London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 07, 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
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
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
Apple Escalates Legal Fight by Appealing £1.5 Billion UK Ruling Over App Store Fees
UK Debt Levels Sit Mid-Range Among Advanced Economies Despite Rising Pressures
UK Plans Royal Diplomacy with King Charles and Prince William to Reinvigorate Trade Talks with US
King Charles and Prince William Poised for Separate 2026 US Visits to Reinforce UK-US Trade and Diplomatic Ties
Apple Moves to Appeal UK Ruling Ordering £1.5 Billion in Customer Overcharge Damages
King Charles’s 2025 Christmas Message Tops UK Television Ratings on Christmas Day
The Battle Over the Internet Explodes: The United States Bars European Officials and Ignites a Diplomatic Crisis
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Join Royal Family at Sandringham Christmas Service
Fine Wine Investors Find Little Cheer in Third Year of Falls
UK Mortgage Rates Edge Lower as Bank of England Base Rate Cut Filters Through Lending Market
U.S. Supermarket Gives Customers Free Groceries for Christmas After Computer Glitch
Air India ‘Finds’ a Plane That Vanished 13 Years Ago
Caviar and Foie Gras? China Is Becoming a Luxury Food Powerhouse
Hong Kong Climbs to Second Globally in 2025 Tourism Rankings Behind Bangkok
From Sunniest Year on Record to Terror Plots and Sports Triumphs: The UK’s Defining Stories of 2025
Greta Thunberg Released on Bail After Arrest at London Pro-Palestinian Demonstration
Banksy Unveils New Winter Mural in London Amid Festive Season Excitement
UK Households Face Rising Financial Strain as Tax Increases Bite and Growth Loses Momentum
UK Government Approves Universal Studios Theme Park in Bedford Poised to Rival Disneyland Paris
UK Gambling Shares Slide as Traders Respond to Steep Tax Rises and Sector Uncertainty
×