Detectives breaking the news of Sheku Bayoh’s death to his family were instructed not to tell them about “police contact”, the inquiry has heard.
DS Andrew Mitchell said senior officers told him to omit their involvement when speaking to Mr Bayoh’s partner Collette Bell.
The trainee gas engineer died following a restraint by police in Kirkcaldy’s Hayfield Road on May 3 2015.
In a written statement from Ms Bell read to the inquiry, she said she was told the 31-year old had been found dead in the street.
DS Mitchell said there was no reason to tell her that as they already knew it to be untrue.
But he said senior officers told him not to tell Ms Bell or Mr Bayoh’s sister about his interactions with officers earlier that day.
Mr Bayoh’s sister yesterday told the inquiry she was given conflicting accounts of his death.
DS Mitchell, who was a DC in 2015, was , with Detective Sergeant Wayne Parker the officer who delivered the news to the family.
He told the inquiry: “There was a direction from our supervisors that we weren’t to mention anything to do with the police contact until it was properly investigated.
“That was relayed to us by DS (Graeme) Dursley. I don’t know who passed it on to him.
“When we got briefed on the morning and told about the incident he hadn’t passed away at that time… but we were told at that point not to mention any police contact.
“After we found out he’d passed, there was no change on that
“The next point we were told not to mention it was when we went to speak to his sister.”
Direction caused trust issues
He said he did not know why that decision was made but that it would have an impact on relations with the family going forwards.
He said: “You then lose the trust.
“That’s massive because the rapport then goes out the window, essentially.
“It’s hard to build any sort of relationship after that for us to work together to get to the bottom of it.”
Mr Bayoh’s sister Kadi Johnston told the inquiry she was told officers were looking for two men in connection with his death, a claim repeated in Ms Bell’s statement.
DS Mitchell said during this time it was the “party line” that the incident was being investigated.
“Certainly during the conversation (with Collette), I would have said it’s still an ongoing investigation and we are trying to make contact with witnesses to ascertain exactly what’s happened.
“That was essentially the party line.
“But we never at any point said we were looking for someone in connection with his death.
“We only had certain information at that point and we still had a lot of witnesses to be spoken to, including the officers, so we never knew anything apart from that.”
Family should have been told
DS Mitchell’s colleague Sergeant Wayne Parker, who – as a constable – visited both Ms Bell and Mrs Johnson with him, said their sometimes had to be a “balance” between honest and withholding information for operational purposes.
But he said in his opinion Mr Bayoh’s family should have been told about the police contact.
He said: “My personal opinion, and this is probably not the police opinion, it would’ve benefited the family.
“Because when we passed that last message the family sort of exploded, and rightly so.
“The aggression towards us was born out of frustration because of the lack of information.
“I could totally empathise with that because I would be exactly the same – I would want information.
“What would we have lost?
“Personally, I don’t think that much. At least It would’ve been upfront and honest, and they wouldn’t have been provided with information from social media, or given another death message and another death message.”
No mention of ‘two men’
Police gave no impression there was anyone else involved in the death of Sheku Bayoh despite family members claiming they were told that was the case, Mr Parker said.
Angela Grahame KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, asked if, when he delivered the death message, he remembers saying anything about looking for two men.
He said: “No, at no point on both occasions at the house there was no mention of any two guys or outstanding suspects.”
Ms Grahame added: “You will understand there may be concerns expressed that if the police were saying they were looking for two guys that would misrepresent or mislead the inquiry.”
The witness replied: “There was no misrepresentation or misleading at all.
“What I knew at that point was there was no-one outstanding suspect-wise.
“That was not mentioned at all. Categorically, definitely not.”
The inquiry continues
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.