Latest news with #NormanBrennan
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Telegraph
Policeman ‘sacked unfairly' after change in misconduct rules
Police chiefs were not qualified to sack a decorated police officer for his arrest of a teenage knifeman, it has been claimed. Dorset Police provoked a backlash after dismissing police constable Lorne Castle for gross misconduct following a three-day hearing over the January 2024 incident. The panel ruled that he had used unreasonable force during the arrest. Footage released by the force shows the 46-year-old lawfully tackling the suspect, 15, to the ground in Bournemouth after detaining him for two assaults. He then calls the boy 'b---h' and tells him to 'stop resisting or I'm going to smash you up'. However, campaigners claimed Mr Castle was the victim of a 'witch hunt' and had been 'thrown under the bus' by Dorset Police. Norman Brennan, a retired police officer and founder of the police wellbeing campaign group Protect the Protectors, said: 'Senior officers at Dorset Police have taken leave of their senses. This decision epitomises how they have lost touch with the danger and reality of front-line policing.' A police source close to Mr Castle has now accused the police chiefs who chaired the misconduct hearing of not being 'legally qualified' to dismiss him. In May 2024, new powers were given to chief constables to allow themselves, or other senior officers, to chair misconduct hearings. Previously, the panels were chaired by independent lawyers known as legally qualified chairmen. Instead, Mr Castle's misconduct hearing was presided over by Deborah Smith, an assistant chief constable from Wiltshire Police. Legal advisers remain a part of hearings but are now known as a 'legally qualified person' who can provide independent legal advice in a supportive role. The source told The Telegraph: 'These police chiefs aren't legally qualified chairmen. If it had been a legally qualified chairman, I think the outcome would have been different. 'Lorne's actions should never have been deemed to be gross misconduct.' In the body-worn camera footage released by police, Mr Castle can be seen lawfully tackling a 15-year-old suspect to the ground. Video shows Mr Castle sitting astride the boy and ordering him to 'get your f------ hands behind your back'. He places his hand on the suspect's face for a few seconds before calling him a 'b---h'. He then tells him to 'stop resisting or I'm going to smash you up.' Throughout the two-minute video, the boy can be heard yelling 'what have I done?' and 'I don't want you on me'. Moments later, a knife fell out of the boy's waistband. At the time of the arrest, the youth was wanted in connection with an assault on an elderly member of the public on Bournemouth seafront and for being part of a gang attack at a McDonald's restaurant. A large gang fight had occurred in the area a few days before the incident. Two potential suspects from the fight were still at large on the morning when Mr Castle went out on patrol with Pc Susannah Justice, and the shift had again been given a warning about the possible dangers from the outstanding offenders. Mr Castle, a former martial arts instructor whose wife, Denise, is a world champion Muay Thai kickboxer, was encouraged to join the force after his effective work as a community safety patrol officer working in the Boscombe area. In a decade as a Pc, he has twice been commended for saving the lives of members of the public. In one incident in 2023, he put his own safety at risk to rescue a woman from being swept away in a flooded river. In 2021, Mr Castle was made Dorset Police's officer of the year for his 'outstanding service' and for undertaking every shift 'with the personal commitment to make a difference and do the right thing'. The misconduct panel, led by ACC Smith, concluded he failed to act with self-control. It said he did not treat the boy with courtesy or respect and that his 'shouting, swearing, finger pointing and taking hold of the boy's face suggested use of leg restraints was not necessary, reasonable or proportionate'. The panel also concluded, however, he genuinely believed the 15-year-old, who was hooded and covering his face when Mr Castle spotted him walking along a city centre pavement with two associates, was a high-risk suspect. The panel also accepted he genuinely thought the boy was resisting arrest and trying to break free and that these beliefs were reasonable.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Campaigners demand minimum five-year jail term for knife thugs amid fears Britain's blood-soaked streets are turning into a 'lawless hellscape'
Britain's knife crime epidemic has reached such crisis levels the nation now faces plunging into the 'abyss' of a 'lawless hellscape' unless urgent action is taken. That's the chilling warning victims have today issued to Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer as they demand tougher jail terms for knife thugs. Campaigners are calling for mandatory five-year sentences for adults caught carrying blades on the street, and three years for youths. It comes amid a 'national emergency' which has seen the scourge of knife crime spread to every corner of England and Wales. County lines drugs gangs and rival cartels are warring in city streets while youngsters in towns are carrying knives into school and slaughtering children in parks. Norman Brennan, a former police officer and director of the Law and Order Foundation - which campaigns for victims - said the 'tsunami' of bloodshed washing over Britain had now reached apocalyptic levels. Mr Brennan - who was almost stabbed to death tackling a burglar during his time as a London cop - has teamed up with publican influencer Adam Brooks, whose father was murdered by a machete gang, to call for tougher sentences. 'This is a national crisis. It is an emergency like I've never seen. We are heading to the abyss,' he said. In this chilling footage, two men who appear to be armed with machetes, were seen confronting each other at a packed market in East Ham, east London in October 'We have slipped into a tide of anarchy. There's no police on the streets. The public don't feel safe. Criminals walk around now feeling untouchable. 