Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto said that while the way the boss had expressed himself was 'problematic' and 'offensive, he added: 'We are quite satisfied that the reaction that Mr Rockcliff had to the events on 7 August was a sort of reaction that he would have had with anybody regardless of their race or sexual orientation.
'It was, in our view, a natural response on the part of Mr Rockcliff to be offended by the fact that an employee had walked out on the service.'
But, they said that his behaviour after Mr Perez Vargas walked out of the shift could amount to harassment and was 'conduct which had the effect of violating' the claimant's dignity.
EJ Gumbiti-Zimuto said that because those comments were clearly related to his race, 'we are satisfied that it related to the protected characteristic of race'.
He added: 'Because the comments made reference to (Mr Perez Vargas') sexually harassing all male staff, that it also made reference to his sexual orientation and therefore, in our view, was related to sexual orientation.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
PSNI prepares ‘scaled-up' operation for weekend after disorder
There will be 'a large policing presence across Northern Ireland' over the weekend, a senior officer has said. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the PSNI has prepared a 'scaled-up' policing operation in anticipation of any further disorder. He said the mobilisation, which would include officers from Scotland, was 'to reassure our communities and protect our streets'. It comes after 63 police officers were injured in what has been called a 'week of shame' in Northern Ireland. Disorder started in Ballymena on Monday after an alleged sexual assault of a girl in the Co Antrim town at the weekend, and continued throughout the week. A number of homes were targeted, and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive has said about 50 households have received assistance across the week, and 14 families provided with emergency accommodation. Political leaders called for calm during a meeting of the British Irish Council in Newcastle, Co Down, on Friday. First Minister Michelle O'Neill said everyone is condemning the disorder and calling for it to stop. 'What we have seen over the last four days has been devastation, has been horrific for those people targeted – this is women and children, these are families, at the brunt of racist, violent attacks, and it is wrong on every level,' she said. 'The whole of the Executive is united on that front.' Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly described a 'difficult time for Northern Ireland', with 'disgraceful scenes of violent disorder', and said her thoughts are with the residents of the areas affected. Additional police officers from Scotland will support the Police Service of Northern Ireland after a mutual aid request. Scottish First Minister John Swinney said it was an illustration of how co-operation between police forces is 'absolutely essential'. While disorder in Ballymena raged across Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, it appeared to have abated on Thursday. However, there was still disorder in Portadown. There have also been incidents in other towns, including the burning of Larne Leisure Centre on Wednesday and an arson attack on a house in Coleraine in the early hours of Friday from which a man and woman, and four young children escaped. It is being treated by police as arson with a racially motivated hate element. Twenty-two police officers were injured in overnight disorder in Portadown after they came under sustained attack with heavy masonry, fireworks and beer kegs in the Co Armagh town on Thursday. A woman in her 50s and a man in his 30s were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour and other offences in connection with the disorder in Portadown. There was also sporadic disorder elsewhere in Northern Ireland on Thursday night, following mainly peaceful protests, including in the Templemore Avenue area of east Belfast, where bricks were thrown through the windows of two houses in Avoniel Road in what police have called a racially motivated attack. A small fire at the Manse Road roundabout in Newtownabbey was also reported, and anti-immigration hate graffiti is being investigated in Newtownards. Meanwhile, a house fire in the Mount Street area of Coleraine which led to the evacuation of a family with three young children is being treated as deliberate and a racially motivated hate crime. The Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said that since violence erupted in Ballymena on Monday, 63 officers have been injured. Federation chairman Liam Kelly said it has been 'a week of shame with appalling levels of unrest in towns and cities'. 'Burning people out of their homes, attacking a leisure centre, and the specific targeting of individuals and property fuelled by overt racism and prejudice, is totally deplorable,' he said. 'Yet again, our overstretched police officers have also been attacked with petrol bombs, bricks and fireworks as they sought to keep people safe and maintain law and order. 'They have held the line with great courage and professionalism and are owed a debt of gratitude by this community. 'They went to the aid of vulnerable people, have prevented further savage attacks and have undoubtedly saved lives.' Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warned on Thursday that his officers would be coming after the 'bigots and racists' behind the disorder. He also said that the young girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena at the weekend had been 'further traumatised' by the rioting across the week.
