Mail Online

I thought he’d killed woman colleague says Sheku officer

By Hannah McDonald

A POLICEMAN thought Sheku Bayoh had killed his colleague after watching him punch her to the ground and stamp on her back, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Mr Bayoh died after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy on May 13, 2015.

PC Ashley Tomlinson was one of the officers who responded to 999 calls reporting a man with a knife in the Fife town at 7am that day.

He gave evidence yesterday at an inquiry in Edinburgh into Mr Bayoh’s death. He told Angela Grahame, QC, the inquiry’s senior counsel, he had seen Mr Bayoh punch his then-colleague Nicole Short in the back of the head.

He said she fell forward and ‘took a dive towards the road’. PC Tomlinson, 30, said: ‘What I remember is she’s tried to push herself up but then he stamped on her back… I thought he killed her.’

At this point, he said he struck Mr Bayoh with his baton on the back of his head but that this ‘did not stop him’ and he hit him two or three times on his arms.

PC Tomlinson added: ‘At that time I thought he was trying to kill me.’

Another colleague, PC Craig Walker, then managed to ‘knock Mr Bayoh off balance and take him to the floor’.

PC Tomlinson said: ‘I just remember the instant feeling of “you’ve just saved my life”.’ The inquiry continues.

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