Cops launch legal fight over Sheku probe judge

Family's lawyer calls move 'pathetic'

- BY DAN VEVERS Chief Reporter

POLICE have mounted legal action against the Sheku Bayoh inquiry amid a row over the impartiality of the judge leading it.

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents rank-and-file officers, has launched a judicial review of Lord Bracadale’s chairmanship, the Sunday Mail can reveal.

The move which has been slammed by Sheku’s family lawyer centres on private meetings Lord Bracadale held with Sheku's family which the SPF claimed were inappropriate and had “torpedoed the independence of the chair”.

Dad-of-two Sheku, 31, died after he was restrained on the ground by six officers in Kirkcaldy in 2015. CS gas, pepper spray, batons and leg and arm restraints were used.