POLICE Scotland have been accused of a “humiliating climbdown” after dropping a legal challenge over the Sheku Bayoh inquiry just one day after it was first reported.
On Sunday, reports said the force was taking court action over the way the Scottish Government had handled calls for the terms of the inquiry into Bayoh’s death to be extended.
Human rights lawyers Aamer Anwar said in December that Bayoh’s family had met with Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes in the summer and written to her four times since then requesting that she expand the terms of reference for the inquiry into his death.
Bayoh died in police custody after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy in 2015. In 2019, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said that no prosecutions would be brought forward.
Bayoh’s family have been pushing for the ongoing inquiry to be expanded to include a probe into the COPFS decision not to prosecute any of the officers involved.
This included concerns about the sharing of “relevant material”, which Police Scotland said made it “impossible” for them to properly engage with the consultation on the proposed extension.
However, on Monday, the force released a statement saying the Scottish Government had provided further information about the process, and that the matter had been “resolved” without the need for further legal proceedings.
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “The chief constable was clear Police Scotland remained ready to work with core participants, the inquiry chair, and the Scottish Government to ensure matters proceed lawfully and as quickly as possible.
“The chief constable acknowledges the further information provided by the Deputy First Minister.
“The information received means we are now able to more fully engage in the process to consider the application to extend the terms of reference of the public inquiry without the need for further legal proceedings.
“Police Scotland continues to fully support the inquiry in order to provide answers for Sheku’s family and friends.”
Anwar, who is representing the Bayoh family, had called on police to drop the legal action.
In a letter to Farrell, first reported in the Sunday Mail newspaper, Bayoh’s sister Kadi Johnson said the family felt “betrayed” after hearing about the call for a judicial review.
She said: “Yet again Police Scotland has betrayed me and my family, now you and your army of lawyers are denying us, a black family, the right to know the truth.”
She added: “Meanwhile, we wait on Kate Forbes making a decision and to do it as soon as possible, at the very least we have hope that she will not betray the promises made to us by her Government to pursue the truth.”
It went on: “The family now hope that the Deputy First Minister will not be swayed by the ‘bullying tactics’ of Police Scotland and make the right decision.
“The former chief constable, Sir Iain Livingston, at the public inquiry gave a very firm commitment to engage fully and positively with the inquiry, and to assist the chair in discharging the terms of reference.
“Jo Farrell claimed following her appointment that her commitment to those aims ‘remain undiminished’ and that she shared the families’ ‘wholly understandable desire to get to the truth’ of what happened to Sheku Bayoh on May 3, 2015.
“However the chief constable stands accused of betraying the many promises made to the family, with this cynical legal exercise. Yet again, a shameful waste of public money has only been added to the £22.5 million spent by Police Scotland over the case of Sheku Bayoh.
“The Chief Constable should now explain what expenses they have incurred in this unneeded legal action.
“The Solicitor General had stated that she would not stand in the way of the extension of the terms of reference, which begs the question as to why the Chief Constable chose to spend thousands of pounds on a legal process to stop the Deputy First Minister making a decision.”
