Acquittal of Bristol Police Officer accused of misconduct

This was a high profile case in which the prosecution alleged that three police officers and one PCSO had misconducted themselves in a public office, in July 2013, in Bristol, in relation to their dealings with a man called Bijan Ebrahimi.

Brian Altman QC represented one of the officers, LW, who it was alleged had failed to deal properly with Ebrahimi’s 999 call one evening, in which he alleged that his neighbour, Lee James, had assaulted him in his home and had accused him (wrongly) of being a paedophile. It was also said that LW had failed to deal with Lee James’ behaviour at the scene, in particular James’s threats to kill Ebrahimi. Thus the prosecution alleged against LW that she had failed to arrest Lee James, or deal adequately with his behaviour, and that she had failed to investigate Ebrahimi’s complaint all due to her alleged antipathy towards him. LW faced a further allegation relating to a separate occasion when she had refused to speak to Ebrahimi when he had tried calling her when she was on other duties. Within an hour Ebrahimi was murdered by Lee James with an accomplice offering him assistance.

LW was acquitted by the jury unanimously after a seven week trial at Bristol Crown Court).