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{{short description|London man killed by Met. Police in 2009}}
{{nobots}}
{{For3|Ian Tomlinson|Australian athlete|athlete}} {{redirect|Ian Tomlinson|other people of the same name|Ian Tomlinson (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English Oxford spelling|date=November 2014}}
{{Infobox news event
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
|image= ]
{{Infobox event
|caption= Ian Tomlinson remonstrates with police after being pushed to the ground, minutes before he died.
| title = Death of Ian Tomlinson
|date= {{start date|2009|04|01|df=yes}}
| image = Ian Tomlinson remonstrates with police.jpg
|time= c. 19:30 hours ]
| image_size = 300px
|place= ], ]
| caption = Ian Tomlinson remonstrates with police after being pushed to the ground, minutes before his death.
|first reporter= Paul Lewis, '']''
| date = {{start date|2009|04|01|df=yes}}
|filmed by= American investment fund manager
| location = ], ]
|reported deaths=Ian Tomlinson, aged 47
| coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LON|region:XXXX_type:event|display=inline,title}} -->
|suspects= Unnamed ]
| reporter = ], '']''
|charges= None
| trial = 18 June – 19 July 2012<br/>]
|convictions=
| charges = PC Simon Harwood<br/>], May 2011
|lawsuits=
| verdict = Not guilty
|awards=Bevins Prize for outstanding investigative journalism for Paul Lewis<ref>, ''The Guardian'', 19 November 2009.</ref>
| awards = ] for outstanding investigative journalism, and Reporter of the Year, for Paul Lewis<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927181032/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/nov/19/paul-lewis-bevins-prize-g20 |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 19 November 2009.</ref><ref>Oliver Luft, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412074621/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45224&c=1 |date=12 April 2010 }}, ''PressGazette'', 24 March 2010.</ref>
|url= obtained by ''The Guardian''
| url = , published by ''The Guardian''
}} }}
'''Ian Tomlinson''' (7{{nbs}}February 1962{{nbs}}– 1{{nbs}}April 2009) was a newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the ] after being struck by a police officer during the ]. After an ] jury returned a verdict of ], the officer, Simon Harwood, was prosecuted for ]. He was found not guilty but was dismissed from the police service for gross misconduct.<ref name=WalkerLewis19July2012>Peter Walker, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222124532/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/19/simon-harwood-not-guilty-ian-tomlinson |date=22 December 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 19 July 2012.</ref><ref>Peter Walker, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222132536/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/sep/17/simon-harwood-sacked-gross-misconduct |date=22 December 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 17 September 2012.</ref> Following civil proceedings, the ] paid Tomlinson's family an undisclosed sum and acknowledged that Harwood's actions had caused Tomlinson's death.<ref name="auto1">Matthew Taylor, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101014222/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/05/ian-tomlinson-apology-met-police |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 5 August 2013.</ref>
'''Ian Tomlinson''' (7 February 1962&ndash;1 April 2009) was an English newspaper vendor who collapsed in the street and died in the ], London's financial district, on his way home from work during the ]. A first ] indicated that he had suffered a heart attack because of coronary artery disease, and had died of natural causes.<ref>, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009. Note: The source for his date of birth is a placard at a vigil attended by members of his family, photographs of which can be seen .</ref>


His death became controversial a week later when ''The Guardian'' obtained video footage of Tomlinson's last moments, filmed by an American investment fund manager who was visiting London from New York. The footage shows Tomlinson being struck on the leg from behind by a police officer wielding a ], then pushed to the ground by the same officer. It appears to show no provocation on Tomlinson's part&mdash;he was not a protester, and at the time he was struck, the footage shows him walking along with his hands in his pockets. He walked away after the incident, but collapsed and died moments later.<ref name=LewisvideoApril7>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 7 April, 2009.</ref> The first ] concluded that Tomlinson had suffered a heart attack, but a week later ''The Guardian'' published a video of Harwood, a constable with London's Metropolitan Police, striking Tomlinson on the leg with a baton, then pushing him to the ground. Tomlinson was not a protester, and at the time he was struck he was trying to make his way home through the police cordons. He walked away after the incident, but collapsed and died minutes later.<ref name=LewisvideoApril7>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021013456/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/07/ian-tomlinson-g20-death-video |date=21 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 7 April 2009.</ref>


After the ] (IPCC) began a criminal inquiry, further post-mortems indicated that Tomlinson had died from internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen, in association with ] of the liver. The ] (CPS) decided not to charge Harwood, because the disagreement between the first and later pathologists meant they could not show a causal link between the death and alleged assault.<ref name=CPSstatement/> That position changed in 2011; after the verdict of unlawful killing, the CPS charged Harwood with manslaughter.<ref name=Starmerreview/> He was acquitted in 2012 and dismissed from the service a few months later.<ref name=WalkerLewis19July2012/>
After ''The Guardian'' published the video, the ] (IPCC) began a criminal inquiry from which the police were removed. A second postmortem, ordered by the IPCC and Tomlinson's family, indicated that Tomlinson had died from an abdominal ], the cause of which remains unknown. The officer in question, who has not been named, was interviewed on suspicion of ], and a third postmortem was conducted at the request of his defence team, the results of which have not been released. The IPCC completed its investigation in August 2009 and passed its file to the ]. No charges have been announced.<ref>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 6 August 2009; , BBC News, 4 August 2009.</ref>


Tomlinson's death sparked a debate in the UK about the relationship between the police, media and public, and the independence of the IPCC.<ref name=Lyall>Sarah Lyall, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031073704/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/world/europe/31police.html?pagewanted=all |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The New York Times'', 30 May 2009.</ref> In response to the concerns, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, ], published a 150-page report in November 2009 that aimed to restore Britain's consent-based model of policing.<ref name=LewisLavilleNov25/>
Tomlinson's death and the inquiry that followed it sparked an intense debate about the relationship between the police and the public, the extent to which the IPCC is independent of the police, and the role of citizens in monitoring police and government activity&mdash;so-called ]. There was criticism of the news coverage too, the mayor of London, ], calling it "an orgy of cop bashing." The incident was compared to previous deaths involving either police contact or allegedly inadequate investigations, such as the deaths of ] (1979), ] (1993), and ] (2005), each of which acted as a watershed in the public's perception of policing in the UK.<ref>Riddoch, Lesley. ''The Scotsman'', 13 April, 2009; Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 25 November 2009; for the Boris Johnson quote, see Bleaken, Nathan. , ''The Guardian'', 23 April 2009.</ref>


==Background== ==Background==
===Ian Tomlinson=== ===Ian Tomlinson===
Tomlinson was born to Jim and Ann Tomlinson, and was raised in ], moving to London when he was 17 to work as a scaffolder or roofer in the ]. At the time of his death, he was working casually as a vendor for the ''Evening Standard'', London's evening newspaper. Known as "Tommo" to his friends, he had been married twice. The first marriage produced five children and the second four&mdash;five girls and four boys in all, aged between 15 and 32. He had been plagued for many years by alcoholism, as a result of which he had been living apart from his second wife, Julia, for 13 years, and had suffered long periods of homelessness. He had been living since October 2008 in the Lindsey Hotel, a shelter for the homeless on Lindsey Street, EC1, near ]. His friends told reporters he was a keen ] fan, and he can be seen on the day of his death wearing a blue Millwall shirt underneath a grey "] all-time leading goal scorer" T-shirt, along with black tracksuit trousers and black trainers.<ref>Booth, Robert. , ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009; , ''Daily Mail'', 9 April 2009; Swaine, Jon. , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 10 April 2009. For Tomlinson's clothes, see , ''South London Press'', 6 April 2009.</ref> Tomlinson was born to Jim and Ann Tomlinson in ], ]. He moved to London when he was 17 to work as a scaffolder. At the time of his death, at the age of 47, he was working casually as a vendor for the '']'', London's evening newspaper.<ref>Robert Booth, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927191926/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/08/ian-tomlinson-friends-tributes |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref> Married twice with nine children, including stepchildren, Tomlinson had a history of alcoholism, as a result of which he had been living apart from his second wife, Julia, for 13 years, and had experienced long periods of homelessness. From 2008 onwards, Tomlinson had been staying in the Lindsey Hotel, a shelter for the homeless on Lindsey Street, ], ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101050550/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7990649.stm |date=1 November 2020 }}, BBC News, 8 April 2008.</ref><ref>Jon Swaine, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 10 April 2009.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030164806/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8413482/Ian-Tomlinson-profile-homeless-alcoholic-who-was-not-even-part-of-G20-protests.html |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 29 March 2011.</ref> At the time of his death, he was walking across London's financial district in an effort to reach the Lindsey Hotel, his way hampered at several points by police lines. The route he took was his usual way home from a newspaper stand on ] outside ], where he worked with a friend, Barry Smith.<ref name=BrownApril9/><ref>"Millwall fan dies during G20 riots", ''South London Press'', 6 April 2009.</ref>


===The London police=== ===London police, IPCC===
]
] mounted officer in ], ]|alt=A street scene with a sign saying "Paternoster Row EC4." A white horse with a man sitting on top. The man is wearing black boots, black trousers, a yellow jacket, and a black helmet with a white trim. The horse is wearing a yellow halter with the word "police" on it. In the background, black spiked railings and buildings mostly obscured by trees.]]
With over 31,000 officers, the ] (the Met) is the largest police force in the United Kingdom,<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720092432/http://www.met.police.uk/about/ |date=20 July 2011 }}, Metropolitan Police.</ref> responsible for policing Greater London (except for the financial district, the ], which has its own force, the ]). The Met's ] at the time was Sir ]; the City of London Police commissioner was ]. Responsibility for supervising the Met falls to the ], chaired by the Mayor of London, at the time ].<ref>Richard Edwards, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 20 March 2009.</ref>


The officer seen pushing Tomlinson was a constable with the Met's ] (TSG), identified by the "U" on their shoulder numbers. The TSG specializes in public-order policing, wearing military-style helmets, flame-retardant overalls, ]s and balaclavas. Their operational commander at the time was Chief Superintendent Mick Johnson.<ref>Jon Swaine, , 9 April 2009.</ref><ref>Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101140757/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/16/g20-tomlinson-ipcc-investigation-protest-police |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 16 April 2010.</ref>{{efn|The ] is the successor to the ] (SPG), known for its alleged involvement in the 1979 death in London of a protester, ].<ref>Harry Underwood, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727044028/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/46954,,blair-peach-30-years-on-death-of-a-political-protestor |date=27 July 2010 }}, ''The First Post'', 8 April 2009.</ref>}}
The Metropolitan Police Service (known as the MPS, the Met, or Scotland Yard) is responsible for policing ], with the exception of the financial district, known as the City of London, which has its own police force. The ] at the time of the incident was ]. Responsibility for supervising the force falls to the ], chaired by the ]. The Met is the largest police force in the UK and the ] the smallest in England and Wales. Its commissioner at the time of the incident was Mike Bowron. The British Transport Police, also involved in policing the protests on 1 April, are responsible for policing the rail network and the London underground.
]|alt=A black iron pole with a blue lantern on top, which has the world "Metropolitan Police" in white. Buildings in the background. Some symbols on the building, which could read "D 189 A4".]]
The officer seen pushing Tomlinson on ''The Guardian's'' video is a constable with the Met's ] (TSG or CO20), a unit of 720 officers who can be identified by the "U" on their ].<ref>Laville, Sandra. , ''The Guardian'', 16 April 2010.</ref> Known as the "tough guys and girls" of the Met, according to ''The Daily Telegraph'', they specialize in public-disorder policing, wearing "NATO"-style helmets, flame-retardant overalls, stab vests, and balaclavas, and carrying batons, ], and handcuffs. They are authorized to use ]s, and specially trained officers may carry handguns or ]s. The operational commander of the TSG at the time of the incident was Chief Superintendent Mick Johnson.<ref>Swaine, Jon. , 9 April 2009; Waldren, Michael J. ''The Police Use of Firearms since 1945''. Sutton, 2007, p. 224.</ref>


The ] (IPCC) began to operate in 2004; its chair when Tomlinson died was ]. Created by the Police Reform Act 2002, the commission replaced the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) following public dissatisfaction with the latter's relationship with the police. Unlike the PCA, the IPCC operates independently of the ], which is the Government department responsible for criminal justice and policing in England and Wales.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103224436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8466268.stm |date=3 November 2020 }}, BBC News, 18 January 2010.</ref>
The TSG is the successor to the ], famously reported to have been involved in the death in London of a protester, ], during an April 1979 demonstration by the ] against a ] meeting, a death that commentators have compared to Tomlinson's. Reportedly trapped inside a police cordon, Peach was knocked unconscious and died the next day. It was claimed that he had fallen to a blow from a rubberized police radio belonging to the Special Patrol Group, but no firm evidence of that ever emerged.<ref>Underwood, Harry. , ''The First Post'', 8 April 2009; , ''The Guardian'', 17 April 2009; Roberts, Alison. , ''Evening Standard'', 15 April 2009.</ref>


===Operation Glencoe=== ===Operation Glencoe===
{{Main|2009 G20 London summit protests#Operation Glencoe}}
The G20 security operation was codenamed "Operation Glencoe", a name that attracted comment&mdash;''The Guardian'' reported speculation among protesters that it was chosen because of the ] in the Scottish Highlands.<ref></ref> It was a so-called "Benbow operation," which meant the Metropolitan Police Service, the City of London Police, and the British Transport Police worked under one ], in this case ] of the Metropolitan police, an officer with 32 years of service.<ref>, Metropolitan Police Service, 2 April 2009, accessed 11 February 2010.</ref>
], 1 April 2009]]
The G20 security operation, codenamed "Operation Glencoe", was a "Benbow operation", which meant the Met, City of London Police and the ] worked under one ], in this case ] of the Met.<ref>
{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730204636/http://cms.met.police.uk/news/updates/operation_glencoe_policing_and_security_for_the_g20_london_summit |date=30 July 2009 }} , Metropolitan Police Service, 2 April 2009.
</ref>{{efn|''The Guardian'' reported speculation among protesters that the operation had been named after the 1692 ].<ref name=GuardianGlencoe/> A spokesman for the Met said before the protests that the police were "up for it"; the service said he had been quoted out of context.<ref>"Demonstrating Respect for Rights", Joint Committee on Human Rights, House of Commons, 28 July 2009, p.&nbsp;13.</ref> Protesters escalated the rhetoric, saying they hoped to take control of central London, amid references to bankers being lynched.<ref name=GuardianGlencoe>Paul Lewis, Sandra Laville, John Vidal, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509113641/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/28/g20-protests-london |date=9 May 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 28 March 2009.</ref>}}


On 1 April, the police were dealing with six protests in the area: a security operation at ], the conference centre that hosted the G-20 summit; a ] march from ] to ]; a Free Tibet protest outside the Chinese Embassy and the Dorchester Hotel; a People and the Planet protest; a protest outside the Bank of England; and a ] protest. Protesters ranged from peaceful environmentalists to violent anarchists. Between 4,000 and 5,000 were at the Climate Camp, and the same number at the Bank of England around midday on 1 April, according to the police. Over 5,500 Metropolitan police officers were deployed on 1 April and 2,800 on 2 April.<ref>O'Connor, Denis. , Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, cover page, chapter 2 for the number of police; p. 23 for the number of protesters and the four different security operations. For "peaceful environmentalists to violent anarchists," see Lyall, Sarah. , ''The New York Times'', 30 May 2009.</ref> There were six protests on 1&nbsp;April 2009: a security operation at ], a ] march, a ] protest outside the Chinese Embassy, a ] protest, a ] protest, and a protest outside the ]. Over 4,000 protesters were at the Climate Camp and the same number at the Bank of England. On 1&nbsp;April over 5,500 police officers were deployed and the following day 2,800, at a cost of £7.2&nbsp;million. Officers worked 14-hour shifts. They ended at midnight, slept on the floor of police stations, were not given a chance to eat, and were back on duty at 7&nbsp;am. This was viewed as having contributed to the difficulties they faced.<ref name=OConnor2009p22>Denis O'Connor, {{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, 2009 (hereafter O'Connor 2009), cover page, pp.&nbsp;22 (for number of police), p.&nbsp;23 (for number of protesters and four different security operations), p.&nbsp;33 (for 14-hour shifts and sleeping on floor).</ref><ref>For cost, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930205619/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7955057.stm |date=30 September 2019 }}, BBC News, 20 March 2009.</ref><ref name=Lyall/>


