Lord Bracadale

At a preliminary hearing over the public inquiry into the death of Mr Bayoh in May 2015, lawyers warned there could be “unanswered questions and uncertainty” unless police were given certain immunity.

In a letter, Solicitor General Ruth Charteris QC said she is “not currently satisfied that it is in the public interest to grant the undertakings”, which had been requested by the inquiry.

However, she added: “I will give individual consideration to any future request for an undertaking should it become clear that the inquiry will be prevented from fulfilling its terms of reference.”

Police Scotland has separately refused to provide an undertaking that it will not rely on evidence given to the inquiry in any future disciplinary proceedings against the officers.

Lord Bracadale, chair of the Sheku Bayoh inquiry, said: “I acknowledge the decisions of the Solicitor General and Deputy Chief Constable, published today, in respect of the request for undertakings.

“It is a matter entirely for the Solicitor General and Deputy Chief Constable whether or not to give the undertakings sought. I note that the Solicitor General has left open the possibility of revisiting the issue of whether to give undertakings on an individual basis to officers involved.

“Consequently, I will now seek statements from each of the officers to ascertain how much information they are willing to provide to the Inquiry without undertakings from the Solicitor General. Once those statements have been obtained by my team, I will assess how best to proceed.

“The inquiry is fully committed to ascertaining the truth of how Sheku Bayoh died on 3 May 2015 and will keep all options open with a view to retrieving the fullest possible evidence in relation to events that day. The inquiry has already obtained statements previously provided by the officers as part of more than 30,000 pieces of evidence currently being considered.”