Times
31 minutes ago
- Times
What happened in Ballymena? Why chaos has consumed the small town
A masked rioter held a lighter to the fluttering living room curtains of a house in Ballymena whose windows had been obliterated by a hail of bricks, when a cautious voice spoke up. 'There's someone in that room right now,' the man said while a mob raged around him in the Co Antrim town. But concern or compassion was in short supply. 'If they are local, they need out,' said a woman watching the attempted arson. 'If they're not local then let them f***ing stay there.' Residents have awoken to the aftermath of repeated night-time rioting CHARLES MCQUILLAN FOR THE TIMES A wave of unprecedented anti-immigrant violence swept through Ballymena this week after the alleged attempted rape of a teenage schoolgirl. In the ensuing chaos, migrant families had little option but to flee as gangs in black tracksuits and balaclavas roamed the streets asking 'Where are the foreigners?' To repel the violent swarm, Union Jacks and Northern Irish flags were placed in windows or hung from existing flag poles on terraced houses in the town's centre. Signs reading 'locals live here' were hastily stuck to front doors. Paraphernalia from the King's coronation was taken out of storage and put on display. 'The Twelfth of July has never come this early' The sea of colour was arresting even in the working-class town that, as one of Northern Ireland's loyalist strongholds and epicentre of the late Ian Paisley's bible belt, is accustomed to such displays. 'The Twelfth of July has never come this early,' remarked one local, referring to Protestants' annual celebration of the Battle of the Boyne. By Friday, those flags fluttered alongside scenes of horror. The windows and front doors of targeted houses were boarded up, their occupants long departed. A buggy sat outside the smashed front window of one abandoned property on Queen Street. Inside was a child's bedroom where a colourful quilt was covered in shattered glass and an empty cot was emblazoned with the words 'little prince'. Several doors down, there were no such signs of life as the property's interior had been entirely ravaged by fire. The burning of migrant houses was grimly reminiscent of the onset of the Troubles, the intractable conflict that raged between Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities over some 30 years. As the sectarian violence took hold in 1969, hundreds of families were burnt out of their homes. 'I saw it coming,' says Slovakian factory worker For Vladimir, a Slovakian factory worker who has lived in Northern Ireland for 14 years, the comparison to this pogrom felt obvious. 'I saw it coming,' he said. 'I know the country, I respect the country; their culture, their history. And I know how bad it was. But you could predict this trouble easily — it's all connected. Back then it was sectarian and now it's just foreigners.' Vladimir spoke while sweeping the living room of the house he shares with his Czech partner Pavlina, 35, her 11-year-old daughter and their two dogs. Hours earlier, a gang of youths had tossed a metal bar stool through their front window. Other homes have had windows smashed CHARLES MCQUILLAN FOR THE TIMES To protect the property from further violence, the family hung a Union Jack adorned with an image of William of Orange above the front door. Two boys aged 14 appeared in court on Monday over the alleged sex attack on the schoolgirl. The charges were read to them by a Romanian interpreter. Hours later, hundreds of people took to the streets for a peaceful protest. The peace was short-lived. A crowd broke away and homed in on several properties. The violence proved infectious and a full-scale riot began, with hundreds of people, many in hoods or masks, targeting cars and businesses over three nights, while raining missiles and petrol bombs on the police. Roma have been targeted after an alleged sex attack CHARLES MCQUILLAN FOR THE TIMES Recent years have seen an anti-immigrant movement spread from England to Ireland. Most worryingly, violence is increasingly being used to make a point. In the Republic of Ireland, arson has become a favoured weapon for radical protesters who have repeatedly set fire to properties earmarked as prospective accommodation centres for asylum seekers. As with previous episodes of disorder, tensions in Ballymena were inflamed by prominent online agitators. Hundreds of online messages discussing the events reviewed by The Times featured disturbing language that incited violence and used far-right terminology. Anti-extremism experts said that the opportunity to pin sexual offences on entire migrant communities was 'fertile ground' for extremists. Michelle O'Neill, first minister of Northern Ireland and deputy leader of Sinn Féin, described the violence in Ballymena as 'pure racism' and echoed calls from Sir Keir Starmer for calm. