Bijan Ebrahimi murder: 'Victim pleaded with council for new home'

Bijan Ebrahimi was murdered outside his flat in Brislington in July 2013

A disabled refugee who was killed by his neighbour repeatedly pleaded with the council to rehouse him - but was given an Anti-social Behaviour Order.

Bijan Ebrahimi was beaten to death and his body set alight on a Bristol estate amid false claims he was a paedophile.

A BBC investigation has found he asked the city council on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis to find him a new home but was given an Asbo in 2010.

The council said a report into the case was being published.

Mr Ebrahimi, a council house tenant, suffered constant abuse at the hands of his neighbours and had already been moved from another part of the area.

But the abuse continued at his final home in Capgrave Crescent, where he was killed by Lee James.

Bijan Ebrahimi was murdered near his home in Brislington

The BBC has learned he was given an Asbo in 2010 as he was viewed as the nuisance, according to the IPCC.

However, with the support of the SARI (Stand Against Racism & Inequality) charity in Bristol and the Avon and Bristol Law Centre, the Asbo was overturned.

Bristol City Council insist that Mr Ebrahimi was issued with an injunction based on anti-social behaviour which they say was "set aside" when Mr Ebrahimi agreed to give "an undertaking to be of good behaviour".

The BBC also spoke to one neighbour who supported Mr Ebrahimi in getting his Asbo lifted.

The woman, who has declined to be named, said his repeated calls for help from the council were "ignored".

She said he faced "death threats, his cat was abused and he had faeces left on his doorstep".

"No action was ever taken against those residents," she said.

She added that she felt scared living in this part of Brislington and was also affected by racism, with her daughter once threatened with a baseball bat.

Lee James, right, set Bijan Ebrahimi on fire. Stephen Norley, left, admitted helping

Bristol City Council says it is investigating its treatment of Mr Ebrahimi, an Iranian refugee.

No report has been published since his death four years ago but the council said one would be released in the coming months.

The council added it had not been able to talk about the report due to legal reasons.

Mr Ebrahimi's family, who said the delay "could be seen by some as a cover-up", are considering taking a civil prosecution against the council.

Last week, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said Mr Ebrahimi reported death threats and racial abuse for seven years.

The report stated he had been treated "consistently differently from his neighbours" in what could be "racial bias, conscious or unconscious".

PC Kevin Duffy and PCSO Andrew Passmore were jailed last year for misconduct over their dealings with Mr Ebrahimi. They and two other police officers were also dismissed from the Avon and Somerset force.

Regarding the Asbo, the IPCC report states: "PC Duffy used his knowledge of Mr Ebrahimi and the latter's reports to the police, as the basis for a statement he wrote in September 2010 to support a Bristol City Council Anti-social Behaviour Order application against Mr Ebrahimi.

"PC Duffy asserted that he had compiled the statement from his personal knowledge and from researching police computer systems.

"From analysing this statement and comparing it with the information held by the force on its incident logs, it is apparent [in the opinion of the investigator] that, in short, PC Duffy misrepresented, was misleading about, and did not accurately reflect the contact between Mr Ebrahimi and the force between 2007 and 2010."