Report highlights catalogue of errors by Avon and Somerset officers over Iranian refugee who was target of hate campaign

Police repeatedly failed to protect a disabled Iranian refugee as neighbours waged a violent seven-year campaign of hate that culminated in his murder by a misguided vigilante, a report has concluded.

Avon and Somerset police officers may have been biased against Bijan Ebrahimi because of his race, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.

The watchdog revealed that Ebrahimi made 85 calls to the force between 2007 and July 2013, when a neighbour punched and kicked him to death before setting fire to his body outside his Bristol home.

In 73 of the calls, Ebrahimi reported allegations including racial abuse, criminal damage and threats to kill, but police failed to record a crime on at least 40 of those occasions. Rather than seeing him as vulnerable, he was dismissed as a nuisance, the report said.

In the days before his death Ebrahimi called the police to say his neighbour Lee James had barged into his home and attacked him. Police did attend but arrested Ebrahimi, 44, rather than James. Neighbours, who wrongly believed he was a paedophile, cheered as he was led away.

Ebrahimi was allowed home and later called police to tell them a mob had gathered outside, pleading with them to send help. Hours later James murdered him.

The report highlighted a catalogue of separate errors in the way Ebrahimi was dealt with in the years leading up to his death and the hours before the murder, adding that there were systemic problems within the force.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Killer Lee James. Photograph: Mark St George/Rex

It said that while James bore immediate responsibility for Ebrahimi’s death, the police “missed a significant number of opportunities” to step in.

IPCC commissioner Jan Williams said: “The constabulary failed Bijan Ebrahimi on a number of levels, over a number of years. This failure was at its worst at the very time that his need was greatest.

“Our investigation identified a series of poor police service responses that spanned at least seven years, and that exposed the constabulary’s failure to identify Bijan Ebrahimi as a vulnerable man in need of protection and support.

“Bijan Ebrahimi self-identified as a victim of race hate crime, but was never recognised as a repeat victim of abuse who needed help. Instead, his complaints about abusive neighbours were disbelieved and he was considered to be a liar, a nuisance and an attention seeker. Neighbours’ counter allegations were taken at face value and accepted.

“The constabulary’s failure to challenge unfounded rumours that Bijan Ebrahimi was a paedophile was to form the backdrop to the fatal events of 14 July 2013.

“We found evidence that Bijan Ebrahimi had been treated consistently differently from his neighbours, to his detriment and without reasonable explanation. Some of the evidence has the hallmarks of what could be construed as racial bias, conscious or unconscious.”

Two men, beat manager PC Kevin Duffy, and community support officer Andrew Passmore, were both jailed over how they dealt with Ebrahimi after being found guilty of misconduct in a public office. They and two other constables, Leanne Winter, 38, and Helen Harris, 40, who arrested Ebrahimi, have been dismissed from the force.

Avon and Somerset police conducted misconduct proceedings against 17 officers and civilian staff. The report said there had been a “range of outcomes” and two other officers receiving final written warnings.

The IPCC report said during the days before his death Ebrahimi was treated with “disrespect, prejudice and even contempt”. He was subject to “inappropriate arrest, humiliating and degrading treatment in custody and subsequent return home, without any meaningful risk assessment”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest PCSO Andrew Passmore (left) and PC Kevin Duffy of Avon and Somerset police were jailed after being found guilty of misconduct in a public office. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

It pointed out that after his arrest when Ebrahimi told Harris, one of the officers was sacked,that she was being racist, she told him he was being racist towards her and her colleagues because they were white.

When a call handler told beat manager Duffy that Ebrahimi wanted to speak to him, he replied: “I’ve no intentions of taking any calls from Bijan Ebrahimi… I will speak to him at my convenience.”

If the police had acted properly, a dispute between two neighbours might not have morphed into a neighbourhood-wide paedophile hunt, the report said.

Ebrahimi had been forced to leave a previous address because neighbour wrongly believed him to be a paedophile and his home was set on fire. Over the years he reported threats to kill, assault, being struck by a car, racial abuse, being spat at and punched. In one attack he was scalded when a housemate threw hot water over him.

The report said: “Police consistently failed to apply their own hate crime policy, which would have triggered serious investigation. Police failed to take action against named offenders.”

Ebrahimi’s family believe he was the victim of institutional racism. In a statement they said: “The IPCC’s report speaks to the institutional racism that lies at the heart of Bijan’s murder and immolation. Had the authorities not colluded in the race hate crime that Bijan suffered in his council flat over all those years, he would be alive today.”

The IPCC report briefly made the point that other agencies knew of the problems Ebrahimi was suffering. His family called for Bristol city council to take responsibility for what they see as its failings in the case.

Avon and Somerset chief constable Andy Marsh apologised to Ebrahimi’s family. He said: “We failed him in his hour of need and I am unreservedly sorry for the pain his family have suffered.

“It’s clear that we had opportunities to change the tragic outcome for Mr Ebrahimi and we failed to take them. Some of these failings were systematic but it’s important to acknowledge that the actions of a very small number of individuals had a catastrophic effect.”

Marsh said measures and new ways of working had been introduced, including a new call handling systems, services designed to identify and protect vulnerable people and leadership programmes.