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All week, the homages have gathered. Those whose lives were touched by PC Lorne Castle have not thought twice to come forward. One female's account of how her kid's life was conserved by his 'generosity and mankind' and determination to 'exceed what is anticipated of a police officer' is especially moving.
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She composed about how the distressed teenager lost his way in life and became understood to cops, who were forever needing to bring him home. It was PC Castle, himself a father of 3, who wound up talking her boy down from the ledge, in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal one.

Not just did he make the teen see that he had a future, he assisted him sculpt one out by setting up work experience, even though this was not his job. 'We need more officers like PC Castle, not less,' this grateful mom concluded.

'That a person made me well up,' states Lorne, 46, who is being in his living room in a quiet residential street in Bournemouth, sifting through the countless messages he has actually gotten today - some from complete strangers, however others from those he directly helped.

He seems rather overloaded and a little teary (very uncharacteristic, 'or it was before all this', according to his spouse Denise), by all the good things people have been stating about him.

'It's blown me away, to be honest,' he says. 'To have individuals come back to defend me. I'm not utilized to this, however it's truly touching.' He reads on, on the brink of tears: 'If I 'd died, you couldn't have actually got better tributes.'

And in such a way he has passed away, because, as he mentions: 'I'm not dead but the policeman I was is dead. PC 1399 is dead.'

Who eliminated PC Castle? Well, according to his managers at Dorset Police, the deadly injury was totally self-inflicted. Recently, he was fired - 'in such a way that was ruthless. Alan Sugar fires people in a better way,' he states - after being discovered guilty of gross misbehavior.

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

His criminal offense? One that was deemed so major that it eliminated 10 years of unblemished service consisting of citations for bravery.

He apprehended a teenage suspect - later found to have actually been in ownership of a knife - without displaying sufficient 'courtesy or regard'. While grappling on the ground with the 15-year-old, who was resisting arrest in January last year, PC Castle screamed, swore and pointed his finger at the suspect, who was professing his innocence.

In the cold light of day, safe in his own home, having simply waved his youngest child off to bed, Lorne, recently unemployed, still can't rather believe that finger-pointing assisted lose him his whole career.

He raises the angering finger today and waggles it in front of his own nose. 'I need to holster this,' he says, despairingly. Nor can he accept some of the concerns he had to address during a 'devastating and embarrassing' three-day gross misbehavior hearing.

'For a policeman, the concept of gross misconduct is just the worst, however among 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 informing the truth?' He throws both hands up.

'Were they seriously asking me why I didn't fall for the old, 'it wasn't me, guv' line. Most suspects resisting arrest state they have not done anything. I indicate a kid understands that.

'Let's put this into context. We were investigating an attack. I have actually detained him. He has resisted. I'm having a hard time on the ground with him. There is a crowd event. I'm attempting to contain this circumstance however my concern is to make this arrest and keep everyone safe.

'So when he says he hasn't done anything, I'm seriously supposed to stop and say, 'Oh, you didn't do it? Dreadfully sorry, young Sir. Let me help you up! Tally ho! My mistake!' This is a suspect who did have a knife.'

Denise, who states she 'was so proud to be the better half of a policeman', participated in every day of her husband's disciplinary hearing and has existed to get the pieces as his life fell apart

The shock and confusion in his living room is palpable. As is the sheer shock. 'I suggest, the audacity of even asking me that. But I knew even before the gross misconduct hearing began that I was walking to the gallows. And they hung me out to dry.'

He includes: 'Even if I win my appeal, even if I got my task back, I would not be able to do it.

'How might I stroll down the street with members of the general public thinking I'm a bully and a criminal - all the important things I entered into the police force to challenge.

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

Denise, who informs me she 'was so proud to be the spouse of a law enforcement officer', went to every day of her other half's disciplinary hearing and has actually been there to get the pieces as his life fell apart.

The couple, who have children aged 27, 18 and 8, tell me that on the day Lorne was told he was dealing with gross misbehavior charges, he didn't go home - 'since how could I tell my wife?' - however walked along Bournemouth beach up until 3am. He was too surprised to believe of walking into the sea and states he hasn't seriously contemplated suicide 'but can comprehend people who do, in this sort of scenario, 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 'diminish, become somebody who simply isn't Lorne'.

'My hubby is an outgoing, 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 male who never ever contacted sick even when he was ill.

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

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

When the first murmurings started, recommending this once-admired officer had been unfairly treated by 'woke' bosses who were far removed from the reality of policing at street level, Dorset Police moved quickly to protect their position, launching damning video footage, drawn from a colleague's body webcam, which does indeed reveal PC Castle in a not-too-flattering light.

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

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

'It was ravaging that Dorset Police could do this to me, that they could desire to ... destroy 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 footage does not reveal the crowd around us, whom I might see in my peripheral vision.

'There was only one 999 call made about what was happening there and it originated from a member of the general public who was concerned about me. They called to state that there was an officer struggling, who looked as if he required back up.'

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Lorne includes: 'Dorset Police didn't even believe it was needed to call that person as a witness in my disciplinary hearing. I had to demand it. It paints a really various image to what happened and I thank goodness that witness existed, due to the fact that otherwise I 'd believe I was going mad.'

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

He as much throughout the misbehavior hearing and repeats that sentiment today. 'I must not have utilized the language I did. I'm ashamed and saddened that I did that, which it's out there for everyone to see. But the essence of what took place was, unfortunately required. That was an arrest that needed to be made and I made a judgment call.