The Bank of England protesters were held in place from 12:30&nbsp;pm until 7:00&nbsp;pm using a process police called "containment" and the media called "]"—corralling protesters into small spaces until the police dispersed them.<ref name=LewisLavilleJuly7>Paul Lewis, Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030012839/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jul/07/g20-protests-police-tactics |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 7 July 2009; {{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, p.&nbsp;23.</ref> At 7:00&nbsp;pm senior officers decided that "reasonable force" could be used to disperse the protesters around the bank.<ref>Paul Lewis, Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030012839/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jul/07/g20-protests-police-tactics |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 7 July 2009.</ref> Between 7:10 and 7:40&nbsp;pm the crowd surged toward the police, missiles were thrown, and the police pushed back with their shields. Scuffles broke out and arrests were made. This was the situation Tomlinson wandered into as he tried to make his way home.<ref>{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Annex D, p.&nbsp;79, for when police began to disperse the crowd.</ref><ref name=Lyall/>
===="Kettling"====
]" protesters at the ] on ], 1 April 2009.|alt=A crowd scene. A large number of men viewed from the back, wearing black boots, black trousers, black shirts or jackets, black belts with equipment hanging off them, and blue helmets with the letters and numbers MP U 42 in yellow. Behind them, faces and raised hands can be seen. In the background, tall buildings and a traffic light.]]The Bank of England protesters were contained from 12.30 pm until 7.00 pm using a series of cordons, a process the police call "containment" and the media calls "]," which consists of corralling protesters into small spaces ("kettles"), then keeping them there until they want to disperse them; the "kettle" is used as a metaphor for keeping in the heat and steam. A report by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary calls it "limiting access to or egress from an area in order to prevent widespread violence and facilitate a controlled dispersal." The procedure can make protesters and others more agitated as they realize they are trapped; this in turn can make the police more aggressive. At around 7 pm, the police began to disperse the crowd around the Bank of England, who had been contained since just after midday. Between 7:10 and 7:40 pm, according to a report by the Inspector of Constabulary, the crowd surged toward the police, missiles were thrown, and the police responded by using their shields to push the crowd back. Scuffles broke out and arrests were made. It was into this situation that Tomlinson wandered as he tried to make his way home.<ref>O'Connor, Denis. , Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, p. 23 for kettling description and Annex D, p. 79 for the times the police began to disperse the crowd; Lyall, Sarah. , ''The New York Times'', 30 May 2009.</ref>


==Incident==
===Independent Police Complaints Commission===
===Earlier encounter with police===
The ] (IPCC) was created by the ], and began to operate on 1 April 2004. It replaced the ] (PCA) following public dissatisfaction with the latter's relationship with the police. Unlike the PCA, the IPCC operates independently of the ], which regulates the police. IPCC investigators are not police officers, though they have been given the powers of the police. The IPCC refers to itself as the most powerful civilian oversight body in the world.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/> Its current chair is ].<ref name=GuruMurphy/>
{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208034702/https://www.ipcc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/investigation_commissioner_reports/inv_rep_independent_investigation_into_the_death_of_ian_tomlinson_1.pdf |date=8 February 2017 }}, Independent Police Complaints Commission, 26 August 2010, p. 126, para. 341.</ref>
{{image key
|list type=ordered
|19:00: Tomlinson left ]
|c.&nbsp;19:20: He was struck in Royal Exchange Passage
|19:22: He collapsed outside 77 Cornhill
}}]]


Several newspapers published images of Tomlinson's first encounter with police that evening. According to Barry Smith, Tomlinson left the newspaper stand outside Monument ] Station at around 7:00{{nbs}}pm.<ref name=BrownApril9>David Brown, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516235851/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6062637.ece |date=16 May 2009 }}, ''The Times'', 9 April 2009.</ref> An eyewitness, IT worker Ross Hardy, said Tomlinson was on ], drunk and refusing to move; a police van nudged him on the back of the legs, Hardy said, and when that did not work he was moved by four police officers wearing personal protective equipment.<ref>{{cite web |title=Independent Investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson on 1 April 2009 |url=https://www.ipcc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/investigation_commissioner_reports/inv_rep_independent_investigation_into_the_death_of_ian_tomlinson_1.pdf |publisher=Independent Police Complaints Commission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208034702/https://www.ipcc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/investigation_commissioner_reports/inv_rep_independent_investigation_into_the_death_of_ian_tomlinson_1.pdf |archive-date=8 February 2017 |pages=24–25, paras. 48–51 |date=26 August 2010}}</ref> On 16&nbsp;April ''The Guardian'' published three images of Tomlinson on Lombard Street.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820103234/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/16/1239897944968/Ian-Tomlinson-at-7.08pm-o-001.jpg |date=20 August 2018 }}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228095341/https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/16/1239898035689/Ian-Tomlinson-at-7.10pm-o-001.jpg |date=28 December 2018 }}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031035616/https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/16/1239898122480/Ian-Tomlinson-walks-away--001.jpg |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 16 April 2009.</ref><ref name=LewisApril16>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144628/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/16/ian-tomlinson-g20-photographs |date=12 June 2018 }}, ''The Guardian'', 16 April 2009.</ref>
==The incident==
===Tomlinson's first encounter with police===
]; 2. where the alleged assault occurred; 3. where he collapsed and died.]]
Press reports indicate that Tomlinson did not take part in the G20 protests, but was walking across London's financial district in an effort to reach the Lindsey Hotel in Smithfield after finishing work. The route he took was apparently his normal way home from a newspaper stand on Fish Street Hill outside ], where he worked with a friend, Barry Smith.<ref name=BrownApril9/>


Tomlinson stayed on Lombard Street for another half-hour, then made his way to ], toward two lines of police cordons, where police had "kettled" thousands of protesters near the Bank of England. At 7:10&nbsp;pm he doubled back on himself, walking up and down Change Alley where he encountered more cordons. Five minutes later he was on Lombard Street again, crossed it, walked down Birchin Lane, and reached ] at 7:10–7:15&nbsp;pm.<ref name=BrownApril9/>
Several newspapers published images of his first encounter with police that evening, though the reported times the images were taken differ by one hour, possibly because of discrepancies in the cameras' internal clocks. Barry Smith says Tomlinson left the newspaper stand at around 7 pm.<ref name=BrownApril9>Brown, David. , ''The Times'', 9 April, 2009.</ref> published by the ''Daily Mail'' shows Tomlinson smoking a cigarette in front of a police van in Lombard Street. The time was 6:07 pm, according to the newspaper. The ''Mail'' writes that an eyewitness, IT worker Ross Hardy, said Tomlinson was drunk and refusing to move; a police van tried to nudge Tomlinson out of the way, and when that didn't work, he was moved by four riot officers. The ''Daily Mail'' published of him apparently being pushed by the police at 6:09 pm.<ref name=GillApril10/> On 16 April, ''The Guardian'' published of Tomlinson, clearly taken at the same time as the ''Daily Mail'' images, though ''The Guardian'' says they were taken at 7:08 and 7:10 pm, an hour later than the time given by the ''Mail''.<ref name=LewisApril16>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 16 April 2009.</ref>


After this first encounter with the police, Tomlinson stayed on Lombard Street for another half an hour, then made his way to King William Street, toward two lines of police cordons, where police had "kettled" thousands of protesters in the area around the Bank of England. At 7:10 pm, Tomlinson doubled back on himself, and five minutes later was on Lombard Street again, crossed it, walked down Birchin Lane, and reached ] at 7:10, according to ''The Times'', or at 7:15 pm, according to ''The Telegraph''. A few minutes later, he was at the northern end of the ] Buildings, near the junction with ], where yet another police cordon stopped him from proceeding. He turned to walk south instead along Royal Exchange Passage, a pedestrian precinct where minutes before he arrived, police officers had clashed with up to 25 protesters. Riot police from the Met, accompanied by City of London police dog handlers, had arrived from the cordon in Threadneedle Street to help their colleagues.<ref>Brown, David. , ''The Times'', 9 April, 2009; Gammell, Caroline. , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 April 2009.</ref> A few minutes later Tomlinson was at the northern end of a pedestrian precinct, Royal Exchange Passage (formally called Royal Exchange Buildings), near the junction with ], where a further police cordon stopped him from proceeding. He turned to walk south along Royal Exchange Passage instead, where, minutes before he arrived, officers had clashed with up to 25 protesters. Riot police from the Met's TSG, accompanied by City of London police dog handlers, had arrived there from the cordon in Threadneedle Street to help their colleagues.<ref name=BrownApril9/><ref name=GammellApril18/>


===Encounter with officer===
===Circa 7:15 pm: First alleged assault===
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An eyewitness, Anna Braithwaite, told ''The Times'' that as Tomlinson passed the statue of ] on Royal Exchange Avenue, a police officer "rushed forward" and grabbed him from behind with his left hand. She said: "He grabbed his back and charged him and threw him forward. Ian landed on his left side and bounced because of the force of the impact. He looked absolutely petrified. Clearly had no idea what was happening." She said the officer then struck Tomlinson with his baton twice, either on the torso or the upper legs: "Ian was scrambling to get up and was half up when the same police officer grabbed him again and threw him forward. He took a couple of steps forward, stumbling, and started trying to run away. He was in total shock." ''The Times'' writes that Tomlinson continued walking along Royal Exchange Buildings, and that he was filmed "stumbling and swaying" with his hands in his trouser pockets. Police officers are reported to have followed him as he walked 50 yards along the street.<ref name=BrownApril9/> He tried to head towards Threadneedle Street, but again ran into police cordons. He doubled back on himself yet again towards Cornhill.<ref name=GammellApril18>Gammell, Caroline. , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 April 2009.</ref>
| caption2 = Harwood behind Tomlinson<ref name=LewisShehani>Paul Lewis, Shehani Fernando, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105052804/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-video |date=5 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 7 April 2009.</ref>
| image3 = Ian Tomlinson as he fell.png
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| caption4 = In a separate video, Tomlinson walks away after being struck.<ref>Paul Lewis, John Domokos, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103175928/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/21/g20-ian-tomlinson-new-video |date=3 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 21 April 2009.</ref>
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Police officers followed Tomlinson as he walked {{convert|50|yards|m}} along the street.<ref name=BrownApril9/> He headed towards Threadneedle Street, but again ran into police cordons and doubled back on himself towards Cornhill.<ref name=GammellApril18>Caroline Gammell, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 April 2009.</ref> According to a CPS report, he was bitten on the leg by a police dog at 7:15{{nbs}}pm, when a dog handler tried to move him out of the way, but he appeared not to react to it.<ref name="CPSstatement"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101100317/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/22/cps-statement-death-ian-tomlinson |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2010.</ref>


The same group of officers approached Tomlinson outside a Montblanc store at the southern end of Royal Exchange Passage, near the junction with Cornhill.<ref name=BrownApril9/> He was walking slowly with his hands in his pockets; according to an eyewitness, he was saying that he was trying to get home.<ref name=Lewishelper>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701203839/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson-g201 |date=1 July 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 April 2009.</ref>
===7:20 pm: Second alleged assault===
At 2 a.m. on 7 April, a week after the incident, ''The Guardian'' was passed footage shot by an investment fund manager from New York who was in London on business. shows a group of officers approach Tomlinson again&mdash;the same group of officers, according to ''The Times''&mdash;outside a ] store at the southern end of Royal Exchange Passage, near the junction with Cornhill.<ref>Brown, David. , ''The Times'', 9 April, 2009: "Video footage shows the same group of officers that had previously confronted Mr Tomlinson approach him again outside a Montblanc shop at the south end of Royal Exchange Buildings."</ref> The group included officers from the TSG in riot gear and City of London police dog handlers. Tomlinson is walking slowly with his hands in his pockets, while several of the officers with dogs walk closely behind him. An eyewitness, Alan Edwards, said Tomlinson was tellling them, "I want to go home. I live down there. I'm trying to get home."<ref name=Lewishelper>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 9 April, 2009.</ref>


The footage shows one officer appear to lunge at Tomlinson from behind, then strike him across the legs with a baton the officer was holding in his left hand. The same officer then appears to push Tomlinson's back, causing him to fall. On 8 April, Channel 4 News released their own footage of the same scene from a different angle. Their video shows the officer's arm swing back fully to head height before bringing it downwards to hit Tomlinson on the legs with the baton.<ref name=SecondvideoApril8>, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref> The ''Guardian'' video shows Tomlinson briefly remonstrating with police as he sat on the ground. The first ''Guardian'' video shows one officer lunge at Tomlinson from behind, strike him across the legs with a baton and push him back, causing him to fall. On 8{{nbs}}April Channel&nbsp;4 News released their own footage, which showed the officer's arm swing back to head height before bringing it down to hit Tomlinson on the legs with the baton.<ref name=SecondvideoApril8> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101045852/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/08/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson-video |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref> Another video obtained by ''The Guardian'' on 21{{nbs}}April shows Tomlinson standing by a bicycle rack, hands in his pockets, when the police approach him. After he is hit, he can be seen scraping along the ground on the right side of his forehead; eyewitnesses spoke of hearing a noise as his head hit the ground.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103175928/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/21/g20-ian-tomlinson-new-video |date=3 November 2020 }}, from 01:09 mins.</ref><ref name=Lewis22April2009/>


===Collapse===
===7:25 pm: Tomlinson's collapse===
Tomlinson can be seen briefly remonstrating with police as he sits on the ground. None of the officers offered assistance.<ref name=inquestJune2009/>{{rp|11}} After being helped to his feet by a protester, Tomlinson walked {{convert|200|ft|m|-1}} along Cornhill, where he collapsed at around 7:22{{nbs}}pm outside 77 Cornhill. Witnesses say he appeared dazed, eyes rolling, skin grey. They also said he smelled of alcohol.<ref name=Mahaffey26Aug2010p126/><ref name=BrownApril9/> An ITV News photographer tried to give medical aid, but was forced away by police, as was a medical student.<ref name=BrownApril9/><ref>Martha Kearney, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117114204/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPqLf26arFU |date=17 January 2021 }}, BBC Radio 4 News, 9 April 2009.</ref><ref name=RaynerSwaineApril9>Gordon Rayner, Jon Swaine, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 9 April 2009.</ref> Police medics attended to Tomlinson, who was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.<ref name=LewisLaville>Paul Lewis, Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031030100/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/06/g20-ian-tomlinson-police-assault |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 6 April 2009.</ref>
After being helped to his feet by a protester, Alan Edwards, Tomlinson walked 200 feet along Cornhill, where he collapsed at around 7:25 pm outside the Co-operative Bank opposite St Michael's Alley. Witnesses say he had been stumbling, appeared dazed, his eyes were rolling, and his skin was grey. They also said he smelled of alcohol.<ref name=BrownApril9/>


==Simon Harwood==
An ITV News photographer tried to give medical aid, but was forced away by police, as was Lucy Apps, a third-year medical student.<ref>Brown, David. , ''The Times'', 9 April, 2009; Kearney, Martha. , ''BBC Radio 4 News'', 9 April, 2009.</ref> Daniel McPhee, a social support worker, told ''The Daily Telegraph'' that he was one of the first on the scene, and that he dialled ], the UK's emergency services number. At that point, Tomlinson was reportedly still breathing. The ambulance operator told McPhee to put Tomlinson on his back, McPhee says. Then a group of riot police surrounded Tomlinson. The operator asked to speak to the police, but McPhee says the police ignored the request.<ref name=RaynerSwaineApril9>Rayner, Gordon and Swaine, Jon. , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 9 April, 2009.</ref> Police medics then attended to Tomlinson, who was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.<ref name=LewisLaville>Lewis, Paul and Laville, Sandra. , ''The Guardian'', 6 April, 2009.</ref>
===Background===
Simon Harwood, the officer who unlawfully killed<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/19/simon-harwood-not-guilty-ian-tomlinson|title=Ian Tomlinson death: Simon Harwood cleared of manslaughter|date=19 July 2012|work=The Guardian|access-date=9 June 2021|archive-date=9 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609212636/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/19/simon-harwood-not-guilty-ian-tomlinson|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/blog/2011/may/03/ian-tomlinson-inquest-verdict-live-blog|title=Ian Tomlinson inquest verdict|first1=Sam|last1=Jones|first2=Paul|last2=Lewis|date=3 May 2011|work=The Guardian|access-date=9 June 2021|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711185053/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/blog/2011/may/03/ian-tomlinson-inquest-verdict-live-blog|url-status=live}}</ref> Tomlinson, was a police constable with the ] (TSG) at Larkhall Lane police station in Lambeth, South London.<ref name=LewisLaville2April9/> Harwood had faced 10 complaints in 12 years,<ref name=Peachey19July2012>Paul Peachey, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925082138/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/pc-simon-harwood-10-complaints-in-12-years-for-the-red-mist-officer-7959576.html |date=25 September 2017 }}, ''The Independent'', 19 July 2012.</ref> nine of which had been dismissed or unproven. The complaint that was upheld involved unlawful access to the ].<ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104230440/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/20/police-simon-harwood-disciplinary-records?intcmp=239 |date=4 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 19 July 2012.</ref> The complaints included a ] incident in or around 1998 while he was on sick leave, during which he reportedly tried to arrest the other driver, who alleged that Harwood had used unnecessary force. On Friday 14{{nbs}}September 2001, before the case was heard by a discipline board, Harwood retired on medical grounds.<ref name=Peachey19July2012/><ref name=Laville1>Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927190157/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/05/query-g20-assault-case-officer |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 5 July 2009.</ref> Three days later, on Monday 17{{nbs}}September, he rejoined the Met as a civilian computer worker.<ref name=Peachey19July2012/>


In May 2003 Harwood joined the Surrey Police as a constable. Surrey Police said he was frank about his history. In January 2004 he was alleged to have assaulted a man during a raid on a home.<ref name=Peachey19July2012/> In November 2004, on his request, Harwood was transferred back to the Met.<ref name=Gammell22July>Caroline Gammell, Andrew Hough, Gordon Rayner, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 22 July 2010.</ref> There were three more complaints after that, before the incident with Tomlinson.<ref name=Peachey19July2012/>
===The officer in the video===
The officer seen striking Tomlinson and three colleagues from the Met made themselves known to a manager, then to the IPCC, on 8 April, the day after ''The Guardian'' published the video evidence.<ref name=DoddLewisApril9>Dodd, Vikram, and Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 9 April 2009.</ref> When the second postmortem indicated Tomlinson had died of internal bleeding, the officer was interviewed on suspicion of manslaughter, according to the IPCC on 17 April. Several newspapers reported that he had collapsed when he learned what had happened.<ref>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 17 April 2009; Randall, David. , ''The Independent on Sunday'', 12 April 2009.</ref>