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the rioting, which resulted in more than 40 officers being injured, was 'racist thuggery' and the result of 'mob rule'. But community leaders in the largely Protestant town said that the eruption was inevitable after years of simmering tensions. Much of this frustration has been targeted at the local Roma community, whom some locals accuse of failing to integrate, engaging in antisocial behaviour and having links to organised crime. While condemning violence in his reaction to the rioting, Jim Allister, the North Antrim MP and leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, pointed to an 'influx of Roma' and 'oversubscription of migrants'. 'People are not racist. They have had enough' The Clonavon Terrace area of Ballymena became the epicentre of the violence on Monday when a terraced house identified as the home of the two teenage suspects was set alight by rioters. When Emma Little-Pengelly, the DUP deputy first minister, travelled to the neighbourhood on Wednesday she was confronted by townspeople who said their concerns had been ignored. Reuben Glover, a councillor in her party, said: 'These people have been dumped here.' Beseeching Little-Pengelly to act, he said: 'People are not racist. They have had enough.' In the area of the town where the majority of the violence took place, 494 people identified as white and 265 as Roma in the 2021 census. Other locals directed their opprobrium at private landlords who lease often dilapidated properties as multiple occupancy households, driving up wider rental costs. Recent years have seen the once prosperous town hit by factory closures. The large employers that remain, such as Moy Park, which makes chicken products, often rely on migrant workers to fill vacancies. Meanwhile, Ballymena's housing estates remain under the influence of loyalist paramilitary gangs. A community leader from the town's Harryville area said: 'The issues of private landlords, migration and a neglected area have come together. We got to a stage where the dam burst because of tension that was building up.' Another, who asked not to be named for fear of being targeted, described confronting marauding rioters as they went door to door seeking homes occupied by migrants. He pleaded with a group of some 30 rioters: 'There are good, hard-working foreign nationals living here.' One of the masked men replied: 'There is no such thing as a good foreigner.' The community leader said that Catholics had joined Protestants on the streets. 'The irony in it is quite astounding,' he said. Northern Ireland has experienced an increase in immigration in recent years but on a small scale, remaining the least diverse part of the UK. Only 6.3 per cent of the population was born outside the UK and Ireland in 2021, compared to 4.5 per cent a decade earlier. 'Filipinos live here' The proportion of foreign-born residents among Ballymena's estimated 31,000 population is higher than the wider picture in Northern Ireland. But at 16 per cent, it is almost exactly in line with the average across the UK. The wave of anger that swept through Ballymena this week prompted many locals with links abroad to take drastic precautions. Residents from the Philippines, who are vital in staffing the health and social care sector, placed signs on their doors reading 'Filipinos live here'. The efforts were futile. Iveta Bajanova, 41, a Slovakian who has lived in the area for 14 years, was sitting at home with her children when her windows were smashed and front door kicked through. A group of men tried to storm in only to be stopped by her partner. 'I used to enjoy my life here but now I'm scared,' she said from the boarded up doorway. Iveta Bajanova outside her home CHARLES MCQUILLAN FOR THE TIMES The house of a Filipino night-shift worker at the local Wrightbus factory was firebombed in Cullybackey, a village outside Ballymena. The violence has led to disorder in other towns. In nearby Larne, a leisure centre that had housed families displaced from Ballymena was attacked and set on fire on Wednesday night. Relatives of the teenage girl whose alleged assault triggered the episode have been left in dismay, feeling that her voice has been lost. In a statement, they said: 'As a family we would like to let people know that we were in no way involved or condone any trouble.' With uncertainty about the days ahead, Ballymena's foreign community have been left to ponder their future. For Marin Gyemant, 36, the decision has been made. The baker, who has lived in Ballymena for six years, has started looking up flights to return to Bucharest in Romania, as have some of his friends. The front window of his home was smashed on Tuesday night as his two children, aged eight and six, were inside. 'They were screaming 'What are we going to do now',' he said. Vladimir has slept little this week, spending evenings on the ground floor of his flat beside 80 litres of water in case the property is firebombed. 'Let's wait and see,' he said. 'We are getting ready.'
