Part of me died on day of Sheku Bayoh incident, says ex-police officer

A former police officer who was injured in the incident that led to Sheku Bayoh’s death has said a “part of me died” on the day it took place.

Mr Bayoh, a father-of-two who worked as a gas engineer, died after he was restrained by nine police officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on May 3, 2015.

Ex-Pc Nicole Short was allegedly attacked by Mr Bayoh during the incident, and spoke publicly for the first time at a press conference on Wednesday.

An inquiry into his death in custody – and whether race played a factor – has been paused after chairman Lord Bracadale stood down in October.

The retired judge had faced repeated questions over his impartiality after he met with Mr Bayoh’s family, and the inquiry’s legal team have also stepped down.

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) called for Lord Bracadale to recuse himself in June, which he initially refused to do.

Ms Short, who was allegedly assaulted by Mr Bayoh shortly before other police officers restrained him, spoke alongside SPF chairman David Kennedy.

The former officer, who was left “permanently disabled” after her encounter with Mr Bayoh, previously told the inquiry she believed he would “finish me off” and she revealed at the press conference she is still receiving treatment from NHS psychologists, a decade later.

She said she “owes her life” to her police colleagues who tackled Mr Bayoh.

She said she was stamped on twice and punched by Mr Bayoh, before he was restrained.

Ms Short said: “The mental scar has been life-changing.”

She said she knew of the description of a “black man holding a knife” from several 999 calls, however said race had never entered her head as she drove to the call, adding she was “always really nervous” about attending a call-out involving a knife.

A replica knife was shown to the press conference, which measured 9in.

The press conference was shown dashcam footage of Mr Bayoh standing in the street holding a knife, and also heard recordings of 999 calls.

Reporters were also played a 999 call from Mr Bayoh’s partner, Colette Bell, reporting he had attacked his best friend and “beaten him up really, really badly”.

Ms Short praised the “quick-thinking” actions of her colleagues, saying: “They saved my life that day, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them intervening.”

She revealed she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and said: “The recent tragic events in England [the Huntingdon train stabbings] have showed the devastation and destruction that stabbing can do.”

Ms Short called for a new inquiry chair to be appointed and for it to be “fair and transparent”, and said the “race factor being brought into it” had been a cloud over her life.

“Ultimately I’d like to see our names cleared because race wasn’t a factor,” she said.

Asked if she feels the police officers involved have been “villainised”, Ms Short agreed that they had been.

She said: “We were turning up thinking ‘this guy’s got a knife, we need to make the area safe’.

“To do that he needed to be restrained, the situation needed to be taken control of, to be safe.”

She said it was “escalated” due to Mr Bayoh’s “non-compliance”.

She described how she turned to run away from him but he “just kept coming towards me”, and added: “I felt him punch the back of my head.”

She said she thinks about the incident every day, and added: “It’s always there, it’s the first thing you think of in the morning, and the last thing you think of at night.

“There’s a part of me that died that day and just never came back. I work hard to find some other things that I enjoy.”

Asked about evidence from three medics which contradicted her own allegations about her injuries, Ms Short said: “I remember watching the evidence and remember how it absolutely tore me apart listening to that. I didn’t have any broken bones.

“I had bruising but the mental scar that it’s left me with has been life-changing.

“But the independent doctor the inquiry appointed to look at my injuries added that it was entirely consistent with being stamped on.”

Mr Kennedy said any call-out involving a knife was treated as though a weapon existed even if it had not been confirmed by officers.

He backed Ms Short’s calls for a new chair to the inquiry, and said: “(First Minister) John Swinney had agreed to meet the police officers.

“The police officers were just doing their job. I hope a new judge will be found.”

The Bayoh family’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said: “There is only one person that died that day and it was a 31-year-old unarmed black man, a father of two boys, suffering a mental health crisis due to drugs he took.

“He died as a result of restraint by up to six officers – with half a tonne weight on top of him – those are the facts.”