===On the day===
The officer in question is a police constable with the Territorial Support Group (TSG) at Larkhall Lane police station in ], South London.<ref name=DelgadoApril12/> ''The Guardian'' alleges that he may have removed his shoulder number and covered the bottom of his face with his balaclava before hitting Tomlinson.<ref name=LewisLaville2April9>Lewis, Paul and Laville, Sandra. , ''The Guardian'', 9 April, 2009.</ref> The ''Daily Mail'' writes that shows the officer's shoulder ID was missing.<ref name=GillApril10>Gill, Charlotte. , ''Daily Mail'', 10 April 2009.</ref> According to ''The Mail on Sunday'', TSG officers have been known to swap shoulder IDs, then claim, if accused of wrongdoing, that their unit was elsewhere at the time and that it must be a case of mistaken identity.<ref name=DelgadoApril12>Delgado, Martin and Powell, Laura. . ''The Mail on Sunday'', 12 April 2009.</ref>
Harwood was involved in several confrontations on the day of Tomlinson's death. He had been on duty since 5 am, assigned as a driver, and had spent most of the day in his vehicle. While parked on Cornhill in the evening, he saw a man write "]" on the side of another police van, and left his vehicle to attempt to arrest the man. The suspect resisted arrest and the suspect's head collided with a van door, triggering a response from the crowd that made Harwood believe it was unsafe to return to his vehicle.<ref name=Lewis3May/><ref name=LewisSharrock4May/> He told the inquest that he had been hit on the head, had fallen over, lost his baton, had been attacked by the crowd and feared for his life, but later acknowledged this had not happened.<ref name=Lewis3May/><ref name=LewisSharrock4May>Paul Lewis, David Sharrock, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927190415/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/04/ian-tomlinson-inquest-simon-harwood?intcmp=239 |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 4 May 2011.</ref>


Shortly after his attempted arrest of the graffiti man, Harwood swung a coat at a protester, pulled a BBC cameraman to the ground, used a palm strike against one man, and at 7:19{{nbs}}pm pushed another man to the ground for allegedly threatening a police dog handler. It was seconds after this that he saw Tomlinson standing with his hands in his pockets beside a bicycle rack, being told by police to move away. Harwood told the inquest he made a "split-second decision" that there was justification for engagement, then struck Tomlinson on the thigh with his baton and pushed him to the ground. He said it was a "very poor push" and he had been shocked when Tomlinson fell.<ref name=Lewis3May/> Harwood made no mention of the incident in his notebook; he told the inquest he had forgotten about it.<ref name=Lewis3May>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030122907/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/03/ian-tomlinson-verdict-jury-decision?INTCMP=SRCH |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 3 May 2011.</ref>
Simon Israel of Channel 4 News reported on 22 April that there were several distinguishing marks that identified the officer on footage taken in several locations on the day: the letters U41 on his helmet; apparently left-handed; wearing a balaclava but no gloves; not carrying a shield; and wearing his yellow jacket tucked in. The IPCC sought but failed to obtain an injunction to prevent Channel 4 from airing Israel's report&mdash;one of their concerns was that the report might prejudice the criminal inquiry, because some of the officers who may have been eyewitnesses had not been questioned by the time Channel 4 aired it.<ref name=IsraelApril22>Israel, Simon. , Channel 4 News, 22 April 2009.</ref>


===Identification===
''The Guardian'' reported that the officer had faced a misconduct hearing early in his career with the Met, but had retired before being disciplined, then had re-applied to join the force. He had became involved in a road-rage incident while on sick leave with a shoulder injury, and reportedly tried to arrest the other driver, who complained that the officer had used unnecessary force. Before the misconduct case was heard, the officer retired from the Met on medical grounds and was awarded a pension. Several years later, he rejoined the Met as a civilian computer worker, then applied to join the police in Surrey, just outside London, as an officer. The unresolved disciplinary issue should have shown up during vetting, but appears not to have, either when he joined the Surrey force, or when he applied for a transfer back into the Met.<ref>Johnston, Ian. , ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 5 July 2009; Laville, Sandra. , ''The Observer'', 5 July 2009.</ref>
Newspapers did not release Harwood's name until July 2010.<ref name=DoddJuly22/> On the day of the incident, he appeared to have removed his shoulder number and covered the bottom of his face with his balaclava.<ref name=LewisLaville2April9>Paul Lewis, Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030214615/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-ian-tomlinson-police-video |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 April 2009.</ref> Simon Israel of Channel 4 News reported a detailed description of the officer on 22{{nbs}}April 2009; the IPCC sought but failed to obtain an injunction to prevent Channel 4 broadcasting the description, alleging that it might prejudice their inquiry.<ref name=IsraelApril22>Simon Israel, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426060917/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/exclusive+new+g20+video+evidence/3103837 |date=26 April 2009 }}, Channel 4 News, 22 April 2009.</ref> Fifteen months later, when announcing in July 2010 that no charges would be brought against Harwood, the Crown Prosecution Service still referred to him as "PC A."<ref name=CPSstatement/> It was only on that day that newspapers decided to name him.<ref name=DoddJuly22>Vikram Dodd, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626203427/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/22/ian-tomlinson-police-not-charged#start-of-comments |date=26 June 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2010.</ref>


Harwood said he first realized on 8{{nbs}}April, when he saw the ''Guardian'' video, that Tomlinson had died. He reportedly collapsed at home and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.<ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231082256/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/17/ian-tomlinson-g20-protest-coroner |date=31 December 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 17 April 2009.</ref><ref>David Randall, {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130420142451/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-man-who-was-trying-to-get-home-1667554.html |date=20 April 2013 }}, ''The Independent on Sunday'', 12 April 2009.</ref> Harwood and three colleagues made themselves known to the IPCC that day.<ref name=DoddLewisApril9>Vikram Dodd, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101220136/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-death-police-officer-suspended |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 April 2009.</ref>
==Postmortem examinations==
Three postmortem examinations were conducted, the first at the request of the police on 3 April by Dr Freddy Patel, a member of the ] register of accredited ]s. He concluded that Tomlinson had died of a heart attack. He said there were no bruises or scratches on Tomlinson's head and shoulders, but did not say whether there were injuries elsewhere on his body. He also found blood in his abdomen. John Scurr, a vascular surgeon at London's ] told ITN that, in the absence of a suspicion of assault, Patel might have concluded that the bleeding was from accidental injury inflicted during attempts to resuscitate Tomlinson, which is not unusual during cardiac massage.<ref>Fresco, Adam and O'Neill, Sean. , ''The Times'', 10 April 2009; Davies, Nick. , ''The Guardian'', 27 April 2009; , undated, accessed 11 February 2010.</ref>


==Early accounts==
''The Guardian'' writes that Patel's work had come under scrutiny twice before. He was reprimanded by the ] in 1999 after releasing to reporters medical details about Roger Sylvester, a black man who had died in police custody; Patel told reporters that Sylvester was a ] user, something his family denied. In 2002, the police dropped a criminal inquiry because Patel said the victim, Sally White, had died of a heart attack, with no signs of violence, though she was reportedly found naked with bruising to her body, an injury to her head, and a bite mark on her thigh. ], a mentally ill alcoholic who lived in the flat in which her body was found locked in a bedroom, later murdered two women and placed their body parts in bin bags. In response to the criticism, Patel said the GMC reprimand was a long time ago, and that his findings in the Sally White case had not been contested.<ref>Osley, Richard. , ''Camden New Journal'', 27 November 2003; Lewis, Paul. . ''The Guardian'', 11 April 2009.</ref> ''The Sunday Telegraph'' reported in July 2009 that Patel had been suspended from the government's register of pathologists, pending an inquiry.<ref>Johnston, Ian. , ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 5 July 2009.</ref>


===First police statement===
The IPCC removed the Tomlinson inquiry from the City of London police on 8 April, after publication of ''The Guardian'' video. An ] opened on 9 April with Paul Matthews as the coroner, and a second postmortem, ordered jointly by the IPCC and Tomlinson's family, was carried out that day by Dr. Nathaniel Cary.<ref name=LewisDoddApril10/2>Lewis, Paul and Dodd, Vikram. , ''The Guardian'', 10 April, 2009 (updated).</ref> Cary's provisional findings were that Tomlinson had died because of abdominal haemorrhage, the cause of which remains unknown. Although there was evidence of coronary ], it was insufficient to have contributed to Tomlinson's death, in Cary's view.<ref>, ''The Guardian'', 17 April 2009.</ref> Because of the conflicting conclusions of the first two postmortems, a third was conducted on 22 April at the request of the accused officer's defence team. The results were not released.<ref name=BBCAug4>, BBC News, 4 August 2009.</ref>

==How the story emerged==
{{Tomlinson timeline}} {{Tomlinson timeline}}
The Met issued its first statement on 1{{nbs}}April at 11:36{{nbs}}pm, four hours after Tomlinson died, a statement approved by the IPCC's regional director for London. The statement said that police had been alerted that a man had collapsed and were attacked by "a number of missiles" as they tried to save his life, an allegation that was inaccurate, according to later media reports.{{efn|Metropolitan Police Service, 1{{nbs}}April 2009, 23:36 hours:{{pb}}"A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane, junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner. That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michaels Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing. They called for ] support at about 1930. The officers gave him an initial check and cleared his airway before moving him back behind the cordon line to a clear area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they gave him ]. The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles&nbsp;– believed to be bottles&nbsp;– were being thrown at them. LAS took the man to hospital where he was pronounced dead."<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031001439/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/08/ian-tomlinson-g20-death-official-police-account |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref><ref name=inquestJune2009> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220015540/http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/jun/uk-tomlinson-inquest-briefing-jun-09.pdf |date=20 December 2012 }}, INQUEST, June 2009 (pdf).</ref>{{rp|4}}}}
===1 April: First police statement===
The Met issued its first statement on 1 April at 23:36 pm, four hours after Tomlinson's death. It said that police had been alerted that a man had collapsed, and were attacked by "a number of missiles" as they tried to save his life:
{{Quote box4
|quote = A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane, junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner.<p>


According to ] in ''The Guardian'', the statement was the result of an intense argument in the Met's press office, after an earlier draft had been rejected. He wrote that both the Met and IPCC said the statement represented the truth as they understood it at the time, and that there had been no allegation at that point that Tomlinson had come into contact with police. Davies asked why the IPCC were involved if they had not realized there had been police contact. He alleged that senior sources within the Met said privately that the assault on Tomlinson had been spotted by the police control room at Cobalt Street in south London, and that a chief inspector on the ground had also reported it. The Met issued a statement saying they had checked with every chief inspector who had been part of Operation Glencoe, and that none of them had called in such a report.<ref name=DaviesApril27>Nick Davies, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120053423/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/apr/27/ipcc-police-g20-death-media |date=20 November 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 27 April 2009.</ref>{{efn|The IPCC's guidelines at the time said that incidents should be referred to them where "persons have died or been seriously injured following some form of direct or indirect contact with the police and there is reason to believe that the contact may have caused or contributed to the death or serious injury".<ref name=DaviesApril27/>}}
That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michaels Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing. They called for LAS support at about 1930.<p>


===First eyewitness accounts===
The officers gave him an initial check and cleared his airway before moving him back behind the cordon line to a clear area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they gave him CPR.<p>
]


On 2{{nbs}}April the Met handed responsibility for the investigation to the City of London police; the officer in charge was Detective Superintendent Anthony Crampton.<ref name=LewisMay92011/> After police briefings, the ''Evening Standard'' reported on 2{{nbs}}April that "police were bombarded with bricks, bottles and planks of wood" as they tried to save Tomlinson, forced by a barrage of missiles to carry him to a safe location to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.<ref>Justin Davenport, , ''Evening Standard'', 2 April 2009.</ref><ref>Justin Davenport, Danny Brierley, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821183141/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/ring-of-steel-keeps-demos-away-from-world-leaders-6897646.html |date=21 August 2016 }}, ''Evening Standard'', 2 April 2009.</ref>
The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles&mdash;believed to be bottles&mdash;were being thrown at them.<p>


Eyewitnesses said the story was inaccurate. They said protesters had provided first aid and telephoned for medical help.<ref name=Indymediawitnesses>
LAS took the man to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406063438/http://london.indymedia.org.uk/videos/1023 |date=6 April 2009 }}, ''Indymedia London'', 2 April 2009.
|source = Metropolitan Police Service, 1 April 2009, 23:36 hours.<ref>, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref>
</ref> Others said that one or two plastic bottles had been thrown by people unaware of Tomlinson's situation, but other protesters had told them to stop.<ref name=LewisWilliamsJones>Paul Lewis, Rachel Williams, Sam Jones, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519142349/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/02/g20-summit-protester-death |date=19 May 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 2 April 2009.</ref> According to '']'', an analysis of television footage and photographs showed just one bottle, probably plastic, being thrown.<ref name=BrownApril9/> Video taken by eyewitness Nabeela Zahir, published by '']'' on 9{{nbs}}April, shows one protester shouting, "There is someone hurt here. Back the fuck up." Another voice says, "There's someone hurt. Don't throw anything."<ref name=NabeelaZahirvideo/>
|width = 70%
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According to journalist ] in ''The Guardian'', this statement was the result of an "intense argument" in the Met's press office. An earlier draft had been rejected, and the final draft was approved by a regional director at the IPCC. Davies writes that both the Met and the IPCC say the statement represented the truth as they understood it at the time, and that there had been no allegation at that point that Tomlinson had come into contact with police. Davies asks why the IPCC would have been involved had they not realized there had been police contact. Davies cites the IPCC's guidelines, which say incidents should be referred to them where, "persons have died or been seriously injured following some form of direct or indirect contact with the police and there is reason to believe that the contact may have caused or contributed to the death or serious injury".<ref name=DaviesApril27>Davies, Nick. , ''The Guardian'', 27 April 2009.</ref>


===Officers report the incident===
Davies alleges that, contrary to the official stance of the Met and IPCC, senior sources within the Met have said privately that the assault on Tomlinson was spotted as soon it happened by the police control room at Cobalt Street in south London, and that a chief inspector on the ground had also reported it. In response to Davies's story, the Met issued a statement saying they had checked with every chief inspector who had been part of Operation Glencoe, and that none of them had called in such a report.<ref name=DaviesApril27/>
{{quote box
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|source= — ''The Guardian'', 9 May 2011}}


Three police constables from the Hammersmith and Fulham police station—Nicholas Jackson, Andrew Moore, and Kerry Smith—told their supervisor, Inspector Wynne Jones, on 3{{nbs}}April that they had witnessed the incident. They can be seen in ''The Guardian'' video standing next to Tomlinson. Jackson was the first to tell the inspector; officers then contacted Moore and Smith, who had been standing next to Jackson at the time.<ref name=LewisMay92011/>
===2&ndash;3 April: Other police statements and initial news report===
]
From 2 April over the next few days, the IPCC told reporters that Tomlinson's family were not surprised he had had a heart attack. When journalists asked whether he had been in contact with police officers before his death, they were told the speculation would upset the family.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9>Laville, Sandra and Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 9 April, 2009.</ref> After being told on 3 April that ''The Guardian'' had obtained a photograph of Tomlinson lying at the feet of riot police&mdash;not published until 5 April&mdash;the City of London Police issued a statement on 4 April: "A post-mortem examination ... found he died of natural causes. suffered a sudden heart attack while on his way home from work."<ref name=Judd>Judd, Terry. , ''The Independent'', 9 April, 2009.</ref> In accordance with police briefings, the ''Evening Standard'', London's evening newspaper, reported on 2 April that, "police were bombarded with bricks, bottles and planks of wood" as they tried to save Tomlinson, forced by a barrage of missiles to carry him to a safe location to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.<ref>Davenport, Justin. , ''The Evening Standard'', 2 April, 2009, accessed 8 April 2009; Davenport, Justin and Brierley, Danny. , ''The Evening Standard'', 2 April, 2009; accessed 8 April 2009.</ref>


Jackson, Moore and Smith did not recognize Simon Harwood, the officer who struck Tomlinson, and according to the newspaper assumed he was with the City of London police. This was four days before ''The Guardian'' published the video. The inspector passed this information at 4:15{{nbs}}pm on 3{{nbs}}April to Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, the Met's point of contact for Tomlinson's death. Hall said he passed it to the City of London police before the first post-mortem was conducted that day by Freddy Patel, which according to ''The Guardian'' began at 5:00{{nbs}}pm.<ref name=LewisMay92011/>
===Eyewitness accounts===
Eyewitnesses said the reports of missiles raining down while police tried to save Tomlinson were inaccurate. They said it was protesters, not police, who provided the initial first aid and who telephoned for medical help, as well as requesting it with a megaphone.<ref name=Indymediawitnesses>, Indymedia London.</ref> Fran Legg, a politics student at ], told ''The Evening Standard'' that a friend of hers put Tomlinson in the ]. She said that around eight riot police arrived on the scene with police medics, and that when the medics took over, Tomlinson was unconscious.<ref name=DavenportBrierleyApril2>Davenport, Justin and Brierley, Danny. , ''The Evening Standard'', 2 April, 2009.</ref> Witnesses said that one or two plastic bottles were thrown by people who were unaware of Tomlinson's situation, but other protesters told them to stop.<ref name=LewisWilliamsJones>Lewis, Paul; Williams, Rachel; and Jones, Sam. , ''The Guardian'', 2 April, 2009, accessed 3 April, 2009.</ref> ''The Times'' wrote that an analysis of television footage and photographs showed just one bottle, probably plastic, being thrown in the area.<ref name=BrownApril9/>


