Police force who failed to stop vigilante murder 'showed hallmarks of racial bias'
A POLICE force who failed to stop a horrific vigilante murder showed "hallmarks" of racial bias, a damning report has found.
Police showed racial bias as they failed to stop the murder of Bijan Ebrahimi, report says
Bijan Ebrahimi was ignored by Avon and Somerset Police for seven years as he pleaded for action against vandals and bullying neighbours, said the police watchdog.
In the days before his murder in Bristol in July 2013, officers were deaf to his cries for help, the report stated.
Mr Ebrahimi, 44, an Iranian, was punched and kicked to death and his body set alight by neighbour Lee James.
The killer had falsely accused disabled Mr Ebrahimi of being a paedophile, Bristol Crown Court heard.
A PC and a community support officer were later jailed for misconduct in a public office.
Two other members of the force were sacked and others disciplined.
The IPCC found officers ignored his pleas for help labelling him an ‘attention seeker’
Neighbours’s counter allegations were taken at face value and accepted
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has now condemned the force the failures which led to the killing.
Despite repeatedly complaining he was a victim of race hate offences, Mr Ebrahimi was dismissed as a “liar, a nuisance and an attention seeker,” the IPCC concluded.
IPCC Commissioner Jan Williams said: “Neighbours’s counter allegations were taken at face value and accepted, despite evidence to the contrary, and Bijan Ebrahimi found himself regarded as the perpetrator of the abuse, rather than as the victim.
“The police failure to challenge unfounded rumours that Bijan Ebrahimi was a paedophile was to form the backdrop to the fatal events of July 2013.
“We found evidence that Bijan Ebrahimi had been treated consistently differently from his neighbours, to his detriment and without reasonable explanation.
Lee James murdered Mr Ebrahimi after falsely accusing him of being a paedophile
“Some of the evidence has the hallmarks of what could be construed as racial bias, conscious or unconscious.”
She added: “The most salutary lesson for the police is underlined by the sad, poignant fact that Bijan Ebrahimi kept faith with the police throughout, no matter how many times he was rebuffed.”
The IPCC recommended that police officers and staff should be trained how to challenge bias.
Chief officers were told to send out a strong message that discrimination cannot be tolerated.