Officers’ court action over retirement bid
Two police officers involved in the custody death of Sheku Bayoh have gone to court after being refused retirement on medical grounds.
PCs Alan Paton and Nicole Short have taken action against the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) who control employment issues.
Dad-of-two Sheku, 31, died after being restrained by up to nine officers, including PCs Paton and Short, in the street near his home in Kirkcaldy in May 2015.
Both officers were signed off with post- traumatic stress disorder after the incident and have been on paid leave ever since.
They want to retire early, claiming they are unfit to carry out police work. ThenSPA chief executive Kenneth Hogg refused their requests last year.
Lawyers representing the pair raised a petition for a judicial review to challenge the decision and claim retirement is “medically justified”.
Evidence in the case was heard before Lord Woolman at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Friday.
His judgement will be issued at a later date. Calum Steele, General Secretary of t he Scot t i sh Pol ic e Federation (SPF), said: “We very much regret that we’ve had to take this matter to the Court of Session.
“As far a s the SPF understands, there’s no reason in law why the SPA has refused to make a decision regarding retirement for the officers involved.
“We look forward to the judgement in due course.”
The SPA said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.”