==Post-mortem examinations==
====7&ndash;21 April: four videos released====
An inquest was opened on 9{{nbs}}April 2009 by Paul Matthews, the City of London coroner. Three post-mortems were conducted: on 3{{nbs}}April by Mohmed Saeed Sulema "Freddy" Patel for Paul Matthews; on 9{{nbs}}April by Nathaniel Cary for the IPCC and Tomlinson's family; and on 22{{nbs}}April jointly by Kenneth Shorrock for the Metropolitan police and Ben Swift for Simon Harwood. The coroner was criticized for reportedly having failed to allow IPCC investigators to attend the first, and for failing to tell Tomlinson's family that they had a legal right to attend or send a representative. The family also said he had not told them where and when it was taking place.<ref name=Dodd23July>Vikram Dodd, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102202535/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/23/ian-tomlinson-death-inquest-coroner |date=2 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 23 July 2010.</ref>
;, 7 April
The first ''Guardian'' video showing the second alleged assault on Tomlinson was shot on a digital camera by an investment fund manager from New York, visiting London on business, who said he attended the protests out of curiosity and asked not to be named. He didn't understand the significance of his footage at first. It was only after several days, on his way to ], that he realized the man he had filmed being assaulted was the same man reported as having died of a heart attack. At that point, at 2 am on 7 April, he passed his footage to ''The Guardian'', which published it that afternoon, after which the newspaper passed a copy to the IPCC.<ref>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref>


===First post-mortem===
;, 8 April
According to Detective Sergeant Chandler of the City of London police, he was not told until the first post-mortem was over, or at an advanced stage, that three police officers had seen another officer hit and push Tomlinson. Apparently, neither Patel nor the IPCC were told about the three witnesses. Patel said he was told only that the case was a "suspicious death"; the police had asked that he "rule out any assault or crush injuries associated with public order".<ref name=LewisMay92011>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104145812/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/09/ian-tomlinson-evidence-held-back |date=4 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 May 2011.</ref><ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101034408/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/09/tomlinson-police-witness-baton-attack |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 May 2011.</ref><ref name=inquestJune2009/>{{rp|4–5}}
A second video was published shortly after the ''Guardian's'', this one taken by Ken McCallum, a cameraman for Channel 4 News. Shot from a different angle, the footage shows the officer who hit Tomlinson draw his left arm back fully to head height before bringing the baton down on Tomlinson's legs.<ref> showing the same incident from a different angle, ''The Guardian, 8 April 2009.</ref> ], chief correspondent of Channel 4 News, who was present at the time, writes that McCallum was filming another incident, where three bankers appeared to be provoking the crowd. In the background, unseen by the journalists but recorded by the camera, Tomlinson was being assaulted. Half an hour later, Thomson was doing a live broadcast, when something happened that caused the camera to be broken; he wouldn't say what, as the incident was being investigated by police and lawyers. It took engineers several days to recover the tape, which is when they saw that Tomlinson's assault was on it. Channel 4 broadcast it on 8 April.<ref>Thomson, Alex. , Channel 4 News, 13 April 2009.</ref>


Patel concluded that Tomlinson had died of ]. His report noted "intraabdominal fluid blood about 3l with small blood clot", which was interpreted by medical experts to mean that he had found three litres of blood in Tomlinson's abdomen. This would have been around 60 per cent of Tomlinson's total blood volume, a "highly significant indicator of the cause of death", according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In a report for the CPS a year later, on 5{{nbs}}April 2010, Patel wrote that he had meant "intraabdominal fluid with blood". He did not retain samples of the fluid for testing. This issue became pivotal regarding the decision not to prosecute Harwood.<ref name=CPSstatement/><ref name=Syal22July2010>Rajeev Syal, Amelia Hill, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712052734/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/22/case-against-police-officer-tomlinson-death |date=12 July 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2010.</ref><ref name=Walker26June2012/> The City of London police issued a statement on 4{{nbs}}April: "A post-mortem examination found he died of natural causes. suffered a sudden heart attack while on his way home from work."<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104075321/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7982855.stm |date=4 November 2020 }}, BBC News, 4 April 2009.</ref>
;, 9 April
On 9 April, ''The Guardian'' published footage shot by Nabeela Zahir, a freelance journalist. The video shows the immediate aftermath of the incident, with Tomlinson on the ground, almost hidden by members of the public and the police. The police can be seen moving away at least one woman who tried to help him, and a man, Daniel McPhee, who was on the phone to the ambulance services. ''The Guardian'' writes that there is no evidence of the "barrage of missiles" reported on 2 April by the ''Evening Standard'' after police briefings. One protester shouts, "There is someone hurt here. Back the fuck up." Another voice in the crowd says, "There's someone hurt. Don't throw anything." This indicates that something may have been thrown, but no "barrage of missiles," and the police officers around Tomlinson were not affected by whatever it was. The newspaper also writes that, 56 seconds into the video, three officers can be seen with their face masks pulled halfway up their faces.<ref>Lewis, Paul and Walker, Peter. , ''The Guardian'', 9 April, 2009.</ref>


The IPCC told reporters that the post-mortem showed no bruising or scratches on Tomlinson's head and shoulders.<ref name=FrescoONeillApril10/> When the family asked the City of London police, after the post-mortem, whether there had been marks on Tomlinson's body, they were told no; according to ''The Guardian'', Detective Superintendent Anthony Crampton, who was leading the investigation, wrote in his log that he did not tell the family about a bruise and puncture marks on Tomlinson's leg to avoid causing "unnecessary stress or alarm".<ref name=Judd>Terry Judd, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023174202/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/new-evidence-of-police-attacks-on-g20-victim-1666116.html |date=23 October 2017 }}, ''The Independent'', 9 April 2009.</ref> On 5{{nbs}}April '']'' published the first photograph of Tomlinson lying on the ground next to riot police.<ref name=TownsendApril52009>Mark Townsend, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928144938/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/05/g20-protest-ian-tomlinson |date=28 September 2020 }}, ''The Observer'', 5 April 2009.</ref> After it was published, Freddy Patel was asked to return to the mortuary, where he made a note of bruising on Tomlinson's head that he had not noticed when he first examined him.<ref name=LewisMay92011/> On 24{{nbs}}April Sky News obtained an image of Tomlinson after he collapsed, which showed bruising on the right side of his forehead.<ref name=Skypic24April2009>Martin Brunt, , ''Sky News'', 24 April 2009.</ref><ref>David Pallister, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031073755/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/24/ian-tomlinson-g20-protest-death |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 24 April 2009.</ref>
;, 21 April
''The Guardian'' secured a four-minute video from an anonymous bystander who was filming on Cornhill between 7:10 and 7:30 pm, catching from a different angle the moments before Tomlinson was struck, as well as the moment his head hit the ground. The footage shows Tomlinson standing behind a bicycle rack in the middle of Royal Exchange Passage with his hands in his pockets, appearing to offer no resistance to a group of advancing police officers. When a police dog approaches him, he turns his back. At that point, he is hit on the legs and pushed by a TSG constable. He is seen scraping along the ground on the right side of his forehead.<ref>, from 01:09 mins.</ref> Eyewitnesses talked of hearing a noise as his head hit the ground. The IPCC sought an injunction against the broadcast of the video by Channel 4 News, but a judge rejected the application.<ref name=LewisApri22>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 22 April 2009.</ref>


===Second and third post-mortem===
On 24 April, Sky News obtained of Tomlinson after he collapsed and was being attended to by police medics, which appears to show bruising on the right side of his forehead consistent with the fall seen in the Guardian Cornhill video. A head injury was recorded by the pathologists, but was not thought to have been the cause of death, according to Sky News,<ref>Brunt, Martin. , ''Sky News'', 24 April 2009; Pallister, David. , ''The Guardian'', April24, 2009.</ref> though a report on 10 April cited the IPCC as saying that no bruising or scratches to the head and shoulders had been found by the first pathologist.<ref name=FrescoONeillApril10>Fresco, Adam and O'Neill, Sean. , ''The Times'', 10 April 2009.</ref>
The IPCC removed the Tomlinson inquiry from the City of London police on 8{{nbs}}April. A second post-mortem, ordered jointly by the IPCC and Tomlinson's family, was carried out that day by Nathaniel Cary, known for his work on high-profile cases.<ref name="LewisDoddApril10/2">Paul Lewis Lewis, Vikram Dodd, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007005410/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/10/g20-assault-investigation |date=7 October 2019 }}, ''The Guardian'', 10 April 2009.</ref> Cary found that Tomlinson had died because of internal bleeding from blunt force trauma to the abdomen, in association with cirrhosis of the liver.<ref name=DoddCary22July>Vikram Dodd, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015203423/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/22/second-expert-pc-actions-g20-death |date=15 October 2017 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2010.</ref> He concluded that Tomlinson had fallen on his elbow, which he said "impacted in the area of his liver causing an internal bleed which led to his death a few minutes later".<ref name=Rayner22July>Gordon Rayner, Caroline Gammell, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 22 July 2010.</ref>


Because of the conflicting conclusions of the first two, a third post-mortem was conducted on 22{{nbs}}April by Kenneth Shorrock on behalf of the Metropolitan police, and Ben Swift on behalf of Simon Harwood. Shorrock and Swift agreed with the results of the second post-mortem. The Met's point of contact for Tomlinson's death, Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, told the pathologists before the final post-mortem that Tomlinson had fallen to the ground in front of a police van earlier in the evening, although there was no evidence that this had happened. The IPCC ruled in May 2011 that Hall had been reckless in making this claim, but had not intended to mislead.<ref name=LewisIPCCMay92011>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102045449/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/09/ian-tomlinson-death |date=2 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 May 2011.</ref><ref>For IPCC reports, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101140339/http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/investigations/ian-tomlinson-metropolitan-police-service |date=1 November 2020 }}, IPCC, April 2009.</ref><ref>
===14 April: CCTV cameras===
{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807131557/http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/en/Documents/pathologists_090511.pdf |date=7 August 2011 }} , IPCC, 20 April 2010.
Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said on 9 April there were no CCTV images of the assault on Tomlinson because there were no CCTV cameras in the area.<ref name=GuruMurphy/> On 14 April, the ''Evening Standard'' wrote that it had discovered at least six CCTV cameras in the area around the assault. After photographs of the cameras were published, the IPCC reversed its position and said its investigators were looking at footage recovered from cameras in ] near the corner of Royal Exchange Passage, where Tomlinson was assaulted.<ref>Dominiczak, Peter; Proctor, Lucy; and Randhawa, Kiran. , ''Evening Standard, 14 April 2009, accessed 14 April 2009; Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 14 April 2009.</ref>
</ref>


===Freddy Patel===
==Reaction and analysis==
At the time of Tomlinson's death, Patel was on the Home Office's register of accredited ]s. He qualified as a doctor at the ] in 1974, and registered to practice in the UK in 1988.<ref name=Bowcott12July>Owen Bowcott, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030024108/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/12/ian-tomlinson-pathologist-accused-incompetence-autopsies |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 12 July 2010.</ref> The Metropolitan Police had written to the Home Office in 2005 raising concerns about his work. At the time of Tomlinson's death he did not have a contract with the police to conduct post-mortems in cases of suspicious death.<ref name=Lewis22July>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030040722/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/22/ian-tomlinson-story-justice-denied |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2010.</ref>
The death provoked a discussion within the UK and elsewhere about the nature of Britain's policing. David Gilbertson, a former assistant inspector who worked for the Home Office formulating policing policy, told ''The New York Times'' that the British police used to act with the sanction of the public, but tactics changed after a series of violent assaults in the 1990s. Now dressing in military-style uniforms, and equipped with anti-stab vests, extendable metal batons and clubs that turn into handcuffs, an entire generation of officers have come to regard the public as the enemy, the ''Times'' said.<ref>Lyall, Sarah. , ''The New York Times'', 30 May 2009.</ref> Tomlinson's death prompted an examination of the police-public relationship; the relationship between the police and the media; and the relationship between the police and the IPCC.


In 1999, Patel was disciplined by the General Medical Council (GMC) for having released medical details about ], a man who had died in police custody. Outside of the inquest, Patel had told reporters: "Mr Sylvester was a user of crack cocaine."<ref name=Bowcott12July/>
===''The Guardian'', the police, and the IPCC===
''The Guardian'' alleged that the IPCC and police appeared to mislead or obstruct initial inquiries by journalists. The announcement of Tomlinson's death was delayed by three hours in a statement that accused protesters of hampering police efforts to save Tomlinson's life, a claim that appears to have no factual basis and for which the police declined to name their source. The police and IPCC then attempted to guide news coverage by telling journalists that his family had been concerned about his health and were not surprised to hear he had had a heart attack. Journalists who asked whether police had had any contact with Tomlinson before his death were asked not to speculate in case it upset the family, and direct contact with the family was refused, the police issuing a statement on behalf of the family instead, which said, "The police are keeping us informed of any developments."<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/>


In 2002, the police dropped a criminal inquiry because Patel said the victim, Sally White, had died of a heart attack with no signs of violence, although she was reportedly found naked with bruising to her body, an injury to her head and a bite mark on her thigh. ], a mentally ill alcoholic who lived in the flat in which her body was found locked in a bedroom, later murdered two women and placed their body parts in bin bags.<ref>Richard Osley, , ''Camden New Journal'', 27 November 2003.</ref><ref name=Lewis11April2009>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902200539/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/11/g20-pathologist-ian-tomlinson |date=2 September 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 11 April 2009.</ref> The police investigated Patel in relation to that postmortem, but the investigation was dropped.{{Why|date=October 2022}}<ref name="GammellPatel"/> In response to the criticism, Patel said the GMC reprimand was a long time ago, and that his findings in the Sally White case had not been contested.<ref name=Lewis11April2009/>
The police did not tell the family that, on 3 April, ''The Guardian'' had obtained photographs of Tomlinson sitting on the ground surrounded by riot police. The next day, the results of the postmortem were released, concluding that Tomlinson had died of natural causes. Reporters who approached the coroner directly were met with a refusal to comment. Police refused to say whether the postmortem had revealed any marks on Tomlinson's head or body from a baton blow. ''The Guardian'' published its image of Tomlinson sitting on the ground on Sunday, 5 April. That morning, Tomlinson's family attended the scene of his death, where they met Paul Lewis, a ''Guardian'' reporter. They wanted to know more and gave him their contact details. In August 2009, Tomlinson's wife said this meeting with Lewis was the first the family had heard about any police contact with Tomlinson before his death.<ref>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 6 August 2009.</ref> The family's police liaison officer later approached the newspaper to say he was "extremely unhappy" that Lewis had spoken to the family, and that the newspaper had to stay away from them for 48 hours. The IPCC separately accused the newspaper of "doorstepping the family at a time of grief," according to ''The Guardian''. On the same day, the IPCC briefed journalists from other newspapers that there was nothing in the story that Tomlinson might have been assaulted by police before his death."<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/>


In July 2009 Patel was suspended from the government's register of pathologists, pending a GMC inquiry.<ref>Ian Johnston, , ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 5 July 2009.</ref> The inquiry concerned 26 charges related to postmortems in four other cases. In one case Patel was accused of having failed to spot signs of abuse on the body of a five-year-old girl who had died after a fall at home, and of having failed to check with the hospital about its investigation into her injuries. The child's body was exhumed for a second postmortem, and her mother was convicted.<ref name=GammellPatel>Caroline Gammell, , ''The Daily Telegraph'', 23 July 2010.</ref> The hearings concluded in August 2010; Patel was suspended for three months for "deficient professional performance".<ref name=Lewis6Sept>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015203455/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/sep/06/ian-tomlinson-coroner-inquest |date=15 October 2017 }}, ''The Guardian'', 6 September 2010.</ref>
On 7 April, ''The Guardian'' published on its website the American investment banker's video, and later that evening handed evidence to an IPCC investigator and a City of London police officer who arrived at the newspaper's offices.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/> In a statement issued on 8 April, the IPCC said it had had no knowledge of the video until they heard it had been published on the ''Guardian'' website, at which point they requested and were given the footage.<ref name=IPCCstatementApril8> , ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref> The officers requested the removal of the video from the website, arguing that it was jeopardizing their inquiry and was not helpful to the family. Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said the IPCC had asked the ''The Guardian'' to remove the video only because it would have been better had witnesses not seen it before being questioned. There was no attempt to hinder ''The Guardian's'' inquiries, he said.<ref name=GuruMurphy/>


In May 2011, the GMC opened an investigation into his handling of the Tomlinson post-mortem.<ref>Owen Bowcott, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030042700/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/05/freddy-patel-investigated-ian-tomlinson-autopsy |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 5 May 2011.</ref><ref name=Walker26June2012>Peter Walker, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924035310/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/26/ian-tomlinson-pathologist-forensic-evidence |date=24 September 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 26 June 2012.</ref> He was struck off the medical register in August 2012.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101042347/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19355106 |date=1 November 2020 }}, BBC News, 23 August 2012.</ref>
===Criticism of news coverage===
The extensive and detailed nature of the news coverage attracted criticism. ] wrote in ''The First Post'' that it "crossed the line from journalism to snuff movie," featuring a "semi-pornograpic hunt" for images of Tomlinson's last moments, designed to whip up outrage "against the dark forces who rule over us." O'Neill was particularly critical of ''The Guardian'' for having burned its logo into the original footage of the assault, increasing its brand-name recognition whenever the video was watched.<ref name=O'NeillApril24>O'Neill, Brendan. , ''The First Post'', 24 April 2009.</ref>


