Did pressure of five-year Police Scotland complaint kill my soul mate Bev? ... Heartbroken motivational guru David Yeoman tells of partner's sudden death ... Latest victim of crisis-stricken single force issues plea to MSPs: Scotland's police cannot be trusted to police themselves
A HEALTHY mum died suddenly after she had completed a damning report for MSPs about her partner’s five-year battle with Police Scotland.
Bev Johnson, 55, passed away on Sunday night [May 13] in the arms of David Yeoman — one of Scotland’s leading motivational gurus.
Heartbroken David, 60, believes the stress of dealing with his fight for justice may have contributed to Bev’s sudden death at their home in Aberfoyle, Perthshire.
He said: “She had years of perfect health and then just died suddenly on Sunday night.
“The doctors said it could have been a heart attack or aneurysm and there will be a post mortem.
“She had just spent a few hours writing a submission to the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee about how I have been treated by Police Scotland.
“I have already suffered a breakdown over my dealings with the police. Without having that stress in our lives, would the circumstances have been different?
“I really don’t know — but for both of is, living with this pressure cannot have helped. I’m absolutely devastated.”
David — who gives motivational coaching to sports stars and business people — reported to police in 2013 that he had been the victim of a historic sexual assault.
But he claims that CID officers failed to investigate his allegation properly and senior officers whitewashed his complaint.
Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Edward dismissed David’s three complaints, forcing him to appeal to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).
PIRC went on to uphold two of the three complaints — including the CID’s failure to investigate.
They make several criticisms of DCI Edward and say his response to David was ‘deficient’, stating: “This is because it does not demonstrate clear reasoning and is lacking in any detailed information to allow the applicant to understand the conclusion reached.”
David was stunned to discover that it took nine months for the CID to raise a crime report.
PIRC added: “DCI Edward’s response does not address why, following the allegation being made by the applicant [David] in August 2013, a crime report was not created on Police Scotland’s crime management system until May 2014, and the suspect not interviewed until December 2014.”
The other upheld complaint was over alleged hostile and aggressive behaviour by two CID officers towards David and Bev at a police station in 2015.
DCI Edward backed the CID officers by saying they ‘acted in a professional manner’ — even though that claim was in neither of their statements.
PIRC found that ‘insufficient enquiry was made into the allegations’, adding: “DCI Edward has advised that he applied the ‘balance of probabilities’ test, however has provided no rationale by way of explanation as to why the officers’ accounts were deemed to be more credible than those of the applicant [David] or Ms H [Bev].”
PIRC ordered Police Scotland to make further enquiries — but for the past two years the complaint has stalled because the police refuse to hand over the couple’s original statements.
David mentors sports and business people and is a motivational speaker with glowing testimonials from blue chip companies including the Bank of Scotland and KPMG along with the NHS, law firms and councils.
His most famous fan is Terry Butcher who he worked with while managing Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Hibs.
The former England and Rangers player was inspired to rally his squad with speeches from war-time PM Winston Churchill and thanked David for ‘all your great energy, learnings and insights’.
Scotland’s ‘curry king’ Charan Gill said of David: “All I would say is, meet him and talk with him for 30 minutes and it could prove to be the 30 minutes that changes the way that you operate your business and also as a person.”
But David blames recent mental health problems on the difficulty of dealing with his complaint against Police Scotland.
On the night of May 13, Bev had helped to draft a report about their ordeal for Holyrood’s justice committee when she complained of feeling unwell.
David said: “It was so unlike her. It was about 10.30pm and I was comforting her in bed but she stopped speaking. I said I hoped she wasn’t having heart attack. Her last words were ‘I hope not’.”
David raised the alarm with a neighbour who is a nurse but by the time she arrived it was too late.
David said: “She took control of the situation but she knew that Bev was dead and told me she had died in my arms. I was just so privileged that I was there and able to comfort her. I’m so glad that I had not been out with the dog and come home to find her like that.
“We were together over five years and she was my soul mate. Her daughter Charley is also devastated. The whole village is in shock.”
In April, the justice committee last month launched a major probe into crisis-hit Police Scotland.
David has now submitted he and Bev’s report to the committee which is led by Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell.
David said: “Bev took great care in getting every word right. She would be writing then say things like ‘got them there’ or ‘that’s just not true’.
“She is no longer here to see this through. Given the work and effort she has put in to fighting this, words can’t describe how I feel about that.
“But this is vitally important. The police complaints system in Scotland is broken. I believe that it is designed to protect the police to the detriment of public.
“I have to hope that a robust justice committee will finally ensure that police officers who commit crimes or misconduct are held to account.”
POLICE SCOTLAND: THE RESPONSE
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We were notified of the death of a woman in her 50s at an address in Aberfoyle at 4.20pm on Monday, May 14, 2018, and the death is not being treated as suspicious.
"Further enquiry was carried out to address the recommendations identified in the PIRC report and an updated written response was forwarded to Mr Yeoman."
"Further enquiry was carried out to address the recommendations identified in the PIRC report and an updated written response was forwarded to Mr Yeoman."
CAN MSPs FIX 'UNTOUCHABLE' SINGLE FORCE?
BEV’S damning take on Police Scotland has been sent to MSPs.
The joint submission from Bev and David lays bare their frustration with Scotland’s police complaints system.
It states: “In attempting to complain about this continual unaccountability we have been met with constant obstacles, stalling tactics, been misled, blocked and encouraged to abandon our complaint.
“It is our firmly held belief that a police service that is seen to police itself does nothing to foster a sense of confidence or trust within the community.
“In our experience the current provisions for regulating Police Scotland and the complaints procedure are woefully inadequate.
“Self-regulation is no regulation and the complaints procedure as it currently stands seems designed to wear down the individual until the complaint is abandoned.
“We personally feel that a single unified force cannot and does not investigate itself without bias.
“There must be somewhere which is truly independent for complainers to be heard and to which Police Scotland are properly held accountable.
“There must be somewhere which is truly independent for complainers to be heard and to which Police Scotland are properly held accountable.
“This is not justice and the current lack of scrutiny and accountability, coupled with the fact officers appear to be completely untouchable once they have left the force, means that we are never likely to get it – a very sad indictment on 21st Century Scotland.”
POLICE SCOTLAND: FIVE YEARS OF SCANDAL
POLICE Scotland has suffered a series of scandals since its formation on April Fool’s Day 2013.
The first two chief constables — Sir Stephen House and Phil Gormley — were forced out prematurely.
Dad-of-two Sheku Bayou, 31, died in Kirkcaldy, Fife, while being restrained by officers in 2015. His family still do not know what happened.
That same year, a car crash on the M9 motorway was reported. For three days, Lamara Bell, 25, was trapped beside the lifeless body of John Yuill, 28. Lamara also later died.
Blunders due to human failings or limited resources are one thing, dishonesty is quite another.
Counter corruption cops were accused of an aggressive witch hunt against innocent police officers over data protection offences.
Members of the public, serving officers and MSPs voiced a lack of trust in the police. The honest and decent majority of cops could only despair.
Alleged political meddling by SNP justice ministers fuelled fears that policing was becoming a political plaything.
The Scottish Police Authority was supposed to be a public guardian but it was slammed for secrecy and tainted by alleged financial wrongdoing.
Acting chief Iain Livingstone was previously cleared of sexually assaulting a junior female officer at a police training college - prompting concerns about his suitability for the top job.
A version of this story was first published in the Daily Record on May 23, 2018:
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