Concern over letting police see details of post mortem

The former head of a police watchdog has told an inquiry of her concerns that details of a post-mortem examination of Sheku Bayoh were given to police officers before they provided statements on their involvement with him prior to his death.

Kate Frame, Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) in 2015, told the Sheku Bayoh inquiry this risked the group of officers choosing to “adapt” their statements to match the examination findings.

Mr Bayoh, 31, a fatherof-two, died after he was restrained on the ground by six police officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on May 3 2015.

The inquiry is examining the circumstances leading to his death, how police dealt with the aftermath, the investigation into his death, and whether or not race was a factor.

The inquiry heard the only cause of death that the first post-mortem examination firmly ruled out was from the effects of blunt force trauma to the head.

Asked by Angela Grahame KC, the inquiry’s senior counsel, if she would be concerned to learn police officers were in the room at the time the first examination was carried out, Ms Frame replied she was.

“I would have thought it was inappropriate for the police officers to be present,” she said.

Asked about the decision to share the preliminary findings, Ms Frame replied: “From my perspective, it would have been preferable for that not to have been shared.”

Asked what concerned her about the decision to share the information, Ms Frame replied: “Potentially, that the officers could have tailored their statements.

“They could have adapted them in light of the information they had been provided.”

The inquiry in Edinburgh, before Lord Bracadale, continues.