==Images==
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, called the coverage an "orgy of cop bashing." John Gaunt, the interviewer, told Johnson that a friend of his was an officer in the Met and that morale in the force was apparently at an all-time low."<ref name=BleakenApril23>Bleaken, Nathan. , ''The Guardian'', 23 April 2009.</ref> Sir ], President of the ] argued that some protesters were out to be violent that day toward people and property, and that policing such events is becoming an increasingly difficult task job. He told ''The Daily Telegraph'': "I can't think of any other country that doesn't use ]s, ], ]s. Our approach is proportionate and has delivered on a number of occasions."<ref name=SwaineApril20>Swaine, Jon. , ''The Daily Telegraph, 20 April 2009.</ref>
===''Observer'' photograph===
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|salign=right
|source= — ''The Observer'', 5 April 2009<ref name=TownsendApril52009/>}}


On 5{{nbs}}April ''The Observer'' (the ''Guardian'''s sister paper) published the first photograph of Tomlinson lying on the ground next to riot police.<ref name="TownsendApril52009"/> Over the next few days the IPCC told reporters that Tomlinson's family were not surprised that he had had a heart attack. When journalists asked whether he had been in contact with police officers before his death, they were told the speculation would upset the family.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9>Sandra Laville, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224142337/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson-g20 |date=24 February 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 9 April 2009.</ref>
===Criticism of the IPCC===
The IPCC was criticized for having taken seven days from Tomlinson's death, and five days after hearing evidence that police may have been involved, formally to remove the City of London police from the investigation. Hardwick said that the IPCC had first obtained eyewitness allegations of Metropolitan police involvement in the death on 3 April. City of London police continued to be formally involved in the investigation until 8 April, the day after ''The Guardian'' published the New York investment manager's video. Hardwick defended the IPCC's actions, arguing that, because Tomlinson's death became the focus of a criminal inquiry, the IPCC had to be meticulous in the way it proceeded, which precluded them from acting as fast as journalists were able to.<ref name=GuruMurphy>Guru-Murthy, Krishnan. , Channel 4 News, 9 April 2009.</ref>


===''Guardian'' video===
The organization has been criticized before for not being responsive to public concerns about the police. On 11 January 2008, the Police Action Law Group (PALG), over 100 lawyers who specialize in police complaints, resigned from the IPCC's advisory body, citing a failure to provide adequate oversight; a pattern of favouritism towards the police, with complaints being turned down despite strong evidence; indifference and rudeness towards complainants; delays stretching over several years in some cases; and key decisions being made by managers with little or no legal training or relevant experience. They wrote to Hardwick that there was "increasing dismay and disillusionment" at the "consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC."<ref>Davies, Nick. , ''The Guardian'', 25 February 2008; also see question 71 in , Independent Police Complaints Commission - Public Accounts Committee.</ref> Hardwick responded to the criticism in a letter to ''The Guardian'' that some of the examples cited were the legacy left by the previous oversight body, the Police Complaints Authority, acknowledging that the IPCC did struggle shortly after it was set up in 2004 to cope with the number of cases it had inherited. He denied there was any pattern of favouritism toward the police and said the IPCC robustly defends its independence and impartiality.<ref name=Hardwick>Hardwick, Nick. , ''The Guardian'', 27 February 2009.</ref>
{{Sidebar with collapsible lists
| wraplinks = true
| title = Tomlinson images
| image = <!--]-->
| liststyle = text-align:left;
| listclass = plainlist

| list1title = Video
| list1 =
*<br/>first video<br/>published 7{{nbs}}April 2009
*<br/>same scene from different angle<br/>published 8{{nbs}}April 2009
*<br/>after Tomlinson collapsed<br/>published 9{{nbs}}April 2009
*<br/> Tomlinson's head hitting the ground<br/>published 21{{nbs}}April 2009

| list2title = Photographs
| list2 =
*]<br/>Tomlinson is moved on by police:
** (7:08{{nbs}}pm) (7:10{{nbs}}pm);

| list3title = Eyewitnesses
*<br/>published 2{{nbs}}April 2009

| list4title = Other footage
| list4 =
*,<br/>shortly before the incident
*<br/>published 15{{nbs}}April 2009
*<br/>published 15{{nbs}}April 2009
*<br/>published 29{{nbs}}March 2011
}}
The first ''Guardian'' video was shot on a digital camera by an investment fund manager from New York who was in London on business, and who attended the protests out of curiosity.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105052804/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-video |date=5 November 2020 }}, published 7 April 2009.</ref> On his way to Heathrow airport, he realized that the man he had filmed being assaulted was the man who had reportedly died of a heart attack. At that point, 2 am on 7 April, he passed his footage to ''The Guardian'', which published it on its website that afternoon. The newspaper passed a copy to the IPCC,<ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821003400/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/08/ian-tomlinson-cameraman-inquiry |date=21 August 2017 }}, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref> which opened a criminal inquiry.<ref name=LewisMay92011/>

===Channel 4 video===
A video by Ken McCallum, a cameraman for Channel&nbsp;4 News, was broadcast on 8{{nbs}}April. Shot from a different angle, the footage shows Harwood draw his arm back to head height before bringing the baton down on Tomlinson's legs.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101045852/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/08/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson-video |date=1 November 2020 }}, broadcast 8 April 2009.</ref> McCallum was filming another incident at the time; the Tomlinson incident was unfolding in the background, unseen by the journalists but recorded by the camera. Half an hour later ], chief correspondent of Channel&nbsp;4 News, was doing a live broadcast when the camera was damaged. It took engineers days to recover the tape, which is when they saw that Tomlinson's assault was on it.<ref>Alex Thomson, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415142830/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/truth+behind+tomlinson+footage/3086007 |date=15 April 2009 }}, Channel 4 News, 13 April 2009.</ref>

===Nabeela Zahir video===
On 9{{nbs}}April ''The Guardian'' published footage from Nabeela Zahir, a freelance journalist, showing Tomlinson after his collapse. The police can be seen moving away at least one woman who tried to help him, and a man, Daniel McPhee, who was on the phone to the ambulance services. The footage shows that the Met's initial claim that there had been a barrage of missiles from protesters while police tried to save Tomlinson was inaccurate. Protesters can be heard calling for calm; one shouts "Don't throw anything." According to ''The Guardian'', 56 seconds into the video, three officers can be seen with their face masks pulled halfway up their faces.<ref name=NabeelaZahirvideo> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627104528/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-video-ian-tomlinson-death |date=27 June 2020 }}, published 9 April 2009.</ref>

===Cornhill video===
''The Guardian'' obtained a four-minute video on 21{{nbs}}April from an anonymous bystander who had been filming on Cornhill between 7:10 and 7:30{{nbs}}pm. The footage shows Tomlinson standing behind a bicycle rack in Royal Exchange Passage with his hands in his pockets, and a group of advancing police officers. When a police dog approaches him, he turns his back. At that point, he is hit on the legs and pushed by the TSG constable, and can be seen scraping along the ground on the right side of his forehead.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103175928/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/apr/21/g20-ian-tomlinson-new-video |date=3 November 2020 }}, from 01:09 mins, published 21 April 2009.</ref> Eyewitnesses said they heard a noise as his head hit the ground. The IPCC sought an injunction against the broadcast of the video by Channel&nbsp;4 News, but a judge rejected the application.<ref name=Lewis22April2009>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910174039/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/22/new-ian-tomlinson-g20-video |date=10 September 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 April 2009.</ref> An image obtained by Sky News on 24{{nbs}}April appears to show bruising on the right side of Tomlinson's forehead. A head injury was recorded by the second and third pathologists.<ref name=Skypic24April2009/><ref name=FrescoONeillApril10>Adam Fresco, Sean O'Neill, {{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Times'', 10 April 2009.</ref>

===CCTV cameras===
Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said on 9{{nbs}}April that there were no CCTV cameras in the area.<ref name=GuruMurphy/> On 14{{nbs}}April the ''Evening Standard'' wrote that it had found at least six CCTV cameras in the area around the assault. After photographs of the cameras were published, the IPCC reversed its position and said its investigators were looking at footage from cameras in ] near the corner of Royal Exchange Passage.<ref>Peter Dominiczak, Lucy Proctor, Kiran Randhawa, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031000309/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/we-were-wrong-over-cctv-says-police-watchdog-6858214.html |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''Evening Standard, 14 April 2009.</ref><ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101113555/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/14/ian-tomlinson-assault-film-ipcc |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 14 April 2009.</ref>

==Early reaction and analysis==
===British policing===
], ], 1 April 2009]]
Tomlinson's death sparked a discussion about the nature of Britain's policing and the relationship between the police, public, media and IPCC.<ref name="Lyall"/> The mayor of London, ], dismissed the criticism of the police as "an orgy of cop bashing".<ref>Nathan Bleaken, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101013532/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/apr/23/boris-johnson-g20-police-media |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 23 April 2009.</ref> The death was compared to others that had each acted as a watershed in the public's perception of policing, including that of ] (1979), ] (1993) and ] (2005).<ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031124108/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/25/ian-tomlinson-death-changed-policing |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 25 November 2009.</ref><ref>Alison Roberts, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129051713/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/i-thought-oh-my-god-its-like-blair-peach-over-again-6908754.html |date=29 November 2014 }}, ''Evening Standard'', 15 April 2009.</ref> The IPCC was criticized for having taken seven days from Tomlinson's death, and five days after hearing evidence that police may have been involved, to remove the City of London police from the investigation.<ref name=GuruMurphy>Krishnan Guru-Murthy, , Channel 4 News, 9 April 2009.</ref>{{efn|The IPCC had been criticized before for not being responsive to public concerns. On 11{{nbs}}January 2008, the Police Action Law Group (over 100 lawyers who specialize in police complaints) resigned from the IPCC's advisory body, citing a failure to provide adequate oversight; a pattern of favouritism towards the police, with complaints being turned down despite strong evidence; indifference and rudeness towards complainants; delays stretching over several years; and key decisions being made by managers with little or no legal training or relevant experience. They wrote to Hardwick that there was "increasing dismay and disillusionment" at the "consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC".<ref>Nick Davies, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001103526/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/feb/25/police.law1 |date=1 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 25 February 2008; also see question 71 in {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209165216/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmpubacc/335/8112406.htm |date=9 December 2018 }}, Independent Police Complaints Commission, Public Accounts Committee, undated.</ref> {{pb}}Hardwick responded that some of the examples cited were the legacy of the previous oversight body, the Police Complaints Authority. He acknowledged that the IPCC struggled, shortly after it was set up in 2004, to cope with the number of cases it had inherited. Denied that there was any pattern of favouritism toward the police, he said the IPCC robustly defends its independence and impartiality.<ref name=Hardwick>Nick Hardwick, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101212656/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/27/police |date=1 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 27 February 2009.</ref>}}

David Gilbertson, a former assistant inspector who had worked for the Home Office formulating policing policy, told ''The New York Times'' that the British police used to act with the sanction of the public, but that tactics had changed after a series of violent assaults on officers in the 1990s. Now dressing in military-style uniforms and equipped with anti-stab vests, extendable metal batons and clubs that turn into handcuffs, an entire generation of officers has come to regard the public as the enemy, the newspaper said.<ref name=Lyall/>

===''The Guardian'', police and IPCC===
]
Tomlinson's death was confirmed in a statement that accused protesters of having hampered police efforts to save his life. His family were not told he had died until nine hours after his death.<ref name=inquestJune2009/>{{rp|9}} The police and IPCC told journalists that his family were not surprised to hear he had had a heart attack. Journalists who asked whether police had had any contact with Tomlinson were asked not to speculate in case it upset the family. Direct contact with the family was refused. The police issued a statement on behalf of the family instead, which said the police were keeping them informed.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/>

''The Observer'' (''The Guardian'''s sister paper) published an image of Tomlinson on the ground on Sunday, 5{{nbs}}April. That morning Tomlinson's family attended the scene of his death, where they met ], a ''Guardian'' reporter who had worked on ''The Observer'' story. Tomlinson's wife said this meeting was the first the family had heard of police contact with Tomlinson before his death.<ref name=LewisfamilyAug6>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031212927/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/aug/06/ian-tomlinson-family-accuse-police-of-cover-up |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 6 August 2009.</ref> The family's police liaison officer later approached the newspaper to say he was "extremely unhappy" that Lewis had spoken to the family, and that the newspaper had to stay away from them for 48 hours. The IPCC accused the newspaper of "doorstepping the family at a time of grief". On the same day, the IPCC briefed other journalists that there was nothing in the story that Tomlinson might have been assaulted by police.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/> During this period, according to Tomlinson's family, they were prevented from seeing his body; they were first allowed to see him six days after his death.<ref name=LewisfamilyAug6/>

On{{nbs}}7 April ''The Guardian'' published the American banker's video, and later that evening handed it to an IPCC investigator and a City of London police officer who arrived at the newspaper's offices.<ref name=LavilleLewisApril9/><ref name=IPCCstatementApril8> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008001806/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/08/g20-death-police-ian-tomlinson |date=8 October 2017 }}, ''The Guardian'', 8 April 2009.</ref> The officers asked that the video be removed from the website, arguing that it jeopardized their inquiry and was not helpful to the family. Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said the IPCC had asked ''The Guardian'' to remove the video only because it would have been better had witnesses not seen it before being questioned.<ref name=GuruMurphy/>


===Metropolitan police response=== ===Metropolitan police response===
], 2012]]
]
The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, ], published a 150-page report in November 2009 that aimed to restore Britain's ].<ref name=LewisLavilleNov25/>
The Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, announced on 15 April 2009 that he had ordered a review of public order policing in London, to be led by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary ]. O'Connor's 150-page report, submitted in November 2009, was hailed by ''The Guardian'' as a blueprint for wholesale reform of British policing, and a return to a consent-based approach. O'Connor wrote that there had been a hardening of police attitudes in recent years, with officers now believing that proportionality meant ].<ref name=LewisLavilleNov25>Lewis, Paul and Laville, Sandra. , ''The Guardian'', 25 November 2009.</ref> He criticized that the deployment of officers in riot gear had become a routine response to lawful protest, largely the result of an ignorance of the law and a lack of leadership from the Home Office and police chiefs; that officers are being trained to use their riot shields as weapons; and that forces across the country differ in their training, the equipment they have access to, and their understanding of the law. The failure to understand the relevant legislation was in part due to its complexity, the report said, with 90 amendments to the Public Order Act passed since 1986.<ref>O'Conner, Denis. , Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, accessed 12 February 2010; O'Neill, Sean. , ''The Times'', 26 November 2009.</ref>

O'Connor wrote that there had been a hardening of police attitudes, with officers believing that proportionality meant ]. The deployment of officers in riot gear had become a routine response to lawful protest, largely the result of an ignorance of the law and a lack of leadership from the Home Office and police chiefs. Officers were being trained to use their riot shields as weapons. Police forces across the country differed in their training, the equipment they had access to, and their understanding of the law. The failure to understand the relevant legislation was in part due to its complexity, the report said, with 90 amendments to the Public Order Act passed since 1986.<ref>Denis O'Connor, {{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary.</ref><ref>Sean O'Neill, {{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Times'', 26 November 2009.</ref><ref name=LewisLavilleNov25>Paul Lewis, Sandra Laville, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030230856/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/25/police-g20-inquiry-report |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 25 November 2009.</ref>

The report made several recommendations, including the creation of a set of national principles emphasizing the minimum use of force at all times, and making the display of police ID a legal requirement.<ref name=OConnor2009p57>{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, pp.&nbsp;57–58.</ref> In February 2010 the Met announced that 8,000 of its officers had been issued with embroidered epaulettes, as several had complained that the numbers were falling off, rather than being removed deliberately.<ref>Rose Rouse, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030163914/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/28/riot-police-badge-numbers |date=30 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 28 February 2010.</ref>

==Legal aftermath==
===Decision not to prosecute===
], director of the CPS<ref name=CPSstatement/>]]

In April 2010 ''The Guardian'' published an open letter from several public figures asking the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to proceed with a prosecution or explain its position.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104094306/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/01/ian-tomlinson-wait-answers |date=4 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 1 April 2010.</ref> In July that year ], director of the CPS, announced that there would be no prosecution because of the medical disagreement between the three pathologists. Starmer said there was enough evidence for an assault charge, but the six-month deadline for that had expired.<ref name=CPSstatement/>

The area of conflict concerned Patel's finding during the first post-mortem of "intraabdominal fluid blood about 3l with small blood clot". This was interpreted by other medical experts to mean that Patel had found three litres of blood in Tomlinson's abdomen. Starmer said this would have been around 60 percent of Tomlinson's blood volume, a "highly significant indicator of the cause of death".<ref name=CPSstatement/>

In April 2010 Patel introduced an ambiguity in a second report for the CPS, saying he had found "intraabdominal fluid {{em|with}} blood about 3l with small blood clot" . The ambiguity had to be clarified, because the second and third pathologists had relied in part on Patel's original notes to form their views. Patel was interviewed twice by the CPS. According to Starmer, Patel "maintained that the total fluid was somewhat in excess of three litres but that it was mainly ] (a substance which forms in a damaged liver), which had been stained with blood. He had not retained the fluid nor had he sampled it in order to ascertain the proportion of blood because, he said, he had handled blood all his professional life and he knew that this was not blood but blood-stained ascites." Patel also said he had found no internal rupture that would have led to this degree of blood loss.<ref name="CPSstatement"/>