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Astonishing transformation of award-winning student to shaven-headed 'enemy of the state' who was referred to Prevent a YEAR before he tried to stab PC to death during terrorist attack on police station
As a fresh-faced 18-year-old, Alexander Dighton won a Wales-wide competition in advanced mechanical engineering. At the time, the robotics enthusiast had aspirations to join the RAF as an engineer. Yet just a decade later he had been transformed into a self-confessed 'enemy of the state'. On January 31 this year – by now bearded and shaven-headed – the one-time star student single-handedly stormed a police station in one of the most peaceful parts of South Wales. Armed with home-made weapons including a hatchet, he set a police van alight before hitting one officer and stabbing another, shouting: 'I'm fed up, I'm done'. Attempts to overcome him with a Taser proved useless due to his thick, insulated body armour. But despite their injuries the unarmed officers bravely overpowered Dighton, who later told police: 'I've been damned from birth.' As the 28-year-old starts a 22-year jail sentence, questions are now being asked over his frightening transformation into softly-spoken, pipe-smoking airport worker to would-be police killer. It can be revealed that Dighton was referred to the Government's under-fire counter-extremism Prevent programme by worried relatives 12 months before the attack. In what almost proved a fatal misjudgement, he was assessed as not posing a serious risk and left to his own devices. Dighton continued to radicalise himself in his tiny one-bedroomed flat in South Wales where neighbours would see him exercising in the courtyard at 4am. He started planning his attack on Talbot Green police station near Pontypridd a month before turning up with home-made weapons, saying afterwards: 'Blood had to be spilled.' Following his terrifying rampage, a family member warned of a 'systemic failure' in tackling the threat posed by self-radicalised loners. They compared Dighton to Axel Rudakubana – who stabbed three children to death at a Southport dance class – and Jake Davison - who shot five people dead in Plymouth – who were both also referred to Prevent before launching their massacres. 'If all these individuals had Prevent referrals in place, why are the police not intervening, when it's the people closest to them making these referrals?' the relative asked. Like Nicholas Prosper – who plotted to shoot primary school children in Luton – and Otley Run attacker Owen Lawrence, Dighton appears to have radicalised himself by viewing graphic and extreme content online. His narrowly-averted attempted massacre is the latest example of the threat posed by violence-obsessed loners motivated by no coherent ideology. At the age of 18, Dighton was studying engineering and parametric modelling at two colleges in South Wales. He later moved to Preston, Lancashire before vanishing following a breakdown, leaving all his belongings behind in May 2022. That prompted his worried family to report him missing to police. They believe he may be autistic, although it is understood he was never formally diagnosed. Returning to South Wales, Dighton moved into a one-bed flat in a new-build housing association estate in Llantrisant, a five-minute drive from the police station he would go onto attack. He got a job manufacturing inflatable evacuation slides for aeroplanes at Cardiff Airport, cycling the 12-mile journey to work as he didn't own a car. Neighbours on the well-tended development likened him to Sherlock Holmes because of his penchant for wearing an old-fashioned suit and greenish-brown waistcoat while smoking tobacco with a pipe. He was also fond of a round "Amish-style" hat and used an old bicycle inner-tube as a belt for his trousers, telling some how he wished he had been born in the 1800s. Dighton told them he 'wanted kids but he wasn't interested in women'. Police chiefs have praised the bravery and professionalism of the five officers who came face-to-face with Dighton on the night of the attack The flat was completely unfurnished, lacking even curtains, and he slept on the floor in a sleeping bag. Neighbours nevertheless described him as 'pleasant' and having 'a heart of gold'. "I'd see him in the morning smoking his pipe, and he'd doff his hat and say, 'Good morning to you, sir. Do you want anything up the shop?'' one said. But they became increasingly worried about conspiracy theories he would spout after staying up late delving the darker corners of the internet. 'He'd stay up all through the night,' said one. 'He didn't have a TV but he'd be gaming and watching things on the internet." In January 2024 – 12 months before he went on the rampage – a relative referred Dighton to Prevent. The same family member contacted South Wales Police a fortnight before the attack with concerns about his behaviour. Ahead of his sentencing they branded it a 'systematic failure'. 'It was highlighted to all the right people and it wasn't prevented,' the relative said. 'It raises the question: are police well-staffed enough? And mental health services that could have helped Alex have been cut. 'This was preventable. There has to be a policy change somewhere with regards to these radicalised individuals. The Prevent referrals are not preventing attacks.' In the run-up to his rampage Dighton's behaviour became increasingly erratic. 'He was on about children getting sex education at the age of three," said the neighbour. 'And the police being child molesters and perverts. 'He told us he was on the dark web and he was 'looking into it deep''. 'He would talk about the government, then move onto the police, and then onto gaming, and then back to paedophiles. 