Three police officers have been suspended after they arrested an innocent man just days before he was beaten and set alight by murderous vigilantes who wrongly believed he was a paedophile. Bijan Ebrahimi had taken photographs of youths vandalising his hanging baskets and intended to hand them to police as evidence, but instead was held for taking pictures of children.
Officers took Mr Ebrahimi, originally from Iran, away for questioning, as other residents on his estate gathered in the street and chanted, ‘Paedo, paedo’. Two days after his release Mr Ebrahim's charred body was found burning in the road. Lee James, 24, has admitted murder and Stephen Norley, 24, admitted assisting him.
Today it emerged that three of the police involved in the victim's arrest are now not at work and have been accused by the victim's family of 'failing' him. An Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation is currently investigating the police contact he had prior to his death in July 2013.
Six police officers involved in the case have all been served notices of gross misconduct, including an inspector, sergeant and PC involved in his detention. Avon and Somerset Chief Constable Nick Gargan has already admitted that police and other agencies involved had failed Mr Ebrahimi. His family has pleaded with the IPCC to finish the investigation into his death as they cannot wait 'a day longer' for the findings into his murder.
They say until the inquiry has come to an end there will be no 'lessons learned by the authorities'.
A statement, released by the family solicitor, begged the IPCC to conclude its investigation into the case. They said: 'It is difficult to put into words the family's grief at a blameless man being beaten to death and set on fire in 21st Century England.
'Their concern is to ensure that lessons are learned by the authorities so that no other family has to endure this horror.
'Information regarding Bijan's final days and hours is still awaited from the IPCC.
'It would ease the family's pain if they did not have to wait a day longer for this information.'