Several conclusions were drawn from discussions between Patel and the CPS, Starmer said: (a) because Patel had not retained or sampled the three litres of fluid, no firm conclusions could be drawn about the nature of it; (b) for Tomlinson's death to have resulted so quickly from blood loss, there would have to have been a significant internal rupture; (c) Patel found no such rupture; (d) the later postmortems also found no visible rupture; and (e) because Patel was the only person to have examined Tomlinson's intact body, he was in the best position to judge the nature of the fluid, and whether there was a rupture that could have caused it. This meant that Patel's evidence would significantly undermine the evidence of the second and third pathologists.<ref name=CPSstatement/>

Nathaniel Cary, the second pathologist, objected to the CPS's decision. Cary told ''The Guardian'' that the push had caused a haemorrhage to Tomlinson's abdomen, and the haemorrhage caused him to collapse. Cary said Tomlinson was vulnerable to this because he had liver disease.<ref name=DoddCary22July/> The CPS had erred in dismissing a charge of ] (ABH), in his view. In a letter to Tomlinson's family, the CPS described Tomlinson's injuries as "relatively minor" and therefore insufficient to support such a charge. But Cary told ''The Guardian'': "The injuries were not relatively minor. He sustained quite a large area of bruising. Such injuries are consistent with a baton strike, which could amount to ABH. It's extraordinary. If that's not ABH I would like to know what is."<ref name=DoddLewis23July>Vikram Dodd, Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929145007/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/22/ian-tomlinson-g20-cps-ruling |date=29 September 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 23 July 2010.</ref>

===Inquest===
The inquest was opened and adjourned in April 2009. The City of London coroner, Paul Matthews, expressed concern about whether he had appropriate expertise, and ], who specialises in protest law, was appointed in his place.<ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105071622/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/nov/10/ian-tomlinson-inquest-thornton |date=5 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 10 November 2010.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627123502/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/blog/2011/mar/29/ian-tomlinson-inquest-live-updates#block-27 |date=27 June 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 29 March 2011.</ref> The inquest opened on 28{{nbs}}March 2011 before a jury. The court heard from Kevin Channer, a cardiologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, who analysed ] (ECG) data from the defibrillator paramedics had used on Tomlinson. He said the readings were inconsistent with an arrhythmic heart attack, but consistent with death from internal bleeding. Pathologist Nat Carey concurred regarding the cause of death. Graeme Alexander, a ], said that in his opinion Tomlinson had died of internal bleeding as a result of trauma to the liver after the fall. He told the court that Tomlinson had been suffering from serious liver disease, which would have made him susceptible to collapse from internal bleeding.<ref>Paul Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927182914/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/18/ian-tomlinson-inquest-death-heart-attack-disputed |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 18 April 2011.</ref>

Giving evidence over three days, Harwood said that Tomlinson "just looked as if he was going to stay where he was forever and was almost inviting physical confrontation in terms of being moved on". He said he had not warned Tomlinson and had acted because Tomlinson was encroaching a police line, which amounted to a breach of the peace.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331070941/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8432253/Ian-Tomlinson-was-amost-inviting-physical-confrontation-says-G20-officer.html |date=31 March 2017 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 6 April 2011.</ref> The court heard that Tomlinson's last words after collapsing were, "they got me, the fuckers got me"; he died moments later. On 3{{nbs}}May 2011 the jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing, ruling that the officer—Harwood was not named for legal reasons—had used excessive and unreasonable force in hitting Tomlinson, and had acted "illegally, recklessly and dangerously".<ref name=TelegraphMay32011> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114114724/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8490125/G20-protests-Ian-Tomlinson-unlawfully-killed-by-PC-inquest-rules.html |date=14 January 2020 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 3 May 2011.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927191235/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/blog/2011/may/03/ian-tomlinson-inquest-verdict-live-blog?INTCMP=SRCH |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 3 May 2011.</ref><ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_statements/cps_statement_following_conclusion_of_inquest_into_death_of_ian_tomlinson_/ |title=CPS statement following conclusion of inquest into death of Ian Tomlinson |access-date=19 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130173055/http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_statements/cps_statement_following_conclusion_of_inquest_into_death_of_ian_tomlinson_/ |date=3 May 2011 |publisher=Crown Prosecution Service |archive-date=30 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===IPCC reports===
In May 2011 the IPCC released three reports into Tomlinson's death, written between April 2010 and May 2011. The main report contained material revealed during the inquest. The third report detailed an allegation from Tomlinson's family that the police had offered misleading information to the pathologists before the third post-mortem on 22{{nbs}}April 2009. The Met's point of contact for Tomlinson's death, Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, had told the pathologists that Tomlinson had fallen to the ground in front of a police van earlier in the evening, although there was no evidence to support this. The IPCC ruled that Hall had been reckless in making this claim, but had not intended to mislead the pathologists.<ref name=LewisIPCCMay92011/>

===Trial of Simon Harwood===
{{Infobox court case
|name = Regina -v- Simon Harwood
|court = ]
|image = Southwark Crown Court entrance.jpg
|imagesize = 220px
|imagealt = photograph of the Crown Court entrance
|caption = Courthouse at 1 English Grounds, London SE1
----
|start date = 18 June 2012
|date decided = 19 July 2012
|verdict = Not guilty
|judge = The Honourable ]
|defendant = Simon Harwood
|charge = ]
|prosecution = Mark Dennis QC
|defence = Patrick Gibbs QC
|italic title = no
}}
Keir Starmer, director of the CPS, announced on 24{{nbs}}May 2011 that a summons for manslaughter had been issued against Harwood. He said the CPS had reviewed its decision not to prosecute because new medical evidence had emerged during the inquest, and because the various medical accounts, including that of the first pathologist, had been tested during questioning.<ref name=Starmerreview> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307213022/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2011/may/24/ian-tomlinson-police-manslaughter-video |date=7 March 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 24 May 2011.</ref> The trial opened on 18{{nbs}}June 2012. Harwood entered a plea of not guilty, and was acquitted on 19{{nbs}}July.<ref name=WalkerLewis19July2012/>

The court was shown extensive video footage of Tomlinson and Harwood on the day. Harwood was seen trying to arrest a man who had daubed graffiti on a police van, then joining a line of officers who were clearing Royal Exchange Passage. Harwood pushed a man who blew a ] at him, then appeared to push a BBC cameraman who was filming the arrest of another man. The footage showed Harwood push a third man out of the way, and shortly after this (the passageway now almost empty) the officers reached Tomlinson.<ref name=Walker19June2012>Peter Walker, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105052759/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/19/ian-tomlinson-jury-video |date=5 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 19 June 2012.</ref><ref>Victoria Ward, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920094944/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9341840/G20-protests-Tomlinson-family-weep-at-final-footage.html |date=20 September 2016 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 June 2012.</ref>

Mark Dennis QC, for the prosecution, argued that Harwood's use of force against Tomlinson had been unnecessary and unreasonable, and had caused Tomlinson's death. He argued that a "clear temporal link" between the incident and Tomlinson's collapse had been provided by the ''Guardian'' video, that Tomlinson had posed no threat, and that the use of force had been a "gratuitous act of aggression".<ref name=Ward>Victoria Ward, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103153746/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9339247/Officer-who-struck-out-at-Ian-Tomlinson-had-lost-control.html |date=3 November 2020 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 June 2012.</ref> The defence argued that Tomlinson's health was relevant. The court heard that he had liver and brain disease caused by alcohol abuse, numbness in his legs and balance problems, and that he had been treated at least 20 times between 2007 and 2009, mostly at A&E departments, related to falling while drunk. On the day he died, ''The Times'' reported, he had drunk a bottle of red wine, a small bottle of vodka and several cans of 9-per-cent super-strength lager.<ref>"Tomlinson's sudden death 'did not obey any of the medical rules'", ''The Times'', 20 July 2012.</ref>

Harwood told the court that Tomlinson had ignored orders to move along. He acknowledged that he had pushed Tomlinson firmly, but said he had not expected him to fall.<ref>Peter Walker, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031103236/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/02/ian-tomlinson-police-officer-court |date=31 October 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 2 July 2012.</ref> He also acknowledged that he had "got it wrong", and said he had not realized Tomlinson was in such poor health. The jury found him not guilty after deliberating for four days.<ref name=WalkerLewis19July2012/>


===Dismissal, civil suit===
The report recommended that the Home Secretary issue guidance to the 44 police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to make sure they know how to facilitate peaceful protest; the creation of a set of national principles emphasizing the minimum use of force at all times; and an overhaul of the Association of Chief Police Officers to make it more accountable. O'Connor also recommended that the privacy and human rights concerns about ]s&mdash;surveillance units that film activists and retain their data&mdash;be taken seriously.<ref name=LewisLavilleNov25/> Regarding the display of officers' ID, one of the issues highlighted by the media during the G-20 protests, O'Connor wrote that visible ID numbers are not required by law in England and Wales but are a matter for individual chief constables. The Met dress code does require these to be worn, correct, and visible at all times. The Operation Glencoe Gold Commander had stressed this during briefings, and the report says the overwhelming majority of officers did adhere to the dress code during the protests. The report recommends giving consideration to making the display of police ID a legal requirement.<ref>, pp. 57&ndash;58.</ref>
Harwood was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police Service in September 2012 after a disciplinary hearing found that he had acted with "gross misconduct" in his actions towards Tomlinson.<ref>Peter Walker, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104144343/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/sep/17/ian-tomlinson-death-simon-harwood-misconduct |date=4 November 2020 }}, ''The Guardian'', 17 September 2012.</ref> Tomlinson's family filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police, which paid the family an undisclosed sum in August 2013. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Maxine de Brunner issued a formal apology for "Simon Harwood's use of excessive and unlawful force, which caused Mr Tomlinson's death, and for the suffering and distress caused to his family as a result."<ref name="auto1"/>


==Notes==
==Other complaints and alleged assaults during the protests==
{{notelist|25em}}
Over 185 complaints were received by the IPCC about the policing of the protests, 90 of them about the use of force, 52 of them about police tactics.<ref name=LewisTranApril18>Lewis, Paul and Tran, Mark. , ''The Guardian'', 18 April 2009.</ref> The only officer charged was Sergeant Delroy "Tony" Smellie of the Territorial Support Group, also based in Larkhall Lane police station, Lambeth, where the suspect in Tomlinson's death is based. On 14 April, newspapers published for Tomlinson on 2 April outside the Bank of England. Smellie is seen slapping a protester, Nicola Fisher from Brighton, across the face when she argued with him, then striking her legs with his baton; Fisher went on to sell her story to newspapers for £50,000 using ], a well-known publicist.<ref>, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 16 April 2009.</ref> According to ''The Guardian'', Smellie's badge number was concealed. The footage was shot by Tristan Woodwards, an administrator from Basingstoke, who uploaded it to ''YouTube'' on 8 April.<ref>Woodwards, Tristan. , alleged assault begins at circa 3 minutes, 49 seconds; Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 15 April 2009, accessed 15 April 2009; Lewis, Paul and Quinn, Ben. , ''The Guardian'', 15 April 2009.</ref> Smellie was charged with assault and pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court in November 2009. His trial is scheduled to begin on 22 March 2010.<ref>Lewis, Paul. , ''The Guardian'', 16 November 2010.</ref>


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|2}} {{reflist|25em}}


===Video=== ==External links==
{{commons category|Ian Tomlinson}}
{{refbegin}}
{{Wikinews|G20 protester dies after collapsing | British constable may be prosecuted for manslaughter}}
;Regarding Tomlinson
* , retrieved 11{{nbs}}February 2010.
*, the first video showing the alleged assault, released 7 April, accessed 11 February 2010; , uploaded by ''The Guardian'', accessed 11 February 2010.
*, the same incident from a different angle, released 8 April, accessed 11 February 2010. *, interactive graphic, ''The Guardian''.
*, the scene after Tomlinson collapsed, released 9 April, accessed 11 February 2010.
*, showing Tomlinson's head hitting the ground, released 21 April, accessed 11 February 2010.
*, ''Indymedia London'', accessed 11 February 2010.


'''Video of Tomlinson'''
;Video taken in the same area at the same time
*Anonymous city worker. , about five minutes before the Tomlinson incident, ''The Guardian'', 15 April 2009. * , released 7{{nbs}}April 2009.
* , released 8{{nbs}}April 2009.
*Anonymous city bystander. , ''YouTube'', accessed February 16, 2010.
*Katz-Wise, Nadia. , ''The Guardian'', 15 April 2009. * , released 9{{nbs}}April 2009.
* , released 21{{nbs}}April 2009.


'''Video taken nearby'''
;Other video shot in the area during the protests
*, , ''The Guardian'', 15 April 2009, accessed 16 February 2010. * Anonymous city worker, , ''The Guardian'', 15{{nbs}}April 2009.
* Anonymous city bystander, , 1{{nbs}}April 2009, 7:10–7:15{{nbs}}pm.
*Woodwards, Triston. , 2 April, released 8 April. Also on ''YouTube'' , incident begins at circa 3 minutes, 49 seconds, accessed 11 February 2010.
* Nadi Katz-Wise, , 1{{nbs}}April 2009, 7:16{{nbs}}pm, ''The Guardian'', 15{{nbs}}April 2009.
{{refend}}
* , , ''The Guardian'', 15{{nbs}}April 2009.
* Triston Woodwards, , 2{{nbs}}April 2009, released 8{{nbs}}April 2009.


{{featured article}}
==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*, accessed 11 February 2010.
*O'Connor, Denis. , Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, accessed 12 February 2010.
{{refend}}
<br>
{{Metropolitan Police}}


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Latest revision as of 22:27, 1 October 2024

London man killed by Met. Police in 2009 "Ian Tomlinson" redirects here. For other people of the same name, see Ian Tomlinson (disambiguation).

Death of Ian Tomlinson
Ian Tomlinson remonstrates with police after being pushed to the ground, minutes before his death.
Date1 April 2009 (2009-04-01)
LocationCornhill, City of London
ReporterPaul Lewis, The Guardian
ChargesPC Simon Harwood
Manslaughter, May 2011
Trial18 June – 19 July 2012
Southwark Crown Court
VerdictNot guilty
AwardsBevins Prize for outstanding investigative journalism, and Reporter of the Year, for Paul Lewis
FootageFirst video, published by The Guardian

Ian Tomlinson (7 February 1962 – 1 April 2009) was a newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London after being struck by a police officer during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. After an inquest jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing, the officer, Simon Harwood, was prosecuted for manslaughter. He was found not guilty but was dismissed from the police service for gross misconduct. Following civil proceedings, the Metropolitan Police Service paid Tomlinson's family an undisclosed sum and acknowledged that Harwood's actions had caused Tomlinson's death.

The first post-mortem concluded that Tomlinson had suffered a heart attack, but a week later The Guardian published a video of Harwood, a constable with London's Metropolitan Police, striking Tomlinson on the leg with a baton, then pushing him to the ground. Tomlinson was not a protester, and at the time he was struck he was trying to make his way home through the police cordons. He walked away after the incident, but collapsed and died minutes later.

After the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began a criminal inquiry, further post-mortems indicated that Tomlinson had died from internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen, in association with cirrhosis of the liver. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to charge Harwood, because the disagreement between the first and later pathologists meant they could not show a causal link between the death and alleged assault. That position changed in 2011; after the verdict of unlawful killing, the CPS charged Harwood with manslaughter. He was acquitted in 2012 and dismissed from the service a few months later.

Tomlinson's death sparked a debate in the UK about the relationship between the police, media and public, and the independence of the IPCC. In response to the concerns, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Denis O'Connor, published a 150-page report in November 2009 that aimed to restore Britain's consent-based model of policing.

Background

Ian Tomlinson

Tomlinson was born to Jim and Ann Tomlinson in Matlock, Derbyshire. He moved to London when he was 17 to work as a scaffolder. At the time of his death, at the age of 47, he was working casually as a vendor for the Evening Standard, London's evening newspaper. Married twice with nine children, including stepchildren, Tomlinson had a history of alcoholism, as a result of which he had been living apart from his second wife, Julia, for 13 years, and had experienced long periods of homelessness. From 2008 onwards, Tomlinson had been staying in the Lindsey Hotel, a shelter for the homeless on Lindsey Street, Smithfield, EC1. At the time of his death, he was walking across London's financial district in an effort to reach the Lindsey Hotel, his way hampered at several points by police lines. The route he took was his usual way home from a newspaper stand on Fish Street Hill outside Monument tube station, where he worked with a friend, Barry Smith.

London police, IPCC

photograph
Mounted police during the 2009 protests

With over 31,000 officers, the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) is the largest police force in the United Kingdom, responsible for policing Greater London (except for the financial district, the City of London, which has its own force, the City of London Police). The Met's commissioner at the time was Sir Paul Stephenson; the City of London Police commissioner was Mike Bowron. Responsibility for supervising the Met falls to the Metropolitan Police Authority, chaired by the Mayor of London, at the time Boris Johnson.

The officer seen pushing Tomlinson was a constable with the Met's Territorial Support Group (TSG), identified by the "U" on their shoulder numbers. The TSG specializes in public-order policing, wearing military-style helmets, flame-retardant overalls, stab vests and balaclavas. Their operational commander at the time was Chief Superintendent Mick Johnson.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began to operate in 2004; its chair when Tomlinson died was Nick Hardwick. Created by the Police Reform Act 2002, the commission replaced the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) following public dissatisfaction with the latter's relationship with the police. Unlike the PCA, the IPCC operates independently of the Home Office, which is the Government department responsible for criminal justice and policing in England and Wales.