'I predicted this knife crime epidemic 20 years ago. I've been warning governments of all political colours of the perfect storm that was coming - and now it's here. It's a tsunami... it's a tide of bloodshed.' The pair have launched a petition calling for change. In a matter of days, more than 32,000 people signed it. It needs 100,000 to be debated in parliament. Currently a person aged 18 or over who is convicted of a second knife offence faces a mandatory minimum sentence of six months imprisonment and at least a four-month detention and training order for 16- and 17-year-olds. The maximum sentence for possession of a knife is four years. However, Norman and Adam hope harsher jail terms will act as a 'deterrence', and prevent youngsters from arming themselves with a knife and stabbing someone. For Adam, it's an issue devastatingly close to his heart. The father-of-three runs the Three Colts pub in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, following in the footsteps of his dad, Alan - who was brutally murdered in July 1991. Alan was the landlord at The Gunmakers Arms boozer and the Clydesdale pub when he was hacked to death by machete-wielding gangsters after barring a notorious group of drug dealers from his boozer days earlier. Adam was just 11 when his father was slaughtered and said the impact of losing his 'idol' and 'hero' - a respected East End boxer - had ruined his life and sent him on a 'suicide mission' in his youth, picking fights with criminals and bouncers. 'There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of my dad. That was in 1991. That was 34 years ago. It's a pain that you feel for the rest of your life,' Adam told MailOnline. 'As a kid it messed me a couple of years I was on a suicide mission. It's like I was seeking out the most dangerous person I could have a row with. 'I went on a bit of a kamikaze run for a few years, picking fights with doormen and gangsters and all sorts. 'Now I've got a 15-year-old son and I'm petrified of what could happen to him... I'm that scared, if I had enough money I'd think about moving my children to another country.' Speaking bluntly of the UK's knife scourge, he said: 'In certain areas, it's a hellscape.' Adam, who himself has been stabbed, said the devastating consequences knife crime can have on the families of the victims, was unimaginable. 'You're inflicting pain on families and friends for the rest of their lives. But you're also ruining your own life too and the lives of your family. There's no upside to carrying knives,' he added. Stark figures show knife crime continues to rise, with recent figures for England and Wales showing a staggering 50,973 offences being recorded in 2023/24 - marking an 80 per cent surge in the last 10 years, the Office For National Statistics said. In London, there has been a dramatic 17.4 per cent hike as the capital reached a shameful 14-year high of 15,859 offences, up from 12,786 the year before. According to the Crime in England and Wales 2024 report, around 30 per cent of knife-enabled crime was recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service. And in the quaint communities of Avon and Somerset, the region has seen a breathtaking 32 per cent explosion in knife crime. Even in some of the UK's most desirable places to live, like Norwich and Guildford, aren't immune to the modern menace of knife crime. The counties they grace have seen a steep rise in knife-related offences over the last eight years - 196 per cent for Norfolk and an almost unbelievable 681 per cent for Surrey, home to Britain's 'stockbroker belt'. While knife crime in both areas remains relatively low compared to the rest of the country, they are representative of a wider phenomenon that is worrying police and crime experts. MailOnline's analysis of police figures shows other English and Welsh counties that saw the highest rise in knife offences from 2015/16 to 2023/24 are also largely rural in character. In second place after Surrey was Gwent with a 240 per cent increase, followed by Norfolk and then Avon and Somerset (134 per cent). 'We have a knife crime epidemic in this country and it is only getting worse,' Mr Brooks added in a post on social media. 'Our Government wants to do these silly propaganda stunts like rounding the edges of knives... Rounding the edges is never going to stop knife crime – it's not even going to make the tiniest of difference. 'It's all for propaganda and all for brownie points. We need tough action; we need five-year mandatory sentences if you're caught in public with a knife. 'We need these knives off our streets and the only way that happens is through tough action and through deterrence; we need to up stop and search and make these people realise they can be stopped at any time and if they're caught with a knife their going to prison for five years. 'No ifs, no buts, no appeals – you're caught with a knife... you're going to go away. Say goodbye to your family and off you go because we need these knives off the street.' As well as calling for harsher jail sentences, Mr Brennan and Mr Brooks are also demanding for mass stop and search powers to be ramped up, a new national education and mentor programme for children and for parents to take greater responsibility if their children are caught with a blade. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police told MailOnline: 'Tackling violence remains a top priority for the Met, with targeted activity occurring in across all parts of the organisation to tackle everything from organised groups who habitually use violence to facilitate their criminal enterprises to those causing harm in their neighbourhoods through anti-social behaviour and criminality. 'The factors that contribute to people carrying and using knives are complex and require the collective effort of police, local partners, charities and our communities. 'We have already seen some success, reducing the number of personal robberies by over 10 per cent, which makes up a large proportion of knife crime. We are also reducing the number of victims who are injured by knives and sharp objects specifically, and have achieved significant reductions of 18% less victims injured by violence. 'We will continue to prioritise our activity and proactively target those causing the most harm.'
