Sheku Bayoh: senior officer ‘shrugged shoulders’ when confronted over death, inquiry told

Sheku Bayoh’s family believe his death in custody was caused by positional asphyxia and officers were motivated by racial bias. Photograph: Family Handout/PA

A chief superintendent shrugged his shoulders when confronted over whether Sheku Bayoh had been killed by police officers, the inquiry into his death in custody has been told.

Bayoh’s partner, Collette Bell, alleged that Ch Supt Garry McEwan, who has now retired, told her that the father of her baby had died during a “forceful arrest” using sprays and batons, and that she responded furiously: “So you battered him to death?”