Force accused of racism over ‘paedophile’ killing

A police force and a council have been accused of institutional racism after “repeatedly siding with the abusers” of an Iranian man who was murdered after being wrongly accused of being a paedophile.

The Safer Bristol Partnership found a “collective failure” by Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol city council in the case of Bijan Ebrahimi and said there was “evidence of both discriminatory behaviour and institutional racism”.

The 44-year-old was beaten to death and his body set on fire by Lee James, a neighbour, in July 2013.