London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jan 19, 2026

Sheku Bayoh's sister says Scotland is a racist country

Sheku Bayoh's sister says Scotland is a racist country

The sister of a black man who died in police custody has told the BBC that she believes Scotland is a racist country.

Sheku Bayoh, 31, died after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in 2015.

At a public inquiry into his death last week, his sister Kadi Johnson said she no longer feels safe in Scotland.

She told BBC One Scotland's The Sunday Show that she now regrets encouraging her brother to move from London.

Mr Bayoh's family believe that race played a part in his death.

"Scotland is a place that I once loved and I felt safe in, but since my brother's death I don't feel safe anymore," Ms Johnson said.

Asked if Scotland was a racist country, she replied: "For me I will say yes, I'm afraid I'll say yes because the way we have been treated."

She said she had lost trust in the police since the death of her brother and accused officers of failing to tell her the truth about his death.

But she added that racism was also evident in other walks of life.

"Scotland still has a lot of work to do around racism," Ms Johnson said.

"We who are in it, feel it. We know what we are going through on a daily basis. It is different from a white person and we have seen it in our workplaces, our schools."

Research by charity Show Racism the Red Card published last year revealed there were 2,251 racist incidents reports in Scotland's schools in the previous three years.

In one incident a pupil shouted "Isis" to a group of girls wearing headscarves; in another a child wrote KKK on a black pupil's locker, according to the charity.

The Scottish government has since provided a new package of support materials for teachers to "embed anti-racism and race equality" in school life.

Ms Johnson said the issue should be tackled first in schools.

"For this to change, it starts from the grassroots, which is the schools," she said. "Start from the schools and work your way up because it's happening there.

"Black and ethnic minority children are experiencing that and it goes up to us, the adults."

Sheku Bayoh's mother and sister with lawyer Aamer Anwar outside the public inquiry last week


Last week the public inquiry into Mr Bayoh's death heard that Chief Constable Iain Livingstone believes that Police Scotland needs to be "anti-racist".

His QC Maria Maguire told the hearing: "The chief constable is aware that it is not enough to be alert to racism and deal with it on a case-by-case basis.

"Nor is it enough simply to be non-racist. Police Scotland needs to be anti-racist."

The public inquiry opened a year after the Kenmure Street protests, when hundreds of people surrounded an immigration enforcement van in which two Indian nationals were detained.

Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who also appeared on the programme, said that despite incidents like that there remained a "significant minority" of people in Scotland who are racist.

He said little had changed for people of colour in Scotland in the last 20 years.

"I stood on the steps of the high court 20-odd years ago after the murder Surjit Singh Chhokar - a racist murder that took 17 years to get justice - and asked how many black judges, how many black senior prosecutors, how many black senior police officers, how many black senior executives in public bodies?

"And the answer still today is pretty much zero. It hasn't changed that much in reality for the black or Asian minority ethnic community."

A spokesman for the Scottish government said it would await the findings of the independent inquiry before making further comment.

"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr Bayoh, who have shown remarkable dignity and perseverance during their five-year wait for an inquiry into his death," he added.


The death of Sheku Bayoh


Mobile phone footage of police restraining Sheku Bayoh was obtained by BBC Panorama


Police were called out in the early hours of 3 May 2015 after Sheku Bayoh was seen behaving erratically with a knife in a Kirkcaldy street. He had earlier taken drugs which friends said altered his behaviour.

According to police statements, when officers arrived he no longer had the knife, but failed to obey instructions to get down on the ground.

The officers used force on Mr Bayoh, including CS Spray and batons. He then punched PC Nicole Short, who fell to the ground.

Two officers, PC Craig Walker and PC Ashley Tomlinson, later told investigators that Mr Bayoh carried out a violent stamping attack on PC Short. However, evidence obtained by the BBC's Panorama programme suggested these accounts may have been false.

Mr Bayoh was restrained for five minutes before falling unconscious. He was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later.


Sheku Bayoh's sister believes Scotland is a racist country


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
High-Speed Train Collision in Southern Spain Kills at Least Twenty-One and Injures Scores
Meghan Markle May Return to the U.K. This Summer as Security Review Advances
Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat Sparks EU Response and Risks Deep Transatlantic Rift
Prince Harry’s High Court Battle With Daily Mail Publisher Begins in London
Trump’s Tariff Escalation Presents Complex Challenges for the UK Economy
UK Prime Minister Starmer Rebukes Trump’s Greenland Tariff Strategy as Transatlantic Tensions Rise
Prince Harry’s Last Press Case in UK Court Signals Potential Turning Point in Media and Royal Relations
OpenAI to Begin Advertising in ChatGPT in Strategic Shift to New Revenue Model
GDP Growth Remains the Most Telling Barometer of Britain’s Economic Health
Prince William and Kate Middleton Stay Away as Prince Harry Visits London Amid Lingering Rift
Britain Braces for Colder Weather and Snow Risk as Temperatures Set to Plunge
Mass Protests Erupt as UK Nears Decision on China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London
Prince Harry to Return to UK to Testify in High-Profile Media Trial Against Associated Newspapers
Keir Starmer Rejects Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat as ‘Completely Wrong’
Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed
Prince Harry Returns to UK High Court as Final Privacy Trial Against Daily Mail Publisher Begins
Britain Confronts a Billion-Pound Wind Energy Paradox Amid Grid Constraints
The graduate 'jobpocalypse': Entry-level jobs are not shrinking. They are disappearing.
Cybercrime, Inc.: When Crime Becomes an Economy. How the World Accidentally Built a Twenty-Trillion-Dollar Criminal Economy
The Return of the Hands: Why the AI Age Is Rewriting the Meaning of “Real Work”
UK PM Kier Scammer Ridicules Tories With "Kamasutra"
Strategic Restraint, Credible Force, and the Discipline of Power
United Kingdom and Norway Endorse NATO’s ‘Arctic Sentry’ Mission Including Greenland
Woman Claiming to Be Freddie Mercury’s Secret Daughter Dies at Forty-Eight After Rare Cancer Battle
UK Launches First-Ever ‘Town of Culture’ Competition to Celebrate Local Stories and Boost Communities
Planned Sale of Shell and Exxon’s UK Gas Assets to Viaro Energy Collapses Amid Regulatory and Market Hurdles
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
×