Sheku Bayoh: The Inquiry The Ferret

"At the moment we are searching for truth, but ultimately the family want justice." Aamer Anwar, Bayoh family lawyer
On the first day of each new hearing in the Sheku Bayoh public inquiry there is now a ritual. Campaigners in support of the Bayoh family gather outside the building with banners and calls for justice.
When Kadi Johnston – Sheku's sister – arrives, she and family lawyer Aamer Anwar walk across the square towards Edinburgh's Capital House, where the inquiry takes place.
Before going through the doors, she stands in front of campaigners and takes the mic, thanking people for giving her "the strength and the energy to walk through those doors".
And then she takes her place in the public gallery.
This hearing in the long running inquiry focuses on Police Scotland training. It’s full of acronyms for police protocols and procedures, making it easy to lose sight of the family’s fight for justice. So this episode starts there.
Inquiry brings new revelations But it also contains some startling new revelations about policing both back in 2015 and now.
We hear about senior Police Scotland officers' inclusion in a US conference with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) – where they offered expertise on "the legal use of force" in the case of mental illness when someone is in possession of a knife...just days after Sheku's death.
And they admit that even today serious issues remain, including reports from senior officers that while procedure dictates they should treat acute behaviour disturbance – or ABD – as a medical emergency, police cannot always get an ambulance to attend.
There are also questions about training. For all the claims of revised process and protocol, if police got 999 calls from Hayfield Road, where Sheku died just now, how much would have changed?
The Ferret continues its summary of the evidence heard so far in its award-nominated podcast.
To make this podcast we’ve spent hours listening to all of the evidence so we can summarise it for you, our listeners. And we need your support to do more. Join us at theferret.scot/subscribe or contribute by giving us a donatation.
Read the script: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24408672-sheku-bayoh_-the-inquiry-episode-seven-hot-to-touch_script

"The heart can carry on beating almost to the bitter end." Professor Sebastian Lucas, expert witness
Physiologically speaking, the human heart is the body’s engine room, pumping blood and oxygen around the body.
It contracts with a regular rhythm and a steady beat from the second we are born to the moment we die.
That mechanism runs on repeat, contracting, pumping, carrying, returning. Until – sometimes suddenly – it stops.
Sheku Bayoh slipped out of consciousness on the morning of Sunday, the 3rd May 2015 after he had been restrained by police for about eight minutes.
He went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. In Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital, the medical team spent more than an hour attempting  to resuscitate him and restart his heart. But ultimately he was pronounced dead at 9:04 in the morning.
And so it is that, at 2pm on Monday, 4th May 2015,  forensic pathologists Dr Kerryanne Shearer and Dr Ralph Bouhaidar found themselves standing in front of Sheku Bayoh’s body at Edinburgh’s city mortuary.
This episode is a pivotal one. It summarises what the experts have told the inquiry about the cause of Sheku Bayoh’s death.
His family and friends believe that he was killed as a result of the police restraint. Police, meanwhile, have always denied wrongdoing.
But what does the postmortem evidence show? We look at what expert witnesses told the inquiry.
Read the script in full" [documentcloud url="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23928021-six_-sheku-bayoh-the-heart-of-the-matter?responsive=1&title=1"]
Credits:
Written and produced by Karin Goodwin
Research by Tomiwa Folorunso
Recording, editing and sound design by Halina Rifai
Original music by Alan Bryden

"Something's gone wrong during that apprehension of Sheku which has led to his death, so the police are going to be scrutinised for  it, and rightly so. So transparency is massive, we have to be seen to be transparent and not hide anything, [be] as open and honest as we possibly can." Retired detective chief inspector, Keith Hardie
As the sun rises in the early hours of the morning, or as it sets at the end of the day, the light appears warmer and softer. These are known as the golden hours.
There are golden hours in police-speak too. Those are the first 24 hours or so that give detectives the best opportunity to gather evidence that may be of significance.
In this episode of Sheku Bayoh: The Inquiry, we’ll hear about the progress of the police investigation in those so-called golden hours.
We'll listen to officers from all the different parts of the Police Scotland force involved, including those who contradict each other.
And we'll look at the claims from Sheku's family and friends about how the priorities and approach of the investigation impacted on their trust in the police, and what that means for wider Scottish society.
Read the script in full here.
Credits:
Co-presented by Tomiwa Foloruso and Karin Goodwin
Written and produced by Karin Goodwin
Research and additional writing by Tomiwa Folorunso
Recording, editing and sound design by Halina Rifai
Original music by Alan Bryden
Listen to all the evidence from the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, or find out how to get a ticket to attend in person at shekubayohinquiry.scot
To make this podcast we’ve spent hours listening to all of the evidence so we can summarise it for you, our listeners. And we need your support to do more. 
Join us at theferret.scot/subscribe and get three months free with the code PODCASTOFFER.

