A LAWYER representing the family of a man who died in police custody has been accused of making "inaccurate and bizarre" comments about the case.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) levelled the criticism at Aamer Anwar, the solicitor representing the family of Sheku Bayoh who died after being restrained by officers during an incident on May 3.
Mr Anwar has previously accused the police of refusing to speak about the incident, which is under investigation by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.
Brian Docherty, SPF chairman, said: "Mr Anwar can try to throw whatever mud he wishes but the fact remains that a petite female police officer was violently assaulted by a large male and believed she was going to die as a consequence.
"In directing increasingly hyperbolic, inaccurate and bizarre rhetoric at the Scottish Police Federation, one could be mistaken for believing that Mr Anwar being at the centre of attention appears to be of greater importance than allowing the investigation to proceed without interference."
Professor Peter Watson, of PBW Law, who is representing the officers involved, added that Mr Anwar's comments promoted a "completely inaccurate and misleading account".
Mr Anwar said he found it "extraordinary" that the SPF has issued such a statement, adding that he will not respond to personal insults directed at him.
The lawyer added: "The SPF might wish to try to deflect from the central issue if they wish, but the demands of Sheku's family have been entirely reasonable."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article