Sheku Bayoh: family ‘devastated’ as chairman quits £26million inquiry

Lord Bracadale stood down with immediate effect amid persistent criticism of his meetings with the family.

In a letter to Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister, he said : “Many of the core participants have lost confidence in my conduct of the inquiry to such an extent that it cannot be retrieved.”

Lord Bracadale has been at the helm of the inquiry for six years. It had already completed the process of gathering evidence and was due to hear closing submissions, but now faces another key delay.

The former High Court judge had previously ruled out recusing himself after rejecting accusations of bias from the Scottish Police Federation, which had expressed concerns about his private meetings with the family of Mr Bayoh.

In a written decision issued in August following a procedural hearing, Lord Bracadale said any “fair minded and informed” observer would have concluded that there was “no real possibility” that he was biased.

But in his letter yesterday to Ms Forbes, he said that written statement was not enough to win back the confidence of those who had questioned his conduct.

He said: “I consider that that, in turn, would be likely to have a damaging effect on public confidence in the findings of a report prepared by me and recommendations flowing from it. In my view the best interests of the inquiry would be served by the appointment of a new chair to whom the existing evidence, all of which is available on tape and transcript, would be available.

Lord Bracadale stressed he met with the Bayoh family to “obtain and retain” their confidence in the inquiry, and their engagement with it - he described their participation as “essential to the Inquiry fulfilling its terms of reference” adding: “If they did not engage with it the effectiveness of the inquiry would be seriously undermined.” Lord Bracdale said the families “had already lost confidence in all the investigating institutions with which they had contact, including Police Scotland, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

“As the inquiry progressed it became apparent at various points that they were losing confidence in the Inquiry and were likely to cease engaging with it. I consider that if I had not had meetings with members of the Families, it is likely that they would have walked out of the inquiry.”

He added: “I very much regret that my conduct in relation to meeting the families for what I considered to be a reasonable purpose of maintaining their engagement with the inquiry has led to a loss of confidence by other core participants in my position as chair.”

David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation - which represents rank and file officers - said: “It is unfortunate for all those involved in the Inquiry that this situation has occurred. The meetings between Lord Bracadale and the family of Sheku Bayoh had created an appearance of bias. We look forward to the final stages of the inquiry and bringing this matter to a conclusion.”

The former judge’s decision to quit left the Bayoh family “devastated” according to their lawyer, Aamer Anwar.

He said: “Over ten years ago, Sheku Bayoh died in police hands and his family have fought for the truth and justice ever since. Over the last three years, evidence at the Inquiry exposed the truth of what happened to Sheku Bayoh, the systemic failures, the failure to investigate racism and the devastating and deadly force used on an unarmed black man.

“For the Bayoh family, an unholy trinity of the Police, SPF and Crown Office have tried their very best to shut down this Inquiry, but they cannot hide from the truth.” He said the family would make a full statement later today (Wednesday)