"I remember asking them because I remember wanting to know what had happened. I mean, he’s not just dropped down dead. And they just said that a passer-by had found him dead on the street." Collette Bell, Sheku's partner
It’s now eight years since Sheku’s loved ones were told by police that he had died. That trauma, they say, was compounded by how the news was broken to them. 
They claim that a catalogue of errors, miscommunications and lies within hours of Sheku’s death led to a total breakdown of trust that can’t be regained.  Police, meanwhile, admit errors were made but insist the intention was never to misrepresent the truth.
In this episode we’ll hear what Sheku’s partner, Colette, and his older sister Kadi, have told the inquiry about how the news was broken to them, the way details of Sheku's contact with police was held back and the impact that had on the trust they had for the police.
And we’ll also find out what Police Scotland has to say about the decisions made in the hours following the tragic events on the 3rd of May.
Written and produced by Karin Goodwin
Research by Tomiwa Folorunso
Recording, editing & sound design by Halina Rifai
Original music by Alan Bryden
Listen to all the evidence from the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, or find out how to get a ticket to attend in person at www.shekubayohinquiry.scot
To make this podcast we’re spent hours listening to all of the evidence so we can summarise it for you, our listeners. And we need your support to do more. 
Join us at theferret.scot/subscribe and get three months free with the code PODCASTOFFER
Script for episode four: The death message 
INTRO:
Karin: Early on Sunday,  3 May 2015 Police Scotland’s control room starts to receive calls.
CLIP 1: Hello, there’s a black man, a black man with a knife on Hayfield Road in Kirkcaldy
https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/node/170
Time code [5-9seconds]
Police arrive at the scene and within minutes Sheku Bayoh is down on the ground.
After being restrained by up to six officers, he stops breathing. 
Many details of what happened that morning are in dispute. His devastated family are still searching for answers. 
They want to know what role race played in Sheku’s death. They claim he is Scotland’s George Floyd.
CLIP 3: [From Kadi interview] Sheku died here in Scotland. And we as a family are fighting for changes to happen in Scotland. No family should suffer the way that we are suffering.
Police refute this.
Now a public inquiry - launched in May 2022– is trying to find out what really happened. 
CLIP 3: 
Timecode: 13:33
Its purpose is to seek to ascertain the truth. And to that purpose I am fully committed. 
a href="https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/hearings/preliminary-hearing-1" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

I said his name and I said: "how can I help you?" and at the same time I touched the silent alarm on the wall. I knew then other officers would be coming and that they would pass over the air that the alarm had been sounded in the custody unit.
I’m trying to buy time, trying to keep everything calm. I said to him: “Can I make you a cup of tea or coffee?". And he asked for a cup of tea.
In this episode we take a step back and hear about how one police expert witness told the inquiry about the benefits she had seen in using de-escalation techniques. And we hear evidence about how how else police officers attending Hayfield Road could have responded that day.
We also hear from witnesses who saw up to six officers restraining Sheku and hear evidence about the dangers of restraint and its potential impact on someone's breathing.
This podcast was written and produced by Karin Goodwin
Research by Tomiwa Folorunso
Recording, editing & sound design by Halina Rifai
Original music by Alan Bryden
Listen to all the evidence from the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, or find out how to get a ticket to attend in person at www.shekubayohinquiry.scot
To make this podcast we’re spent hours listening to all of the evidence so we can summarise it for you, our listeners. And we need your support to do more. 
Join us at theferret.scot/subscribe and get three months free with the code PODCASTOFFER

Racism in the police is not a far away issue belonging to the US. It has a long history here in the UK. 
In 1981 the Brixton riots were a response to disproportionate and violent policing of Afro-Caribbean communities, and the increased use of police stop and search.
A decade later the Institute of Race Relations published a groundbreaking report –  Deadly Silence – which explores 75 black deaths in custody.
Just two years after that  – in 1993 – teenager Stephen Lawrence was killed in a racially motivated attack by a white gang in southeast London.
It took 19 years for two members of the gang to be charged with his murder. A public inquiry concluded that the failings of the Metropolitan Police to investigate amounted to institutional racism.
In this episode, we look at what The Sheku Bayoh Inquiry has heard so far about racism and attitudes to race. And we hear what expert witness have said about how how viewing the incident on 3 May 2015 as a medical emergency, could have changed the course of events.
This podcast was written and produced by Karin Goodwin
Research by Tomiwa Folorunso
Recording, editing & sound design by Halina Rifai
Original music by Alan Bryden
Listen to all the evidence from the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, or find out how to get a ticket to attend in person, at www.shekubayohinquiry.scot
To make this podcast we’re spent hours listening to all of the evidence so we can summarise it for you, our listeners. And we need your support to do more. 
Join us at theferret.scot/subscribe and get three months free with the code PODCASTOFFER