The rapid change in Sheku Bayoh’s mental state and behaviour before his death was consistent with someone under “psychostimulant intoxication”, an inquiry has heard. An expert witness told the inquiry into his death that one of the drugs found in Mr Bayoh’s system can cause paranoia in someone susceptible to it.
Maurice Lipsedge, a consultant psychiatrist, said in some people the reaction can be “extreme”, and that is what he thinks happened to Mr Bayoh. The trainee gas engineer died after he was restrained by around six police officers who were called to Hayfield Road in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on May 3, 2015 after reports of him acting erratically.
The inquiry is investigating the circumstances of the 31-year-old’s death and whether race was a factor. It previously heard from the pathologist who examined Mr Bayoh after he died, who confirmed it was a “sudden death in a man intoxicated by MDMA and alpha-PVP whilst being restrained”.
