Swinney 'happy to meet' Bayoh family after inquiry team quits

Lawyer Aamer Anwar (right) spoke on behalf of the Bayoh family at a press conference

First Minister John Swinney has said he is happy to meet the family of Sheku Bayoh after the judge leading the inquiry into his death stood down.

Lord Bracadale stood down as chairman of the inquiry looking into the death of Mr Bayoh on Tuesday.

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) had repeatedly questioned Lord Bracadale's impartiality over meetings with Mr Bayoh's family, though the family and their lawyer have insisted the former judge had done nothing wrong.

The family have asked for a meeting with the first minister and have spoken of withdrawing from the public inquiry, saying they felt "totally betrayed" by the criminal justice system.

Speaking to BBC Scotland News, the first minister said: "I'd be happy to meet them again to consider these issues and to assure them of the importance that we attach to making sure that this inquiry is completed and that any of the lessons need to be learned are learned."

He said Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes is working "on taking forward the next steps in relation to the inquiry".

Sheku Bayoh died in police custody in May 2015

The Sheku Bayoh inquiry - which started in November 2020 - has been examining the death in police custody of the father-of-two in May 2015.

He died after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy. Members of the public had called the police after Mr Bayoh was spotted carrying a knife and behaving erratically in the streets.

He was not carrying the knife when officers arrived at the scene but a violent confrontation followed, with up to six officers restraining him on the ground.

Mr Bayoh lost consciousness and later died in hospital.

Former judge Lord Bracadale was appointed to lead a public inquiry into the death, which began in November 2020.

He confirmed he was standing down as inquiry chairman on Tuesday, after refusing calls to quit by the SPF two months earlier.

In his resignation letter, Lord Bracadale wrote: "As the judicial review process developed it became clear that the concerns about my conduct had not been allayed by my decision and that the criticisms have persisted.

"As a result, it is now clear to me that many of the core participants have lost confidence in my conduct of the Inquiry to such an extent that it cannot be retrieved."

The former judge said all the evidence had now been led and the next stage in the inquiry would be the hearing of closing submissions.

Senior counsel to the Inquiry Angela Graham KC, Laura Thomson KC and Jason Beer KC resigned two days later, as did junior counsel Rachel Barrett and Sarah Loosemore.

The senior counsel team led the questioning at the hearings into the death of Mr Bayoh.

Speaking on Saturday, the first minister thanked Lord Bracadale for his service and said he understood why he chose to resign.

"Lord Bracadale has given the most extraordinary commitment to the inquiry and in my view has given outstanding service to the people of Scotland in taking forward this very difficult inquiry," he said.

The inquiry team said his replacement would be decided by Scottish government ministers, with the new chairperson then appointing counsel.