Police officers identified Sheku Bayoh’s body after pulling a photo from social media.
The inquiry into the 31-year-old’s death in Kirkcaldy on May 3 2015 heard the officer in charge of the post-incident management was “satisfied” by his decision.
Mr Bayoh’s family has previously complained a post-mortem was carried out prior to formal identification taking place.
Chief Inspector Colin Robson, a detective inspector in 2015, said he and DS Graeme Dursley made the potential link between a call from Collette Bell, Mr Bayoh’s girlfriend, and the incident on Hayfield Road.
He said: “Because of the introduction of the name when she’s called we’ve done inquiries – its obviously been evidence in terms of us obtaining a photo.
“I think it was part of DS (Samantha) Davidson’s job to come back and collect that photo to go to the hospital to confirm, at least give an indication, that Mr Bayoh was the person at the hospital.
“Couple that with the information of a phone that was on him of next to him on Hayfield Road.”
Sheku social media phot0 used after scouring police systems
Shown a statement in which he had said “a social media site provided a more recent picture”, counsel to the Inquiry Angela Grahame KC asked him to elaborate.
He said: “Initially prior to considering that (using a social media picture) we may have, with the details provided, researched police systems.
“Within that if there was potentially any previous chronology of record on police systems and a photo we may have used that.
“I don’t think it’s common course that we would use social media images as part of evidential chain”
‘Urgency’ to identify body at Victoria Hospital
Ch Insp Robson justified the use of the photo by the need to trace Mr Bayoh’s next of kin.
He said: “I suppose it’s like intelligence – we were really keen to know the identity of the male who was at the hospital.
“I think given the introduction of Zahid’s name by Colette as well, and some sort of altercation between him and Mr Bayoh in the hours prior to our appointment, there was really a sense of urgency to identify who we had at the hospital.
“We have support staff within the stations who may have been actioned with doing those checks once we were provided with the name.
“In terms of the decision (to use it), it may have been ran past me, I can’t recall – but I’m quite satisfied that it was the right thing to do.”
Asked by Ms Grahame if he’s expect Mr Bayoh’s family to carry out a formal identification prior to a post-mortem taking place, he said: “Yes, but the priority was to identify who we had before we consider who the next of kin is.”
Mr Bayoh’s sister Kadi Johnstone earlier told the inquiry a post-mortem had already been carried out before she formally identified his body.
She also told the Inquiry that the family received conflicting accounts of events.
The inquiry continues
Ch Insp Robson will continue giving evidence tomorrow.
The inquiry has previously heard how officers tackled Mr Bayoh on Kirkcaldy’s Hayfield Road.
Mr Bayoh later died in hospital following the incident.
The inquiry, chaired by Lord Bracadale, aims to examine the circumstances surrounding his death and whether race was a factor.