'Could I have done it in a different way? Naturally, however eventually I took a knife off the streets. Another cops force has this motto, 'Take a knife; Save a Life'. My force said, 'Take a knife; Get your P45'.'

Did he be worthy of to lose his profession? 'I do not believe that's one for me to address,' he says, however his wife has no qualms. 'No, he did not,' Denise says securely.

'They went out to string him up. Once they chose 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 destroyed an excellent male and taken a great law enforcement officer off the streets. I still can't believe this. This entire thing feels like such a violation.'

There has been outrage about Lorne's dismissal, especially from those who were when in the ranks of Dorset Police.

Former Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martyn Underhill informed Radio Solent this week: 'This officer overreacted, used bad language - that's about it. We're ending up being too woke. I think Dorset Police have got this massively incorrect. Do I think he deserved to lose his job? Absolutely not.'

It is particularly ravaging for Lorne that it was associates who first complained about his handling of that arrest. He won't comment on their participation, but it is comprehended that the two junior officers who experienced it had just remained in the job for 6 months.

It is likewise understood that while, initially, it did not look as if misconduct charges were likely, the decision was taken to initiate them. Lorne was informed of this by Superintendent Ricky Dhanda, head of Professional Standards.

In an extraordinary twist, Mr Dhanda has himself been put on limited tasks while he is investigated over sexual misbehavior accusations. 'Maybe me and him have different decision-making procedures,' is all Lorne will say. So who is Lorne Castle - and how will history judge him?

His path into the police was a little unusual. He matured in Torquay however moved to close-by Bournemouth to go to university, where he studied law.

A keen sportsperson and martial arts specialist, he fulfilled Denise - who would go on to be a world champ Muay Thai fighter - and they established a sports academy together.

It was his work with youths that brought him into contact with the man who would become his mentor - former 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 dedication on a youth project. He encouraged him to join the police - first as a community support officer, then as a PC. Denise concurred that he had 'discovered his place' in the cops.

Undoubtedly, it was a profession at which Lorne stood out. In 2021, he was named community officer of the year, after having actually been twice awarded commendations.

In 2017, he saved somebody in a medical emergency situation then, in 2023, he plunged into the Avon, duping his stab vest to enter the water, eventually holding an elderly female aloft.

He states it did strike him that he was, technically, breaking all the guidelines and 'could face murder charges' if his efforts to get the female to cling to a life ring failed.

'It did go through my mind that expert standards might inform me I wasn't expected to enter, that I was attempting to be a hero. That is the world we run in.'

But his desire to do the best 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 entered' were likewise commended but, bizarrely, when it came to the invites for the event, Lorne didn't receive one.

'I 'd been placed on limited duties by then [after the occurrence with the teen] and informed my superiors were going to 'hold onto' mine up until after the misconduct proceedings.' He raged, and deeply injured. 'The other officers weren't going to go without me and I did ultimately go, however it felt quite like being the child at the party you weren't invited to.'

On the night of the contentious arrest, Lorne was at completion of an 11-hour shift when a call can be found in about a violent masked offender, last seen driving an e-scooter, who was believed of assaulting an elderly man and a teenage kid.

Staff at a local McDonald's had been scared enough to close their doors before calling for assistance. Earlier that day, authorities officers had been cautioned that there had been a big gang fight and possible suspects were still at large.

There was no reason for Lorne to take that call - the approaching shift might have managed it - but he says he volunteered, 'because that's what you do'.

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

This part is not contentious. The misconduct 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 laden that situation was. 'As an authorities officer, you go into the unknown and there is a worry there.' He mentions that his bosses released a damning declaration which repeatedly described the suspect as a 15-year-old boy.

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

'And I did not understand he was 15 - to ride an e-scooter you need to be 16. Even if I had understood, should I have held back because of his age? That is doing a disservice to every household who have lost somebody because they were stabbed by a teen. No, I did not understand that he had a knife, but it was my job to do a danger assessment and I have to state my assessment was spot on.'

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

'Do you understand just how much space you need for a machete to be lethal? Quite a lot, due to the fact that it requires a swing. A knife like this? With a small motion 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 complaint from the suspect.'

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

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

He will not criticise the junior officers who raised the complaint, other than to refer me to that witness who called 999. 'He thought 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 exact same thing, which is keeping our community safe. That's all I have actually ever tried to do and I have actually been publicly ruined for it.' Lorne describes needing to turn over his badge as 'the worst moment in my life'.

He states he is practically scared to stroll the streets he once patrolled now. 'Dorset Police have put a target on my head. I do not even know if we can stay here, as a family, which is heartbreaking since this is our community.'

The only advantage is the swell of support from those who think he has been mistreated. A GoFundMe account, set up by Chris Amey, the man who encouraged him to sign up with the cops, was last night standing at ₤ 95,000. 'I'm simply humbled, however so grateful. It implies I can pay the mortgage, for now anyway.'

He goes back to those messages again. One sent out on Facebook comes from another mother, Sarah Robinson, who lost her child 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 utilizing a knife, I thank you for doing your job,' she wrote. 'I am saddened that the cops force has lost such a great officer.'

This makes Lorne want to sob - for himself and his family, yes, however also for those people he guaranteed to serve.

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