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| Bijan Ebrahimi murder: 'Institutional racism' by council and police | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A police force and council "repeatedly sided with the abusers" of a man murdered after being wrongly accused of being paedophile, a report has found. | A police force and council "repeatedly sided with the abusers" of a man murdered after being wrongly accused of being paedophile, a report has found. |
| The Safer Bristol Partnership (SBP) found a "collective failure" by Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council in the case of Bijan Ebrahimi. | |
| The disabled Iranian refugee was beaten to death and set alight on a Bristol estate in 2013. | The disabled Iranian refugee was beaten to death and set alight on a Bristol estate in 2013. |
| The SBP found there was "institutional racism" from both parties. | |
| The council and police say they accept the report's findings. | |
| Lee James, 24, was jailed for life for killing Mr Ebrahimi three days after he was arrested following complaints he had been taking pictures of children near his home. | |
| James repeatedly stamped on Mr Ebrahimi's head during the attack, shouting "have some of that". | |
| In a letter to Mr Ebrahimi's family, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees apologised. | |
| He said: "We accept all of the findings of the Safer Bristol-commissioned independent review, including 'evidence of both discriminatory behaviour and institutional racism on the part of Bristol City Council'. | |
| "We appreciate that no amount of lessons learned or changes in practice can possibly mitigate the impact this had on Bijan and his family. " | |
| Avon and Somerset Police, which was criticised for "conscious or unconscious racial bias" in the case in an IPCC report earlier this year, also said it accepted the findings. | |
| "We failed him when he needed us the most and for that we're extremely sorry," a spokesman said. | |
| "We continue to do everything in our power to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again." | |
| 'Abuse and victimisation' | |
| The SBP report states: "There is nothing racist in the intentions or established policies and procedures of either organisation. | |
| "Nevertheless, there is evidence that Mr Ebrahimi was repeatedly targeted for racist abuse and victimisation by some members of the public, that this was repeatedly reported to Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Bristol City Council and that representatives of both organisations repeatedly sided with his abusers. | "Nevertheless, there is evidence that Mr Ebrahimi was repeatedly targeted for racist abuse and victimisation by some members of the public, that this was repeatedly reported to Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Bristol City Council and that representatives of both organisations repeatedly sided with his abusers. |
| "The more incidents that were reported, the more ingrained this pattern of responses became right up to Mr Ebrahimi's death." | "The more incidents that were reported, the more ingrained this pattern of responses became right up to Mr Ebrahimi's death." |