Operation Glencoe

Main article: 2009 G20 London summit protests § Operation Glencoe
photograph
Outside the Bank of England, 1 April 2009

The G20 security operation, codenamed "Operation Glencoe", was a "Benbow operation", which meant the Met, City of London Police and the British Transport Police worked under one Gold commander, in this case Bob Broadhurst of the Met.

There were six protests on 1 April 2009: a security operation at ExCeL London, a Stop the War march, a Free Tibet protest outside the Chinese Embassy, a People & Planet protest, a Climate Camp protest, and a protest outside the Bank of England. Over 4,000 protesters were at the Climate Camp and the same number at the Bank of England. On 1 April over 5,500 police officers were deployed and the following day 2,800, at a cost of £7.2 million. Officers worked 14-hour shifts. They ended at midnight, slept on the floor of police stations, were not given a chance to eat, and were back on duty at 7 am. This was viewed as having contributed to the difficulties they faced.

The Bank of England protesters were held in place from 12:30 pm until 7:00 pm using a process police called "containment" and the media called "kettling"—corralling protesters into small spaces until the police dispersed them. At 7:00 pm senior officers decided that "reasonable force" could be used to disperse the protesters around the bank. Between 7:10 and 7:40 pm the crowd surged toward the police, missiles were thrown, and the police pushed back with their shields. Scuffles broke out and arrests were made. This was the situation Tomlinson wandered into as he tried to make his way home.

Incident

Earlier encounter with police

map
Map of the City of London. Numbers mark where Ian Tomlinson was allegedly assaulted on 1 April 2009:
  1. 19:00: Tomlinson left Bank–Monument station
  2. c. 19:20: He was struck in Royal Exchange Passage
  3. 19:22: He collapsed outside 77 Cornhill

Several newspapers published images of Tomlinson's first encounter with police that evening. According to Barry Smith, Tomlinson left the newspaper stand outside Monument Tube Station at around 7:00 pm. An eyewitness, IT worker Ross Hardy, said Tomlinson was on Lombard Street, drunk and refusing to move; a police van nudged him on the back of the legs, Hardy said, and when that did not work he was moved by four police officers wearing personal protective equipment. On 16 April The Guardian published three images of Tomlinson on Lombard Street.

Tomlinson stayed on Lombard Street for another half-hour, then made his way to King William Street, toward two lines of police cordons, where police had "kettled" thousands of protesters near the Bank of England. At 7:10 pm he doubled back on himself, walking up and down Change Alley where he encountered more cordons. Five minutes later he was on Lombard Street again, crossed it, walked down Birchin Lane, and reached Cornhill at 7:10–7:15 pm.

A few minutes later Tomlinson was at the northern end of a pedestrian precinct, Royal Exchange Passage (formally called Royal Exchange Buildings), near the junction with Threadneedle Street, where a further police cordon stopped him from proceeding. He turned to walk south along Royal Exchange Passage instead, where, minutes before he arrived, officers had clashed with up to 25 protesters. Riot police from the Met's TSG, accompanied by City of London police dog handlers, had arrived there from the cordon in Threadneedle Street to help their colleagues.

Encounter with officer

photographHarwood behind TomlinsonphotographTomlinson fallsphotographIn a separate video, Tomlinson walks away after being struck.

Police officers followed Tomlinson as he walked 50 yards (46 m) along the street. He headed towards Threadneedle Street, but again ran into police cordons and doubled back on himself towards Cornhill. According to a CPS report, he was bitten on the leg by a police dog at 7:15 pm, when a dog handler tried to move him out of the way, but he appeared not to react to it.

The same group of officers approached Tomlinson outside a Montblanc store at the southern end of Royal Exchange Passage, near the junction with Cornhill. He was walking slowly with his hands in his pockets; according to an eyewitness, he was saying that he was trying to get home.

The first Guardian video shows one officer lunge at Tomlinson from behind, strike him across the legs with a baton and push him back, causing him to fall. On 8 April Channel 4 News released their own footage, which showed the officer's arm swing back to head height before bringing it down to hit Tomlinson on the legs with the baton. Another video obtained by The Guardian on 21 April shows Tomlinson standing by a bicycle rack, hands in his pockets, when the police approach him. After he is hit, he can be seen scraping along the ground on the right side of his forehead; eyewitnesses spoke of hearing a noise as his head hit the ground.

Collapse

Tomlinson can be seen briefly remonstrating with police as he sits on the ground. None of the officers offered assistance. After being helped to his feet by a protester, Tomlinson walked 200 feet (60 m) along Cornhill, where he collapsed at around 7:22 pm outside 77 Cornhill. Witnesses say he appeared dazed, eyes rolling, skin grey. They also said he smelled of alcohol. An ITV News photographer tried to give medical aid, but was forced away by police, as was a medical student. Police medics attended to Tomlinson, who was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Simon Harwood

Background

Simon Harwood, the officer who unlawfully killed Tomlinson, was a police constable with the Territorial Support Group (TSG) at Larkhall Lane police station in Lambeth, South London. Harwood had faced 10 complaints in 12 years, nine of which had been dismissed or unproven. The complaint that was upheld involved unlawful access to the Police National Computer. The complaints included a road rage incident in or around 1998 while he was on sick leave, during which he reportedly tried to arrest the other driver, who alleged that Harwood had used unnecessary force. On Friday 14 September 2001, before the case was heard by a discipline board, Harwood retired on medical grounds. Three days later, on Monday 17 September, he rejoined the Met as a civilian computer worker.

In May 2003 Harwood joined the Surrey Police as a constable. Surrey Police said he was frank about his history. In January 2004 he was alleged to have assaulted a man during a raid on a home. In November 2004, on his request, Harwood was transferred back to the Met. There were three more complaints after that, before the incident with Tomlinson.

On the day

Harwood was involved in several confrontations on the day of Tomlinson's death. He had been on duty since 5 am, assigned as a driver, and had spent most of the day in his vehicle. While parked on Cornhill in the evening, he saw a man write "all cops are bastards" on the side of another police van, and left his vehicle to attempt to arrest the man. The suspect resisted arrest and the suspect's head collided with a van door, triggering a response from the crowd that made Harwood believe it was unsafe to return to his vehicle. He told the inquest that he had been hit on the head, had fallen over, lost his baton, had been attacked by the crowd and feared for his life, but later acknowledged this had not happened.

Shortly after his attempted arrest of the graffiti man, Harwood swung a coat at a protester, pulled a BBC cameraman to the ground, used a palm strike against one man, and at 7:19 pm pushed another man to the ground for allegedly threatening a police dog handler. It was seconds after this that he saw Tomlinson standing with his hands in his pockets beside a bicycle rack, being told by police to move away. Harwood told the inquest he made a "split-second decision" that there was justification for engagement, then struck Tomlinson on the thigh with his baton and pushed him to the ground. He said it was a "very poor push" and he had been shocked when Tomlinson fell. Harwood made no mention of the incident in his notebook; he told the inquest he had forgotten about it.

Identification

Newspapers did not release Harwood's name until July 2010. On the day of the incident, he appeared to have removed his shoulder number and covered the bottom of his face with his balaclava. Simon Israel of Channel 4 News reported a detailed description of the officer on 22 April 2009; the IPCC sought but failed to obtain an injunction to prevent Channel 4 broadcasting the description, alleging that it might prejudice their inquiry. Fifteen months later, when announcing in July 2010 that no charges would be brought against Harwood, the Crown Prosecution Service still referred to him as "PC A." It was only on that day that newspapers decided to name him.

Harwood said he first realized on 8 April, when he saw the Guardian video, that Tomlinson had died. He reportedly collapsed at home and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance. Harwood and three colleagues made themselves known to the IPCC that day.

Early accounts

First police statement

How the story emerged
1–22 April 20091 April: Tomlinson dies around 19:30.

1 April: At 23:36, the Met says protesters
attacked them while police fought to save him.

2 April: Newspapers lead with that angle.
City of London placed in charge of case.

3 April: Three constables say they saw
Tomlinson pushed by officer;
Met tells City of London police.

3 April: 1st autopsy: heart attack.

3 April: Guardian tells City of London police
it has pics of Tomlinson at feet of riot police.

4 April: City of London police say Tomlinson
died of natural causes.

5 April: Guardian publishes photos and
testimony that Tomlinson was hit by police.

5 April: IPCC says Guardian has upset
the family. Tells journalists there is
"nothing in the story".

6 April: IPCC confirms Tomlinson had
contact with police; appeals for witnesses.

7 April: Guardian publishes video showing
Tomlinson hit by officer.

8 April: IPCC removes police from inquiry.

9 April: IPCC suspends officer.
2nd autopsy: abdominal haemorrhage.
IPCC says no CCTV cameras near assault.

14 April: Evening Standard finds CCTV
cameras near the assault.

17 April: Officer questioned on suspicion
of manslaughter.

22 April: 3rd autopsy: abdominal haemorrhage.

The Met issued its first statement on 1 April at 11:36 pm, four hours after Tomlinson died, a statement approved by the IPCC's regional director for London. The statement said that police had been alerted that a man had collapsed and were attacked by "a number of missiles" as they tried to save his life, an allegation that was inaccurate, according to later media reports.

According to Nick Davies in The Guardian, the statement was the result of an intense argument in the Met's press office, after an earlier draft had been rejected. He wrote that both the Met and IPCC said the statement represented the truth as they understood it at the time, and that there had been no allegation at that point that Tomlinson had come into contact with police. Davies asked why the IPCC were involved if they had not realized there had been police contact. He alleged that senior sources within the Met said privately that the assault on Tomlinson had been spotted by the police control room at Cobalt Street in south London, and that a chief inspector on the ground had also reported it. The Met issued a statement saying they had checked with every chief inspector who had been part of Operation Glencoe, and that none of them had called in such a report.

First eyewitness accounts

newspaper article
Evening Standard, 2 April 2009

On 2 April the Met handed responsibility for the investigation to the City of London police; the officer in charge was Detective Superintendent Anthony Crampton. After police briefings, the Evening Standard reported on 2 April that "police were bombarded with bricks, bottles and planks of wood" as they tried to save Tomlinson, forced by a barrage of missiles to carry him to a safe location to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Eyewitnesses said the story was inaccurate. They said protesters had provided first aid and telephoned for medical help. Others said that one or two plastic bottles had been thrown by people unaware of Tomlinson's situation, but other protesters had told them to stop. According to The Times, an analysis of television footage and photographs showed just one bottle, probably plastic, being thrown. Video taken by eyewitness Nabeela Zahir, published by The Guardian on 9 April, shows one protester shouting, "There is someone hurt here. Back the fuck up." Another voice says, "There's someone hurt. Don't throw anything."

Officers report the incident

First report

Officers who reported the incident

The Guardian, 9 May 2011

Three police constables from the Hammersmith and Fulham police station—Nicholas Jackson, Andrew Moore, and Kerry Smith—told their supervisor, Inspector Wynne Jones, on 3 April that they had witnessed the incident. They can be seen in The Guardian video standing next to Tomlinson. Jackson was the first to tell the inspector; officers then contacted Moore and Smith, who had been standing next to Jackson at the time.

Jackson, Moore and Smith did not recognize Simon Harwood, the officer who struck Tomlinson, and according to the newspaper assumed he was with the City of London police. This was four days before The Guardian published the video. The inspector passed this information at 4:15 pm on 3 April to Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, the Met's point of contact for Tomlinson's death. Hall said he passed it to the City of London police before the first post-mortem was conducted that day by Freddy Patel, which according to The Guardian began at 5:00 pm.

Post-mortem examinations

An inquest was opened on 9 April 2009 by Paul Matthews, the City of London coroner. Three post-mortems were conducted: on 3 April by Mohmed Saeed Sulema "Freddy" Patel for Paul Matthews; on 9 April by Nathaniel Cary for the IPCC and Tomlinson's family; and on 22 April jointly by Kenneth Shorrock for the Metropolitan police and Ben Swift for Simon Harwood. The coroner was criticized for reportedly having failed to allow IPCC investigators to attend the first, and for failing to tell Tomlinson's family that they had a legal right to attend or send a representative. The family also said he had not told them where and when it was taking place.

First post-mortem

According to Detective Sergeant Chandler of the City of London police, he was not told until the first post-mortem was over, or at an advanced stage, that three police officers had seen another officer hit and push Tomlinson. Apparently, neither Patel nor the IPCC were told about the three witnesses. Patel said he was told only that the case was a "suspicious death"; the police had asked that he "rule out any assault or crush injuries associated with public order".

Patel concluded that Tomlinson had died of coronary artery disease. His report noted "intraabdominal fluid blood about 3l with small blood clot", which was interpreted by medical experts to mean that he had found three litres of blood in Tomlinson's abdomen. This would have been around 60 per cent of Tomlinson's total blood volume, a "highly significant indicator of the cause of death", according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In a report for the CPS a year later, on 5 April 2010, Patel wrote that he had meant "intraabdominal fluid with blood". He did not retain samples of the fluid for testing. This issue became pivotal regarding the decision not to prosecute Harwood. The City of London police issued a statement on 4 April: "A post-mortem examination found he died of natural causes. suffered a sudden heart attack while on his way home from work."

The IPCC told reporters that the post-mortem showed no bruising or scratches on Tomlinson's head and shoulders. When the family asked the City of London police, after the post-mortem, whether there had been marks on Tomlinson's body, they were told no; according to The Guardian, Detective Superintendent Anthony Crampton, who was leading the investigation, wrote in his log that he did not tell the family about a bruise and puncture marks on Tomlinson's leg to avoid causing "unnecessary stress or alarm". On 5 April The Observer published the first photograph of Tomlinson lying on the ground next to riot police. After it was published, Freddy Patel was asked to return to the mortuary, where he made a note of bruising on Tomlinson's head that he had not noticed when he first examined him. On 24 April Sky News obtained an image of Tomlinson after he collapsed, which showed bruising on the right side of his forehead.

Second and third post-mortem

The IPCC removed the Tomlinson inquiry from the City of London police on 8 April. A second post-mortem, ordered jointly by the IPCC and Tomlinson's family, was carried out that day by Nathaniel Cary, known for his work on high-profile cases. Cary found that Tomlinson had died because of internal bleeding from blunt force trauma to the abdomen, in association with cirrhosis of the liver. He concluded that Tomlinson had fallen on his elbow, which he said "impacted in the area of his liver causing an internal bleed which led to his death a few minutes later".

Because of the conflicting conclusions of the first two, a third post-mortem was conducted on 22 April by Kenneth Shorrock on behalf of the Metropolitan police, and Ben Swift on behalf of Simon Harwood. Shorrock and Swift agreed with the results of the second post-mortem. The Met's point of contact for Tomlinson's death, Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, told the pathologists before the final post-mortem that Tomlinson had fallen to the ground in front of a police van earlier in the evening, although there was no evidence that this had happened. The IPCC ruled in May 2011 that Hall had been reckless in making this claim, but had not intended to mislead.

Freddy Patel

At the time of Tomlinson's death, Patel was on the Home Office's register of accredited forensic pathologists. He qualified as a doctor at the University of Zambia in 1974, and registered to practice in the UK in 1988. The Metropolitan Police had written to the Home Office in 2005 raising concerns about his work. At the time of Tomlinson's death he did not have a contract with the police to conduct post-mortems in cases of suspicious death.

In 1999, Patel was disciplined by the General Medical Council (GMC) for having released medical details about Roger Sylvester, a man who had died in police custody. Outside of the inquest, Patel had told reporters: "Mr Sylvester was a user of crack cocaine."

In 2002, the police dropped a criminal inquiry because Patel said the victim, Sally White, had died of a heart attack with no signs of violence, although she was reportedly found naked with bruising to her body, an injury to her head and a bite mark on her thigh. Anthony Hardy, a mentally ill alcoholic who lived in the flat in which her body was found locked in a bedroom, later murdered two women and placed their body parts in bin bags. The police investigated Patel in relation to that postmortem, but the investigation was dropped. In response to the criticism, Patel said the GMC reprimand was a long time ago, and that his findings in the Sally White case had not been contested.

In July 2009 Patel was suspended from the government's register of pathologists, pending a GMC inquiry. The inquiry concerned 26 charges related to postmortems in four other cases. In one case Patel was accused of having failed to spot signs of abuse on the body of a five-year-old girl who had died after a fall at home, and of having failed to check with the hospital about its investigation into her injuries. The child's body was exhumed for a second postmortem, and her mother was convicted. The hearings concluded in August 2010; Patel was suspended for three months for "deficient professional performance".

In May 2011, the GMC opened an investigation into his handling of the Tomlinson post-mortem. He was struck off the medical register in August 2012.

Images

Observer photograph

First photograph

Tomlinson on the ground

The Observer, 5 April 2009

On 5 April The Observer (the Guardian's sister paper) published the first photograph of Tomlinson lying on the ground next to riot police. Over the next few days the IPCC told reporters that Tomlinson's family were not surprised that he had had a heart attack. When journalists asked whether he had been in contact with police officers before his death, they were told the speculation would upset the family.

Guardian video

Tomlinson images
Video
Photographs
Other footage

The first Guardian video was shot on a digital camera by an investment fund manager from New York who was in London on business, and who attended the protests out of curiosity. On his way to Heathrow airport, he realized that the man he had filmed being assaulted was the man who had reportedly died of a heart attack. At that point, 2 am on 7 April, he passed his footage to The Guardian, which published it on its website that afternoon. The newspaper passed a copy to the IPCC, which opened a criminal inquiry.

