World News - Man jailed for vigilante murder

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  • xman
    Admin
    • Sep 2006
    • 24007

    World News - Man jailed for vigilante murder

    divdiv class=story-body readability=69 span class=story-date#13; span class=date28 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time08:45 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1A man has been jailed for life after admitting he murdered his disabled neighbour who had been wrongly branded a paedophile. /p#13; pLee James, 24, killed Bijan Ebrahimi and set fire to his body in the Brislington area of Bristol in July./p#13; pMr Justice Simon ordered that James must serve a minimum of 18 years in prison./p#13; pBristol Crown Court heard Mr Ebrahimi, who was an Iranian national and in his 40s, died from head injuries./p#13; pStephen Norley, 25, who had admitted assisting an offender, was given a four-year jail term./p#13; pProsecutors say Norley helped James drag Mr Ebrahimi's body from the scene of the attack and assisted in setting fire to the corpse by obtaining white spirit./p#13; pMr Ebrahimi was murdered three days after he was arrested by police following complaints that he had been taking pictures of children in Brislington./p#13; pOfficers examined his camera, videos and computer but found nothing suspicious and he was released without charge./p#13; pHis burnt body was found in Whitmore Avenue, just 100 yards from his maisonette home in Capgrave Crescent./p#13; pIn sentencing the pair, who both lived near the victim, the judge described the murder as deeply shocking./p#13; span class=cross-head'So much anger'/span#13; pHe said it was a vigilante crime and an act of murderous injustice, adding that claims that Mr Ebrahimi was a paedophile were baseless. /p#13; pSpeaking after the sentencing, Mr Ebrahimi's sister, Manisha Moores, said: The next question to be answered is whether Bijan's death could have been avoided if he received the proper protection he deserved from the authorities. /p#13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13;!-- This is the embedded player component --#13;#13;#13; #13; #13;#13;#13;#13;!-- wwrights check --#13;!-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13;#13;#13;#13;div class=videoInStoryC readability=1#13; div id=emp-25140043-110324 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71396000/jpg/_71396047_71396045.jpg alt=Manisha Moores, sister of victim /pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionSister of murdered Bijan Ebrahimi says lessons must be learnt/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13;#13;/div#13;!-- end of the embedded player component --#13;#13;!-- Player embedded -- pLessons must be learned before other vulnerable lives are lost./p#13; pThe court was shown a video shot by Mr Ebrahimi of James holding a beer can and threatening him after he realised he was being filmed./p#13; pProsecutor Andrew Langdon QC said that on the evening before the killing neighbours saw a confrontation between James and Mr Ebrahimi./p#13; pHe said: Lee James was shouting at Mr Ebrahimi, telling him in abusive terms to stop taking pictures, to give him the camera, to delete the photographs./p#13; pMr James himself told one of the witnesses that Mr Ebrahimi had taken pictures of him with a can of beer in his hand./p#13; pMr Powell remembers Mr James saying 'I am going to burn his house down'. At one point Mr James entered Mr Ebrahimi's home uninvited and remonstrated with him and threatened him./p#13; pThe court heard that during the fatal attack James repeatedly stamped on Mr Ebrahimi's head, shouting have some of that./p#13; pMr Langdon said that after murdering Mr Ebrahimi and burning his body, James told his girlfriend: We sorted him out. We took care of things./p#13; pJames, also of Capgrave Crescent, told police he had kicked Mr Ebrahimi like a football... I had so much anger in me./p#13; pThe court heard Mr Ebrahimi, who moved to the UK in 2001, made several calls to police in the 48 hours before his murder, but those calls were not responded to./p#13; #13; pAvon and Somerset Chief Constable Nick Gargan issued an apology after the tragedy, saying: Mr Ebrahimi was someone who deserved the protection of all of us and we are very sorry about what happened to him./p#13; pThe Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has interviewed six police officers and six civilian staff as part of their investigation into police contact prior to Mr Ebrahimi's death./p#13; pThree constables have been questioned over potential misconduct in public office./p#13; pAn inspector, sergeant, constable, control room supervisor, dispatcher and four call handlers have been interviewed for gross misconduct./p#13; pThe inspector is no longer subject to the investigation./p#13; span class=cross-head'Collective failure'/span#13; pMr Gargan said: On the day of Mr Ebrahimi's murder, we knew enough about the police response to convince us that we should make an immediate referral to the IPCC. /p#13; pWe still await their report and therefore it is not appropriate for me to say more about that police response. It's important that we don't affect that external scrutiny by expressing a public opinion. /p#13; pIt could also be the case that criminal proceedings follow and if so a jury needs to reach its verdict based on evidence in the courtroom, not our opinion today. /p#13; pNevertheless... it is clear that there was a collective failure on the part of statutory agencies and others to protect Mr Ebrahimi. /p#13; #13; pWe need to have some frank and candid local discussions with our partners and our communities about what we collectively can do to stop this happening again. /p#13; pSenior people in our own organisation have already put in place urgent actions to improve the way we respond to the vulnerable, handle reports of anti-social behaviour and identify repeat callers and victims and we will continue to talk to partners to improve the way we work together to protect the public. /p#13; pPolice and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: The tragic murder of Mr Ebrahimi has shocked and saddened me and I have critical questions for the police and other agencies about the events leading up to Mr Ebrahimi's death. /p#13; pWhile I am not going to draw any conclusions before the IPCC investigation and any other reviews are complete I am determined to look publicly at what could or should have been done differently./p#13; pThe IPCC report and a report by the Safer Bristol Partnership are expected to be completed and made public early next year./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center
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