Sheku Bayoh inquiry: Partner claims lord advocate said 'he brought it on himself'

An inquiry into Sheku Bayoh's death is examining whether race was a factor

Sheku Bayoh's former partner has told the inquiry into his death that one of Scotland's top law officers said he had brought it upon himself.

Collette Bell claimed the remark was made by then Lord Advocate James Wolffe before the Crown Office decided there were would be no prosecutions.

Ms Bell said she hoped the six officers involved "would be put in jail" for "manslaughter or murder".

Mr Bayoh, 31, died in Kirkcaldy in 2015 after a violent confrontation.

He never regained consciousness after being restrained by officers in the street, and was found to have suffered 23 separate injuries.

The inquiry is looking into the circumstances of Mr Bayoh's death, and whether race was a factor.

The Crown Office has said James Wolffe was "instrumental in the creation of the public inquiry in support of the family's desire for answers".

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Ms Bell gave pre-recorded evidence to the inquiry for the first time on Thursday.

Recalling a meeting with the former lord advocate at the Crown Office, Ms Bell said: "He said something like 'he had done it to himself' and if he hadn't responded to his arrest, he wouldn't have sustained his injuries.

"I'm sure he used words like 'If he wasn't flailing around or fighting against them, this wouldn't have happened'.

"I remember thinking, 'Are you kidding me? There were six officers on top of him. How do you want him to react?'"

The couple had a three-month-old baby when Mr Bayoh, who had taken the drugs MDMA and Flakka, died on 3 May, 2015.

Ms Bell told the inquiry she hoped the police officers involved "would be put in jail."

"If Shek hadn't come into contact with the police, he would still be here now - that is my belief," she said.

"I believe if somebody else - the public - had caused injuries for him to become unconscious, they would be done for manslaughter or murder."

Sheku Bayoh died in police custody in 2015

Ms Bell said detectives initially informed her Mr Bayoh had been found dead in the street by a passer-by.

She said she assumed he had been murdered after receiving the information at Kirkcaldy police station and being told police were looking for someone in connection with the incident.

Officers who spoke to Ms Bell have disputed her version of what she was told.

'Nightmares'

She claimed officers began to treat her home like a crime scene, and told her she would have to pack a bag in case she could not get back in.

It was at that stage that Ms Bell thought for the first time that Mr Bayoh was dead.

She told the inquiry: "They were covering the garden with polythene and I just remember saying, 'Shek's dead'.

"I don't know why I was saying that, I have no reason, I think it was just all the commotion in the house and the officers and then the polythene in the garden.

"I just thought, 'something's really not right here, I think Shek's dead' and Mum was like, 'Don't be silly. We'll get down to the police station and we'll find out what's going on'."

Ms Bell said she "often has nightmares" about the police having "the wrong man" in the events that followed.

"I'll be walking down a beach on holiday and Shek will be coming towards me," she said.

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In her statement to the inquiry, Ms Bell claimed a post-mortem examination had taken place on Mr Bayoh's body without the family identifying him first.

Angela Grahame KC, senior counsel to the inquiry, asked Ms Bell: "Was it your understanding at that time that they needed permission to do the post-mortem?"

Ms Bell responded: "Yes, because I remember when we were in the police station they had said he would need to be identified so nothing could go ahead without him being identified.

"I just remember thinking, 'He hasn't been identified so how have they managed to do the post-mortem?'"

Ms Bell also criticised the way she and Mr Bayoh's family were treated by the police, saying they "intentionally lied" to her about the circumstances surrounding Mr Bayoh's death.

Asked how she felt knowing that information was withheld from her, she replied: "Disgusted. You know what's happened, I've asked you what has happened, I've asked you: has he been stabbed, has he collapsed, has he been hit by a car, what's happened to him?

"You say: no obvious wounds, we don't know.

"You do know. You know that the police have been in contact with Shek, and you know that he's died right on the back of being in contact with the police, you do know what's happened to him, you know that he's not been stabbed or hit by a car."

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: "When he was Lord Advocate, James Wolffe KC always recognised the impact of Mr Bayoh's death on his family and was instrumental in the creation of the public inquiry in support of the family's desire for answers.

"The Law Officers past and present, and COPFS, are fully supportive of the inquiry and its work and Crown evidence will be heard in due course."

The inquiry, before Lord Bracadale in Edinburgh, will resume later this month.