Police Jailed Over Bijan Ebrahimi Death

A police officer and police community support officer who failed a disabled man later murdered in a vigilante attack have been jailed.

PC Kevin Duffy, 52, and PCSO Andrew Passmore, 56, were found guilty of misconduct in a public office in December in connection with the death of Bijan Ebrahimi in Bristol.

Duffy was given a 10-month jail term while Passmore was jailed for four months - each will serve half their sentence.

The 44-year old Iranian national was beaten to death and his body set on fire by neighbour Lee James on a housing estate in Brislington, in 2013, after being wrongly accused of being a paedophile.

James was jailed for life for murder, while Stephen Norley, who lived next door and obtained white spirit to burn Mr Ebrahimi's body, was jailed for four years.

After a seven-week trial, Duffy and Passmore were convicted of misconduct in public office, while two other officers, PCs Leanne Winter, 38 and Helen Harris, 40 were cleared.

Passing sentence today, Judge Neil Ford QC said: "I cannot go behind the jury's verdicts and it is with a heavy heart that in each of your cases I take the view that only a custodial sentence is appropriate.

"It doesn't seem to me a proper consequence of your wrongdoing that the sentences need be long.

"You have already suffered greatly. You have already lost your careers and in each of your cases there is genuine justification for mercy.

"You must not bear the responsibilities for the wider failings in the police which were beyond your control."

Both Duffy and Passmore were dismissed from the force last month.

In the 48 hours leading up to his death, Mr Ebrahimi made 12 calls to the police 101 number, at times saying there was a mob outside his flat in Capgrave Crescent.

In many of the calls he asked to speak to his beat officer, PC Kevin Duffy, but the prosecution said Mr Duffy viewed him as a "liar and a nuisance" and never went to visit him in those final days.

Instead, he asked PCSO Andrew Passmore to conduct a "bit of a foot patrol" around the estate.

Passmore was convicted of misconduct by falsely claiming to have spent an hour patrolling the area during an interview with detectives.

The court heard that on 11 July 2013 Mr Ebrahimi dialled 999 and reported James had come into his flat and head-butted him.

James believed he had filmed his children, but he was actually recording antisocial behaviour to submit to the council.

When police arrived at the victim's home they found James crying with anger and frothing at the mouth as a mob waited outside.

Instead of helping Mr Ebrahimi, police arrested him for breaching the peace. The crowd cheered and shouted "paedophile" as he was taken away.

Three days later he was murdered.

Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Mr Ebrahimi's sister, Manisha Moores, said the family's fight for justice would continue.

"No sentence can ever bring our brother back and we as a family have a life sentence to bear," she said.

"We hope the judge's words today send out a strong message to police officers across the country about the importance of protecting victims and the importance of telling the truth.

"We hope that today's outcome will help other victims and our search for justice continues."

A statement from Avon and Somerset Police said its "sole aim" was to understand the circumstances around Mr Ebrahimi's treatment by its staff in the days before his murder.

It added: "We are at the beginning of a series of misconduct hearings and meetings involving 15 members of staff and officers.

"It’s crucial that these disciplinary proceedings are allowed to progress to their final conclusion without prejudice now that the criminal case has come to an end.

"As a consequence, we’re unable to comment any further to avoid any prejudice to the disciplinary matters.

"The gross misconduct hearings involving police officers will be held in public at Police HQ and further details will be published nearer the time."