The other side of vigilantism

[Osem]

A murder victim who was beaten and set on fire following rumours he was a paedophile was "failed" by officers, Bristol's police chief has admitted.

Bijan Ebrahimi's body was found in July in Brislington after he was reportedly harassed by residents who believed he had taken indecent images of children.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-24724534

The sad and ironic truth is that he was only taking pictures of youths who'd been vandalising his property to show to the police but he was arrested and questioned after claims were made that he was a paedophile.

[Russ]

When it comes to "peedos" (sic) and "nonces" some people get like the villagers in the witch scene on Monty Python's Holy Grail.

[thenry]

how did the allegations come about ?

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Russ

When it comes to "peedos" (sic) and "nonces" some people get like the villagers in the witch scene on Monty Python's Holy Grail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g

Originally Posted by thenry

how did the allegations come about ?

My impression was that it was someone with a grudge against him or just gossip.

Originally Posted by thenry

how did the allegations come about ?

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/51...ile-rumour.htm

Disabled gardener Bijan Ebrahimi, 44, was attacked after taking pictures of hooligans vandalising his hanging baskets at his home in Brislington, Bristol.

The images were to be handed over to police as evidence of anti-social behaviour by him. However police were contacted by somebody else on the council estate, who accused him of taking inappropriate pictures of children.

Officers then came to arrest Ebrahimi who was led away from his home in front of a baying mob chanting "paedo, paedo" at him, in July. Bungling officers were forced to release Ebrahimi when the reason for the images became clear.

As a result, Ebrahimi was wrongly tarred as a paedophile by rumours which spread in the local community. That led to him being beaten unconscious and then set alight, two days later.

[thenry]

****. I hope the liar(s) is/are named and shamed. Doubt it though with them most likely underage.

He was taking pictures of children he said it was to protect his property

Obviously the mob had little evidence to go on and should of course have made sure the claims had grounds or not . Tragic

From the link in the OP's link

The Post has been told that James, who admitted murder, warned at least one parent that Mr Ebrahimi had been taking photographs of children in the crescent.

Several men came from nearby streets with the intention of "dealing" with the allegations by threatening him, but refrained.

Sources have said that Mr Ebrahimi was only taking photos of the children he believed had, at James' instigation, damaged his flower beds.

A source said: "I think Mr Ebrahimi was trying to get evidence to give to the police and council."

---------- Post added at 21:43 ---------- Previous post was at 21:32 ----------

Interesting article in the Grauniad about vigilante Paedophile hunters - link

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Interesting article in the Grauniad about vigilante Paedophile hunters - link

When approached by the Guardian to comment about his activities and Sam's claims, Stinson Hunter declined to comment.

Maybe they should have tricked him in to meeting them and bombarded him with questions. And filmed it of course.

[thenry]

thats not 'vigilante'. crazy.

What do we do about this issue though? Go after the false accusers with criminal charges? How can we stop it? Certainly the police should have done better here and some officers have been hit with serious misconduct charges and a IPCC investigation but maybe they need a more coherent plan for these cases from the suits above them? If someone makes a intentionally false accusation should we make them against the law as well?

[thenry]

These groups should have been trained and put into work alongside a head that monitors them. Was that on offer to them or were they the force and thats that ?

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Damien

What do we do about this issue though? Go after the false accusers with criminal charges? How can we stop it? Certainly the police should have done better here and some officers have been hit with serious misconduct charges and a IPCC investigation but maybe they need a more coherent plan for these cases from the suits above them? If someone makes a intentionally false accusation should we make them against the law as well?

I think the police have become, understandably, so concerned about failures related to abuse etc. that in this case maybe they let that concern cloud their judgement with tragic results. They're in a difficult position and have to prioritise but, in the real world, how do they do that whilst remaining open minded to all possibilities when the stakes are so high? The baying media doesn't help. Let's hope lessons are learned.

Originally Posted by Russ

Maybe they should have tricked him in to meeting them and bombarded him with questions. And filmed it of course.

if they had done that then he would not have been innocent as he would have shown willing to groom and meet and underage person. So irrelevant to this story Russ nice try though