Family ask Nicola Sturgeon to intervene over case of man who died in police custody
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Version 0 of 1. Nicola Sturgeon has been asked to intervene after a bitter row erupted between her government’s former justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, and the family of a black man who died in Scottish police custody. The sisters of Sheku Bayoh, a trainee gas fitter whose death in May is now under official investigation, appealed to the first minister to investigate after MacAskill openly accused the family of smearing the police and making “highly prejudicial” comments about the case. Raising fears that he was applying pressure on prosecutors, MacAskill predicted the official investigation into the death by the Crown Office and the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner would not lead to any prosecutions. The Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, retaliated on Thursday by insisting the inquiry would not be side-tracked by these interventions and that a decision on criminal prosecution would only be taken at the end of the investigation. “PIRC, and the Crown, should be allowed to get on with their job,” he said. “Speculation and a running commentary on the investigation can be upsetting to the family of Sheku Bayoh as well as the families of the officers involved.” MacAskill’s attack came three days after the BBC and the Guardian revealed that the close family of one the first officers to confront Bayoh, PC Alan Paton, had come forward to allege that Paton had a history of unprovoked violence and racist views. Supported by Bayoh’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, they accused the police of covering up that history and ignoring their warnings about his conduct. Related: Police Scotland is a lamentable shambles | Kevin McKenna Writing in the online journal Police Professional last weekend, the former justice secretary said the Bayoh family campaign appeared to have declared “open season” on the police, using slurs and unsubstantiated allegations to undermine the force. “The poisonous atmosphere generated by the constant carping is damaging for morale of both the service and no doubt the individual officers,” MacAskill said. “I believe the investigation will disclose a tragic accident and no criminality, though doubtless lessons can be learned and procedures adapted.” Several days after the allegations against Paton were published, the row escalated further when the lawyer for the Scottish Police Federation, Peter Watson, issued a lengthy statement which implied that Bayoh had had a violent fight with a close friend, may have taken a cocktail of drugs, had been brandishing a knife in public and acting “like a zombie” before the police were called. Watson also complimented MacAskill on making a “timely and important intervention”. Bayoh’s three sisters, Kadijartu Johnson, Adama Jalloh and Kosna Bayoh, said they found MacAskill’s comments “brutal and barbaric”; he had misused his status as a former justice secretary by appearing to make judgements about the evidence; and said he had also attacked Anwar’s motives on Twitter. Telling Sturgeon the affair was now destroying their faith in Scottish justice, they said: “We would like your office to investigate the bullying, the intimidation and crushing of all hope of truth and justice for our family. “As you may have also have been aware Mr MacAskill has attacked our family lawyer, Aamer Anwar, openly on social media. Please note that he is our lawyer and acts on our instructions. We will not sit back to watch him be attacked in this manner, because certain parties do not have the courage to attack us directly.” |