Civil action alleges unlawful killing of 31-year-old who died after he was restrained in 2015

The family of Sheku Bayoh, a 31-year-old man who died on a Kirkcaldy pavement minutes after being restrained by police, are suing Police Scotland for his unlawful killing.

On the eve of the third anniversary of his death, Bayoh’s sister Kadi Johnson described the family’s three-year wait for answers about why he died in police custody as “soul-destroying”.

Johnson said the inability of the force watchdog the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) to conduct a fair and open investigation into allegations of police brutality, as well as the failure of the lord advocate to take any criminal action against officers once the PIRC delivered its final report in August 2016, had forced the family to turn to the civil courts. The £1.85m damages action is thought to be the first time a Scottish force has been sued for unlawful killing.

The family’s ultimate goal was “justice for all, be they young, old, black or white”, Johnson said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sheku Bayoh’s partner Collette Bell with her mother Lorraine (left), his sister Kadi Johnson (far right) and their lawyer Aamer Anwar. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Bayoh, a 31-year-old trainee gas engineer and father of two, died near his home in the town in Fife shortly after 7am on 3 May 2015. The family believe that evidence from a postmortem, which identified 54 separate lacerations, cuts and bruises on his body, suggests he died of positional asphyxia after being taken to the ground by four police officers.

The civil liberties lawyer Aamer Anwar, who is acting for the family, condemned the investigation into Bayoh’s death as a national disgrace. He described how, within seconds of confronting Bayoh on the street, officers had sprayed him with CS gas and pepper spray before forcing him face down on to the ground and applying handcuffs and leg restraints. The family have maintained he was not carrying a weapon when he was stopped, although eyewitness reports suggested he had been wielding a knife.

Explaining that the civil action would raise “serious questions about the accountability of police officers and training … in restraint techniques”, Anwar stated that the nine officers involved failed to provide statements about what had happened to their senior officers or to the PIRC for more than a month.

He added that the family believed the PIRC was not fit for its purpose of conducting independent and robust investigations and called for an independent judicial review of the body.

The PIRC insisted its investigation into Bayoh’s death had been “extensive and detailed”, involving more than 500 statements from a wide range of experts.

“At all stages throughout this independent investigation the PIRC has acted under the direction of the lord advocate who has ultimate responsibility for the investigation of deaths in Scotland,” a spokesperson said.

“The commissioner submitted a report to the lord advocate in August 2015. A further report containing evidence gathered from a number of expert witnesses was submitted in August 2016 and the PIRC has undertaken any additional inquiry requested by the COPFS [Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service].”