AS CAMPAIGNERS RALLY TO TRY TO BREAK WALL OF SILENCE
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The families of Allan Marshall, Sheku Bayoh and Katie Allan have joined forces to campaign for all victims of deaths in custody.
They plan to march on the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Saturday – carrying banners bearing photos of the three victims – to highlight their fight for answers.
The families met for the first time in offices in Glasgow city centre on October 11 in an event organised by university body the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR).
Over five hours, the group shared their traumatic experiences of how their loved ones died while in police or prison custody.
Marshall family friend Charles Campbell, 60, who attended the meeting with Allan’s aunt Sharon MacFadyen, said: “All three took it in turns to do a presentation about what happened to them and their experiences of the justice system.
“It’s particularly moving when you hear the stories directly from the families themselves. “We showed the CCTV footage of Allan being dragged from the shower room by prison officers with a towel over his head.
“There were 30 people there from various groups and organisations, including our lawyers. But the floor was given over to the families to allow them to speak of their pain, frustrations and individual campaigns.
“What we quickly realised was the similarities between the three cases in the way we were all treated by the justice system. In particular, the obstructions and barriers to the truth from organisations like the Crown Office.”
Father-of-two Sheku, 31, died in 2015 after being restrained by nine police officers using CS gas and batons in a street near his home in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
He was represented at the meeting by his sister Kadi Johnson and her husband Ade.
Katie was jailed for 16 months in March last year for a hit-and-run crash while drunk and was represented at the meeting by her father Stuart, mother Linda and brother Scott.
The Glasgow University geography student died at Polmont prison three months later when she took her own life.
Charles added: “It’s important we were able to meet the other families and share their personal stories.
“We all plan to meet up at the Crown Office in Edinburgh next Saturday and walk to the Scottish Parliament. We want to raise an awareness of the plights of families in Scotland who experience avoidable deaths in custody and the wall of silence they face trying to get to the truth.”
The families of Allan, Sheku and Katie hope to make the march an annual event.
The SCCJR is a partnership between Glasgow, Stirling, Edinburgh and Strathclyde universities which investigates Scotland’s criminal justice system.