'He had a massive problem with authority.' Around this time Dighton began posting racist on X – formerly Twitter – under the profile @VulkantheJust, an apparent reference to a Warhammer character. His profile has a blue tick awarded to users with a paid-for subscription, extending the reach of their posts. His bio reads: 'Dammed [sic] before Birth.' While his messages are only visible to followers, one user who responded branded him a 'little twit who thinks his failures are somehow the fault of 12 year old girls'. Neighbours believe a trigger for Dighton 'cracking' was a dispute with a man who lived in the area. They claim Dighton made allegations that the man had been smoking drugs but that police did not take any action. Dighton's anger grew and on July 29 last year he committed a public order offence against the man, later receiving a conditional discharge. His fixation on police intensified as he repeatedly complained they 'only see the things they want to see'. One neighbour said a relative of Dighton had urged him to see a GP about his mental health but he refused and told the family member 'not to bother' with him anymore. Despite receiving a promotion at work, around a month before launching the police attack he unexpectedly quit his job. Neighbours said police attended over concerns for Dighton's welfare but he confronted officers, shouting: 'P*** off, don't come here.' The day before the attack he shaved his hair - which neighbours said had grown to resemble Doc Brown from Back to the Future – and spent part of the night pacing back and forth outside the flats, smoking his pipe. Condemning his 'disgusting' actions, one said: 'Why, Alex? The police were only doing their job. 'I am really gutted.' In March Dighton - who represented himself - pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a police officer. He also admitted attempted grievous bodily harm, battery, attempted arson, possession of an offensive weapon, two bladed article offences and two of damaging property. The Old Bailey heard that searches of Dighton's home uncovered journals revealing his fixation on anti-immigrant ideology. Counter-terror police admit he slipped through the net – but insist there was nothing to suggest what he was planning. Det Supt Andrew Williams, head of counter terrorism policing in Wales, said there was nothing to suggest he would go on to carry out such an 'horrific' attack. Dighton was assessed by specialist officers over a three-week period over anti-immigration and anti-Islam views as well an interest in the involuntary celibate 'incel' movement. 'They interviewed him at length, they undertook due diligence checks and the conclusion was he did not meet the criteria required for inclusion onto the prevent programme,' he said. 'I must stress that there was absolutely no information or evidence that would suggest he would attack anyone let alone police officers outside Talbot Green as he did a year later.' Dighton was heavily into the Dark Web and also obsessed with the fantasy game Warhammer where armoured miniature warriors use a variety of weapons to battle their foes. He was wearing insulating body armour on the night he struck, and when officers tried to Taser him the electric shock had no effect. Pepper spray also failed to incapacitate him. Dighton was carrying an axe, a hatchet, a pole with two blades attached to it and a knife along with a Molotov cocktail which he hurled at police as they came towards him. Det Supt Williams said Dighton had developed a 'very firm hatred of the state' over his anti-immigration views and 'saw the police as a legitimate target' as a 'representative of the state'. He had begun planning the police station attack around a month earlier, procuring the body armour plus an axe, hatchet, and knife. Det Supt Williams said due to the short timescale 'I don't think there is anything that could have been done differently'. Interviewed by police afterwards, Dighton said he wanted 'to do the maximum damage and cause as much injury to others as he possibly could' and that 'blood had to be spilled.' Nicholas Prosper (left) who plotted to shoot primary school children in Luton after murdering his mother and siblings and Otley Run attacker Owen Lawrence (right) both radicalised themselves by viewing graphic and extreme content online Detectives are in no doubt that he took his inspiration from the internet, gaming and far-right forums, saying he struggled to separate reality from fantasy. Det Supt Williams said: 'He was a lonely individual, with challenges of his own, and he had ready access to material which is readily available online. 'He was a very keen gaming enthusiast and in some of his interviews he referred to the Warhammer type games. 'He identified with characters in that gaming methodology. 'It's a sad indictment of where we are that that stuff is readily accessible and he was freely able to discuss with other like-minded individuals online about their opinions, their thoughts and their mindset. Det Supt Williams said 'lessons were always learned' when individuals like Dighton target the state for terrorist attacks. 'It is a very complex and detailed world that our officers operate in and are required to prioritise and make decisions based on assessments that they undertake on a daily basis,' he said. Nevertheless the case will increase pressure to reform the Prevent strategy, which saw 6,884 referrals in the 12 months to March 2024 – two-fifths relating to children 15 and under. Killers found to have been dismissed too readily by Prevent teams include Islamic State supporter Ali Harbi Ali who stabbed Conservative MP Sir David Amess to death during a constituency surgery at a church hall in Leigh-on-Sea. Following the Southport dance studio attack a rapid review found Axel Rudakubana's referral had been 'closed prematurely'. The Home Office is examining how to strengthen Prevent, including how it responds to cases where mental ill-health is a factor. Chief Superintendent Stephen Jones, lead officer for Mid Glamorgan, praised the bravery and professionalism of the five officers who came face-to-face with Dighton on the night of the attack. He said: 'The courage displayed by all officers is truly commendable, but it is important to recognise the profound impact these events have had on the officers themselves, their families and the wider community. 'Each officer is not just a public servant but a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter or a parent and their families are undoubtedly deeply affected by incidents such as these on a daily basis. 'Such an incident against our officers at their workplace serves as a stark reminder of the risks that can arise unexpectedly.'
