Episode eight: 'An unholy trinity'

Sheku Bayoh: The Inquiry

“Over the years it has become clear to the Bayoh family that the police, the PIRC and the Crown office has operated an unholy trinity of dishonesty and racism and incompetence betraying the word justice.” Aamer Anwar, Bayoh family lawyer

On 1 April 2013, Scotland was setting up a single police force. It also set-up the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, or PIRC. It would do its own investigations - pound pavements, knock doors and conduct interviews.

And - crucially - it would be independent from the police.

Independence – and allegations about the lack of it – has been a critical issue at the most recent hearings of the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry. Episode eight looks at the evidence heard so far from PIRC and the Crown about the independence of each organisation.

It includes evidence given about working relationships between police and PIRC officers investigating the Sheku Bayoh case, and the rationale of PIRC to share information about Bayoh’s’s post mortem with officers there at the time of his death.

Presenters Tomiwa Folorunso and Karin Goodwin also hear evidence on the Crown’s own independence and find out why it didn’t consider race as a factor in its approach to assessing whether potential criminality had taken place.

They also look into explosive revelations about intelligence gathered by Police Scotland on lawyer Aamer Anwer, and discovered by PIRC in the course of its investigation.

The watchdog found information held on Anwar was labelled “counter terrorism intelligence” though “there did not appear to be a legitimate reason or explanation for these practices”.

The Ferret continues its summary of the evidence heard so far in its multi-award-nominated podcast.

“Tense, moving and informative. This series is an essential listen that unflinchingly opens up a story about contemporary Scotland.” [Review]

Finalist for the British Journalism Awards, the Amnesty Media Awards and runner-up of Podcast of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards 2014.

To make this podcast we’ve spent hours listening to all of the evidence so we can summarise it for you, our listeners. And we need your support to do more.

Join us at theferret.scot/subscribe or contribute by giving us a donatation.

Credits:

This podcast is devised by Karin Goodwin, Halina Rifai and Tomiwa Folorunso

Presenters: Tomiwa Folorunso and Karin Goodwin

Writing: Karin Goodwin

Sound production, recording, editing & sound design: Halina Rifai

Original music by Alan Bryden

Listen to all the evidence from the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, or find out how to get a ticket to attend in person at www.shekubayohinquiry.scot