Sheku Bayoh eyewitness: Stamping attack on officer 'never happened'

Two police officers involved in the death of a black man they were restraining may have provided false statements, the BBC has learned.

They claimed Sheku Bayoh carried out a stamping attack on a female PC before being brought to the ground and restrained by up to six officers.

Speaking publicly for the first time, eyewitness Kevin Nelson told the BBC the stamping attack “never happened".

Mr Bayoh, a 31-year-old father of two, died in the incident in the Fife town of Kirkcaldy in 2015.

The Scottish Police Federation said its officers had cooperated “truthfully”.

Watch Panorama’s “I Can’t Breathe: Black and Dead in Custody” on BBC One at 19:35, or later on BBC iPlayer.

18 January 2021