Police and crime commissioner Michael Lane reveals family abuse heartache

In his most personal interview since he was elected as police and crime commissioner for Hampshire, the former Royal Navy commodore told The News of hiding behind a locked door as his mother was beaten.

And in previously unreported comments made at a public meeting, Mr Lane revealed how he draws on his mother for inspiration, regarding her as a '˜fighter, a survivor, who had the courage to hold on to values that I aspire to keep'.

Mr Lane, who is responsible for overseeing policing and commissioning victim services, has also opened up about his shock at the level of hate directed at him since being elected in May 2016.

The Conservative politician spent much of his four-year term as a borough councillor in Gosport in a wheelchair '“ and sees it as his role to champion and protect the disadvantaged and vulnerable.

Speaking to The News, the 64-year-old said: '˜I remember as a child being both behind the locked door with my mother and being in there, which is the lasting memory '“ my mother... when she locked me or caused me to lock the door in the room while she stayed outside.

'˜Those are serious and will last with me for a very long time.'

In a previously unreported speech, Mr Lane told Hampshire's police and crime panel: '˜My birth and early years were surrounded by violence, by domestic abuse, by inequality, by risk and with fear.

'˜Mitigated, for me by a loving single parent, for whom I was a blessing, as she lived with challenges no one should have faced '“ she was a fighter, a survivor, and had the courage to hold on to values that I aspire to keep from her example.

'˜In my 30 years of military service, I learned and lived a life of protecting people from some of the higher threats and risks.

'˜These years of service give me empathy for those who go towards and stand between to protect others who are more vulnerable.'

But speaking after The News shadowed him for a day, he added: '˜I'm not a sob story, I'm not especially unusual. I hope I'm not the median in terms of the hard experiences I've had, but there are plenty of people who have less strength to be a survivor and plenty who have had more.'

Mr Lane said his public service ethos drives him to help those that can make a difference in people's lives. '˜I see someone making a difference for people '“ that's what my motivation is,' he said.

He added: '˜There are some days I know the work I did can contribute to the saving of an individual's life. There are days I know we're making a significant number of people's lives better and facilitated some to become survivors if they've become a victim and rehabilitated them (if they committed crime), and they were then to move on and (that would) keep people safer.'

Mr Lane, whose elected position invites intense scrutiny from the public, says there is not just '˜one thing' he wants to do in his term of office.

But he acknowledges it's a difficult balancing act holding Hampshire's chief constable Olivia Pinkney to account, along with allocating spending for the force, and explaining to the public how his office funds victim services, charities working in the criminal justice system and an array of youth diversion schemes.

He is keen to show he is both funding police officers on the front line tackling criminals but is also working in the third sector and criminal justice system in a bid to rehabilitate criminals, and stop the re-victimisation of vulnerable people.

'˜I personally feel a responsibility of holding the fort and making it possible for the future to be increasingly safer rather than just dealing with what's in front of us and hoping there's resource afterwards,' he said.

Earlier this year, The News revealed in a series of articles a tumultuous period as he battled to get his 2018/19 budget through '“ coming under criticism and eventually a no-confidence vote by Hampshire Police Federation over a hike in council tax and a change in his staffing. This he insists was simply being more transparent than in previous years.

Now Mr Lane and his team is consulting on a fresh £24-a-year increase in a bid to pay for 200 police officers, 60 investigators and a course for PCSOs. Talking about the tough times in the post, he said: '˜There are things that hurt me in this job. I'm offered some hate in this job I hadn't anticipated.

'˜I believe most of it is unfair me being a target but it doesn't dent my enthusiasm to make a difference.

'˜I have been pushed around a bit physically whilst meeting people as police and crime commissioner, offered violence '“ also lots of verbal stuff.

'˜It can turn quickly because it's only words and that's fine. My bones aren't broken by it '“ I would be a strange person if I didn't care when people attack me.

'˜Some people think that they're justified, they're angered by the system that doesn't support them '“ sometimes we have responsibility.

'˜They're telling me their truth, their angst, their victimhood, their chaos.'

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A day in the life of the commissioner

IT'S not unusual to see Michael Lane carrying around more than an armful of papers.

A prolific reader, he scans national and local newspapers, including The News, plucking out articles relevant to the job.

Travelling from south of the county he arrives in Winchester early most days - and it's not unknown for him to be in the office at 5am tackling dozens of e-mails.

An avid technology enthusiast, he sets out his thinking and plans across a large electronic board in his office.

When The News joins him at 8am at his Tower Street office he is already well into the business of the day - having arrived at 7.40am.

By 8.45am he is sitting with James Payne, who leads the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, and office manager Shirley Semke running through the schedule for the day.

Then at 9am he meets Youth Commission member Marcia Tanyanyiwa who is looking to gain an insight into Mr Lane's work - as well as inform it.

Together they analyse grant funding applications - one for just £500 - while others are part of a major round of funding inviting 109 applications.

Grants administrative officer Pippa Mears is careful to outline the details of each bid, with departments in the OPCC outlining if it meets the criteria.

Charities working with child sexual abuse victims, domestic abuse survivors, and diverting youngsters out of trouble are among those types of organisations hopeful for cash.

Every pound is under consideration '“ and with Hampshire police £46m underfunded '“ budgeting is constantly on the mind of Mr Lane and OPCC chief executive Mr Payne.

And for that reason they are proud of the £27.2m Basingstoke police investigation centre '“ the next place on a busy schedule - with a £31.4m version with 36 cells due for completion in Portsmouth in spring next year.

Inspector Tony Maggs, national lead for custody and seconded to Mr Lane's team, leads a tour of delegates from Cambridgeshire who are interested in potentially copying the plans.

The PICs are designed as hubs, not police stations, with investigators and a custody suite in the same building so they can speed up processing detainees.

From the tour of Basingstoke between 11am-1.30pm, Mr Lane travels to Portsmouth to check on the PIC progress with construction firm Mace.

Improvements have been made on the Basingstoke design - something that Mr Payne and Mr Lane are keen to stress.

Once built the PIC will replace the dilapidated Fratton police station in Kingston Crescent, North End, and Portsmouth Central in the city centre.

From there Mr Lane and his team, including assistant commissioner Enzo Riglia, head to the John Pounds Centre in Portsea to meet Motiv8, Street Pastors, Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service, Active Communities Network and Pompey in the Community.

All of these groups benefit from funding - and Mr Lane meets with them to hear of their projects' progress.

Ranging from deterring children from football hooliganism, diverting away from county lines drugs gangs and helping child abuse survivors - these groups all play a vital role in protecting the public.

After the hour-long meeting, Mr Lane and the team head to Fratton station for a planning meeting at 5.30pm.

There he and his team look ahead to the next month, looking at council tax precept setting, speaking at the annual meeting of parish councillors, and drafting questions to ask the chief constable in a scrutiny session before they finish the meeting at 7pm.