Channel 4 video

A video by Ken McCallum, a cameraman for Channel 4 News, was broadcast on 8 April. Shot from a different angle, the footage shows Harwood draw his arm back to head height before bringing the baton down on Tomlinson's legs. McCallum was filming another incident at the time; the Tomlinson incident was unfolding in the background, unseen by the journalists but recorded by the camera. Half an hour later Alex Thomson, chief correspondent of Channel 4 News, was doing a live broadcast when the camera was damaged. It took engineers days to recover the tape, which is when they saw that Tomlinson's assault was on it.

Nabeela Zahir video

On 9 April The Guardian published footage from Nabeela Zahir, a freelance journalist, showing Tomlinson after his collapse. The police can be seen moving away at least one woman who tried to help him, and a man, Daniel McPhee, who was on the phone to the ambulance services. The footage shows that the Met's initial claim that there had been a barrage of missiles from protesters while police tried to save Tomlinson was inaccurate. Protesters can be heard calling for calm; one shouts "Don't throw anything." According to The Guardian, 56 seconds into the video, three officers can be seen with their face masks pulled halfway up their faces.

Cornhill video

The Guardian obtained a four-minute video on 21 April from an anonymous bystander who had been filming on Cornhill between 7:10 and 7:30 pm. The footage shows Tomlinson standing behind a bicycle rack in Royal Exchange Passage with his hands in his pockets, and a group of advancing police officers. When a police dog approaches him, he turns his back. At that point, he is hit on the legs and pushed by the TSG constable, and can be seen scraping along the ground on the right side of his forehead. Eyewitnesses said they heard a noise as his head hit the ground. The IPCC sought an injunction against the broadcast of the video by Channel 4 News, but a judge rejected the application. An image obtained by Sky News on 24 April appears to show bruising on the right side of Tomlinson's forehead. A head injury was recorded by the second and third pathologists.

CCTV cameras

Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said on 9 April that there were no CCTV cameras in the area. On 14 April the Evening Standard wrote that it had found at least six CCTV cameras in the area around the assault. After photographs of the cameras were published, the IPCC reversed its position and said its investigators were looking at footage from cameras in Threadneedle Street near the corner of Royal Exchange Passage.

Early reaction and analysis

British policing

photograph
Climate Camp, Bishopsgate, 1 April 2009

Tomlinson's death sparked a discussion about the nature of Britain's policing and the relationship between the police, public, media and IPCC. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, dismissed the criticism of the police as "an orgy of cop bashing". The death was compared to others that had each acted as a watershed in the public's perception of policing, including that of Blair Peach (1979), Stephen Lawrence (1993) and Jean Charles de Menezes (2005). The IPCC was criticized for having taken seven days from Tomlinson's death, and five days after hearing evidence that police may have been involved, to remove the City of London police from the investigation.

David Gilbertson, a former assistant inspector who had worked for the Home Office formulating policing policy, told The New York Times that the British police used to act with the sanction of the public, but that tactics had changed after a series of violent assaults on officers in the 1990s. Now dressing in military-style uniforms and equipped with anti-stab vests, extendable metal batons and clubs that turn into handcuffs, an entire generation of officers has come to regard the public as the enemy, the newspaper said.

The Guardian, police and IPCC

photograph
Offices of The Guardian and The Observer

Tomlinson's death was confirmed in a statement that accused protesters of having hampered police efforts to save his life. His family were not told he had died until nine hours after his death. The police and IPCC told journalists that his family were not surprised to hear he had had a heart attack. Journalists who asked whether police had had any contact with Tomlinson were asked not to speculate in case it upset the family. Direct contact with the family was refused. The police issued a statement on behalf of the family instead, which said the police were keeping them informed.

The Observer (The Guardian's sister paper) published an image of Tomlinson on the ground on Sunday, 5 April. That morning Tomlinson's family attended the scene of his death, where they met Paul Lewis, a Guardian reporter who had worked on The Observer story. Tomlinson's wife said this meeting was the first the family had heard of police contact with Tomlinson before his death. The family's police liaison officer later approached the newspaper to say he was "extremely unhappy" that Lewis had spoken to the family, and that the newspaper had to stay away from them for 48 hours. The IPCC accused the newspaper of "doorstepping the family at a time of grief". On the same day, the IPCC briefed other journalists that there was nothing in the story that Tomlinson might have been assaulted by police. During this period, according to Tomlinson's family, they were prevented from seeing his body; they were first allowed to see him six days after his death.

On 7 April The Guardian published the American banker's video, and later that evening handed it to an IPCC investigator and a City of London police officer who arrived at the newspaper's offices. The officers asked that the video be removed from the website, arguing that it jeopardized their inquiry and was not helpful to the family. Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said the IPCC had asked The Guardian to remove the video only because it would have been better had witnesses not seen it before being questioned.

Metropolitan police response

Denis O'Connor, 2012

The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Denis O'Connor, published a 150-page report in November 2009 that aimed to restore Britain's consent-based model of policing.

O'Connor wrote that there had been a hardening of police attitudes, with officers believing that proportionality meant reciprocity. The deployment of officers in riot gear had become a routine response to lawful protest, largely the result of an ignorance of the law and a lack of leadership from the Home Office and police chiefs. Officers were being trained to use their riot shields as weapons. Police forces across the country differed in their training, the equipment they had access to, and their understanding of the law. The failure to understand the relevant legislation was in part due to its complexity, the report said, with 90 amendments to the Public Order Act passed since 1986.

The report made several recommendations, including the creation of a set of national principles emphasizing the minimum use of force at all times, and making the display of police ID a legal requirement. In February 2010 the Met announced that 8,000 of its officers had been issued with embroidered epaulettes, as several had complained that the numbers were falling off, rather than being removed deliberately.

Legal aftermath

Decision not to prosecute

Keir Starmer, director of the CPS

In April 2010 The Guardian published an open letter from several public figures asking the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to proceed with a prosecution or explain its position. In July that year Keir Starmer, director of the CPS, announced that there would be no prosecution because of the medical disagreement between the three pathologists. Starmer said there was enough evidence for an assault charge, but the six-month deadline for that had expired.

The area of conflict concerned Patel's finding during the first post-mortem of "intraabdominal fluid blood about 3l with small blood clot". This was interpreted by other medical experts to mean that Patel had found three litres of blood in Tomlinson's abdomen. Starmer said this would have been around 60 percent of Tomlinson's blood volume, a "highly significant indicator of the cause of death".

In April 2010 Patel introduced an ambiguity in a second report for the CPS, saying he had found "intraabdominal fluid with blood about 3l with small blood clot" . The ambiguity had to be clarified, because the second and third pathologists had relied in part on Patel's original notes to form their views. Patel was interviewed twice by the CPS. According to Starmer, Patel "maintained that the total fluid was somewhat in excess of three litres but that it was mainly ascites (a substance which forms in a damaged liver), which had been stained with blood. He had not retained the fluid nor had he sampled it in order to ascertain the proportion of blood because, he said, he had handled blood all his professional life and he knew that this was not blood but blood-stained ascites." Patel also said he had found no internal rupture that would have led to this degree of blood loss.

Several conclusions were drawn from discussions between Patel and the CPS, Starmer said: (a) because Patel had not retained or sampled the three litres of fluid, no firm conclusions could be drawn about the nature of it; (b) for Tomlinson's death to have resulted so quickly from blood loss, there would have to have been a significant internal rupture; (c) Patel found no such rupture; (d) the later postmortems also found no visible rupture; and (e) because Patel was the only person to have examined Tomlinson's intact body, he was in the best position to judge the nature of the fluid, and whether there was a rupture that could have caused it. This meant that Patel's evidence would significantly undermine the evidence of the second and third pathologists.

Nathaniel Cary, the second pathologist, objected to the CPS's decision. Cary told The Guardian that the push had caused a haemorrhage to Tomlinson's abdomen, and the haemorrhage caused him to collapse. Cary said Tomlinson was vulnerable to this because he had liver disease. The CPS had erred in dismissing a charge of actual bodily harm (ABH), in his view. In a letter to Tomlinson's family, the CPS described Tomlinson's injuries as "relatively minor" and therefore insufficient to support such a charge. But Cary told The Guardian: "The injuries were not relatively minor. He sustained quite a large area of bruising. Such injuries are consistent with a baton strike, which could amount to ABH. It's extraordinary. If that's not ABH I would like to know what is."

Inquest

The inquest was opened and adjourned in April 2009. The City of London coroner, Paul Matthews, expressed concern about whether he had appropriate expertise, and Peter Thornton QC, who specialises in protest law, was appointed in his place. The inquest opened on 28 March 2011 before a jury. The court heard from Kevin Channer, a cardiologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, who analysed electrocardiogram (ECG) data from the defibrillator paramedics had used on Tomlinson. He said the readings were inconsistent with an arrhythmic heart attack, but consistent with death from internal bleeding. Pathologist Nat Carey concurred regarding the cause of death. Graeme Alexander, a hepatologist, said that in his opinion Tomlinson had died of internal bleeding as a result of trauma to the liver after the fall. He told the court that Tomlinson had been suffering from serious liver disease, which would have made him susceptible to collapse from internal bleeding.

Giving evidence over three days, Harwood said that Tomlinson "just looked as if he was going to stay where he was forever and was almost inviting physical confrontation in terms of being moved on". He said he had not warned Tomlinson and had acted because Tomlinson was encroaching a police line, which amounted to a breach of the peace. The court heard that Tomlinson's last words after collapsing were, "they got me, the fuckers got me"; he died moments later. On 3 May 2011 the jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing, ruling that the officer—Harwood was not named for legal reasons—had used excessive and unreasonable force in hitting Tomlinson, and had acted "illegally, recklessly and dangerously".

IPCC reports

In May 2011 the IPCC released three reports into Tomlinson's death, written between April 2010 and May 2011. The main report contained material revealed during the inquest. The third report detailed an allegation from Tomlinson's family that the police had offered misleading information to the pathologists before the third post-mortem on 22 April 2009. The Met's point of contact for Tomlinson's death, Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, had told the pathologists that Tomlinson had fallen to the ground in front of a police van earlier in the evening, although there was no evidence to support this. The IPCC ruled that Hall had been reckless in making this claim, but had not intended to mislead the pathologists.

Trial of Simon Harwood

Regina -v- Simon Harwood
photograph of the Crown Court entranceCourthouse at 1 English Grounds, London SE1
CourtSouthwark Crown Court
Started18 June 2012
Decided19 July 2012
VerdictNot guilty
DefendantSimon Harwood
ChargeManslaughter
ProsecutionMark Dennis QC
DefencePatrick Gibbs QC
Court membership
Judge sittingThe Honourable Mr Justice Fulford

Keir Starmer, director of the CPS, announced on 24 May 2011 that a summons for manslaughter had been issued against Harwood. He said the CPS had reviewed its decision not to prosecute because new medical evidence had emerged during the inquest, and because the various medical accounts, including that of the first pathologist, had been tested during questioning. The trial opened on 18 June 2012. Harwood entered a plea of not guilty, and was acquitted on 19 July.

The court was shown extensive video footage of Tomlinson and Harwood on the day. Harwood was seen trying to arrest a man who had daubed graffiti on a police van, then joining a line of officers who were clearing Royal Exchange Passage. Harwood pushed a man who blew a vuvuzela at him, then appeared to push a BBC cameraman who was filming the arrest of another man. The footage showed Harwood push a third man out of the way, and shortly after this (the passageway now almost empty) the officers reached Tomlinson.

Mark Dennis QC, for the prosecution, argued that Harwood's use of force against Tomlinson had been unnecessary and unreasonable, and had caused Tomlinson's death. He argued that a "clear temporal link" between the incident and Tomlinson's collapse had been provided by the Guardian video, that Tomlinson had posed no threat, and that the use of force had been a "gratuitous act of aggression". The defence argued that Tomlinson's health was relevant. The court heard that he had liver and brain disease caused by alcohol abuse, numbness in his legs and balance problems, and that he had been treated at least 20 times between 2007 and 2009, mostly at A&E departments, related to falling while drunk. On the day he died, The Times reported, he had drunk a bottle of red wine, a small bottle of vodka and several cans of 9-per-cent super-strength lager.

Harwood told the court that Tomlinson had ignored orders to move along. He acknowledged that he had pushed Tomlinson firmly, but said he had not expected him to fall. He also acknowledged that he had "got it wrong", and said he had not realized Tomlinson was in such poor health. The jury found him not guilty after deliberating for four days.

Dismissal, civil suit

Harwood was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police Service in September 2012 after a disciplinary hearing found that he had acted with "gross misconduct" in his actions towards Tomlinson. Tomlinson's family filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police, which paid the family an undisclosed sum in August 2013. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Maxine de Brunner issued a formal apology for "Simon Harwood's use of excessive and unlawful force, which caused Mr Tomlinson's death, and for the suffering and distress caused to his family as a result."

Notes

  1. The Territorial Support Group is the successor to the Special Patrol Group (SPG), known for its alleged involvement in the 1979 death in London of a protester, Blair Peach.
  2. The Guardian reported speculation among protesters that the operation had been named after the 1692 Glencoe massacre. A spokesman for the Met said before the protests that the police were "up for it"; the service said he had been quoted out of context. Protesters escalated the rhetoric, saying they hoped to take control of central London, amid references to bankers being lynched.
  3. Metropolitan Police Service, 1 April 2009, 23:36 hours:"A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane, junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner. That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michaels Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing. They called for LAS support at about 1930. The officers gave him an initial check and cleared his airway before moving him back behind the cordon line to a clear area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they gave him CPR. The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles – believed to be bottles – were being thrown at them. LAS took the man to hospital where he was pronounced dead."
  4. The IPCC's guidelines at the time said that incidents should be referred to them where "persons have died or been seriously injured following some form of direct or indirect contact with the police and there is reason to believe that the contact may have caused or contributed to the death or serious injury".
  5. The IPCC had been criticized before for not being responsive to public concerns. On 11 January 2008, the Police Action Law Group (over 100 lawyers who specialize in police complaints) resigned from the IPCC's advisory body, citing a failure to provide adequate oversight; a pattern of favouritism towards the police, with complaints being turned down despite strong evidence; indifference and rudeness towards complainants; delays stretching over several years; and key decisions being made by managers with little or no legal training or relevant experience. They wrote to Hardwick that there was "increasing dismay and disillusionment" at the "consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC". Hardwick responded that some of the examples cited were the legacy of the previous oversight body, the Police Complaints Authority. He acknowledged that the IPCC struggled, shortly after it was set up in 2004, to cope with the number of cases it had inherited. Denied that there was any pattern of favouritism toward the police, he said the IPCC robustly defends its independence and impartiality.

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  83. "Complaint that misinformation was supplied" Archived 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine , IPCC, 20 April 2010.
  84. ^ Owen Bowcott, "Ian Tomlinson pathologist accused of incompetence over autopsies" Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 12 July 2010.
  85. Paul Lewis, "Ian Tomlinson: a story of justice denied" Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 22 July 2010.
  86. Richard Osley, "Inquest dismissed signs of violence", Camden New Journal, 27 November 2003.
  87. ^ Paul Lewis, "Pathologist in Ian Tomlinson G20 death case was reprimanded over conduct" Archived 2 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 11 April 2009.
  88. ^ Caroline Gammell, "G20 riots: profile of Dr Freddy Patel", The Daily Telegraph, 23 July 2010.
  89. Ian Johnston, "Officer under investigation over Ian Tomlinson's death 'should not have been working for Met'", The Sunday Telegraph, 5 July 2009.
  90. Paul Lewis, "Ian Tomlinson coroner asks for judge to preside over inquest" Archived 15 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 6 September 2010.
  91. Owen Bowcott, Paul Lewis, "Pathologist Freddy Patel investigated over Ian Tomlinson postmortem" Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 5 May 2011.
  92. "Ian Tomlinson pathologist Dr Freddy Patel struck off" Archived 1 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 23 August 2012.
  93. ^ Sandra Laville, Paul Lewis, "G20 assault: how Metropolitan police tried to manage a death" Archived 24 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 9 April 2009.
  94. Guardian/American businessman video Archived 5 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, published 7 April 2009.
  95. Paul Lewis, "Man who filmed Ian Tomlinson G20 attack backs investigation" Archived 21 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 8 April 2009.
  96. Channel 4/Ken McCallum video Archived 1 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, broadcast 8 April 2009.
  97. Alex Thomson, "Truth behind Tomlinson footage" Archived 15 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Channel 4 News, 13 April 2009.
  98. Guardian Cornhill video Archived 3 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, from 01:09 mins, published 21 April 2009.
  99. ^ Krishnan Guru-Murthy, "IPCC: CCTV wasn't working", Channel 4 News, 9 April 2009.
  100. Peter Dominiczak, Lucy Proctor, Kiran Randhawa, "We were wrong over CCTV, says police watchdog" Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Evening Standard, 14 April 2009.
  101. Paul Lewis, "Police watchdog chief wrong to say no CCTV in area of Ian Tomlinson assault" Archived 1 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 14 April 2009.
  102. Nathan Bleaken, "Boris Johnson condemns media response to G20 policing" Archived 1 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 23 April 2009.
  103. Paul Lewis, "How Ian Tomlinson's death at the G20 protests changed policing" Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 25 November 2009.
  104. Alison Roberts, "I thought 'Oh my God, it's like Blair Peach over again'" Archived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Evening Standard, 15 April 2009.
  105. Nick Davies, "Crisis at police watchdog as lawyers resign" Archived 1 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 25 February 2008; also see question 71 in Supplementary memorandum from the Independent Police Complaints Commission Archived 9 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Independent Police Complaints Commission, Public Accounts Committee, undated.
  106. Nick Hardwick, "Yes, we are independent – and we've cut down delays too" