Caught on camera, Sheku as he lay in the street, surrounded by 10 officers

Image taken just moments after he was restrained ++ No knife found, inquiry hears

THIS is the moment Sheku Bayoh is captured on camera lying in the street surrounded by ten police officers moments after being restrained.

A new Snapchat image, taken from a house overlooking the incident, was shown to a public inquiry yesterday into Mr Bayoh’s death in police custody.

The father-of-two stopped breathing after he was restrained by up to seven officers in Kirkcaldy on May 13, 2015.

The image was shown yesterday to witness PC Ashley Tomlinson, who was one of the officers called out to attend reports of a man with a knife just after 7am.

Chief counsel Angela Grahame, QC, asked PC Tomlinson to help identify the officers pictured, including himself. There were ten people in the image, thought to be officers, including PC Craig Walker, who gave evidence to the inquiry last week.

Two officers said to be pictured, PC

Good and PC Smith, are to give evidence today.

The inquiry was also shown Snapchat footage taken earlier during the incident where five officers can be seen surrounding Mr Bayoh.

During PC Tomlinson’s evidence, he told the inquiry in Edinburgh that he used the highest level of police force – level 5, known as ‘deadly or lethal force’ – when attempting to restrain Mr Bayoh, who he thought had killed his colleague, PC Nicole Short.

The inquiry was told this level of force has the potential to cause serious injury or even death, ‘and in all circumstances must be proportionate to the perceived threat and degree of jeopardy involved’.

PC Tomlinson said he struck Mr Bayoh on the head with his baton after he claimed the detainee punched PC Short in the back of the head, causing her to fall on to the ground before ‘stomping on her back’, which he demonstrated to the inquiry.

He said: ‘When I perceived that PC Short was about to be killed, it was level 5 because I was under the genuine belief that he had or was in the process of killing PC Short.’ Miss Grahame asked: ‘Do you consider that the situation you’ve described was one where the use of deadly force was justified?’ PC Tomlinson replied: ‘I do.’

The officer said he felt Mr Bayoh was displaying the most serious category of resistance – level 6 – where ‘the perceived threat is that of serious injury or life-threatening’, and can be with or without a weapon, the inquiry heard.

He said: ‘His [Mr Bayoh’s] actions towards PC Short were that I thought he was going to kill her. We had reports of a knife as well.’

Miss Grahame said to PC Tomlinson that he previously stated he had not seen a knife in Mr Bayoh’s possession at any time, to which he replied: ‘No,

but there’s an opportunity to produce it from a concealed location.’

Earlier evidence heard PC Tomlinson was asked to search for a knife while Mr Bayoh was in leg restraints, but instead found a packet of chewing gum and a mobile phone.

Miss Grahame also asked the constable how Mr Bayoh was able to lift three officers restraining him. PC Tomlinson replied: ‘Just with like that press-up position.’

The inquiry heard that in PC Tomlinson’s statement to the Police Investigations and Review Commission (PIRC) on June 4, 2015, he said: ‘He was overpowering us and we were struggling to keep him on the floor. I would say Craig [PC Walker] is about 20 stone and he was still too powerful for us.’

PC Tomlinson told the inquiry that Mr Bayoh lost consciousness soon after being rolled on to his side, with officers starting CPR ‘almost immeracial diately’ after he stopped breathing. He added that PC Walker said he heard some of Mr Bayoh’s ribs break during the procedure.

Later Miss Grahame asked if he had ever come across examples of discrimination, or racist jokes or comments, at the Kirkcaldy police station and he said he had not.

She asked how he would have responded if he had come across situations like that in Kirkcaldy. He said: ‘I would have challenged it.’

The inquiry also heard from shopkeeper Akhtar Ali, 65, who drove past the incident while on his way to work.

He said he saw two male police offers pinning down a man, one with his knee on the man’s back, and a female police officer crossing the road. Mr Ali said: ‘That’s all I saw and then I drove off.’

The inquiry, before Lord Bracadale, continues.

‘I thought he was going to kill her’