Lord Bracadale

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said that the statutory public inquiry will examine the circumstances leading up to the death of Mr Bayoh, the post-incident management process and subsequent investigation into his death. The inquiry will also establish the extent to which Mr Bayoh’s actual or perceived race played a part in events, if any.

In addition, the inquiry will make recommendations to prevent deaths in similar circumstances.

Mr Yousaf said: “When I announced in November that a public inquiry was to be held, I said then that it is imperative that the circumstances leading up to Mr Bayoh’s death and the events that followed are examined in full and in public. I am pleased that today brings us a further step closer to that.

“I met with key parties, including the family of Mr Bayoh, to discuss the approach to the terms of reference. While they do not feature all of the issues raised with me during my discussion, the terms of reference do focus on the incident and are sufficiently broad enough to allow the chair to look at wider issues he may consider relevant to the inquiry.”

Chair of the inquiry Lord Bracadale said: “I welcome the announcement of the terms of reference of the public inquiry. I believe that they will enable my inquiry to conduct a thorough examination of the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Bayoh and the wider issues arising. I understand the impact which the COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably had on preparation for the inquiry and look forward to being able to make progress in due course.”