THE police officers who informed Sheku Bayoh’s partner of his death were ordered not to tell her that he had died after coming into contact with police, an inquiry heard today. 

When Collette Bell was contacted by an officer, she was simply told that a “black male has been found dead” and he was believed to have been her partner.

Mr Bayoh, 31, died after being restrained by six officers on the ground in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in May 2015. A public inquiry at Capital House in Edinburgh is investigating the circumstances of his death and whether race was a factor. 
 
Today, the inquiry heard a statement from Detective Sergeant Dursely, one of the officers involved in the incident, describing how he relayed the news of Mr Bayoh’s death to Ms Bell. 

It read: “Between me and DI [Detective Inspector] Colin Robson, we delegated Wayne Parker to tell Collette Bell words to the effect that ‘a black male had been found dead’ and we suspected that it may be her partner.”

A section of Ms Bell’s statement to police at the time was also read out to the inquiry. In it, she describes desperately asking questions about how he had died. 

It read: “What’s happened? Where was he found? They just said that a passer-by had found him dead on the street.”

Asked about claims that Ms Bell had bee told that a passer-by had found Mr Bayoh’s body, Detective Constable Andrew Mitchell, who was also involved in speaking to the family, said: “That certainly was never relayed to her at any point.” 

Asked to explain why he had not told Ms Bell that her partner had died after an encounter with the police, Det Con Mitchell said that he and his colleagues had been ordered by their superiors not to mention “anything to do with police contact until it was properly investigated.”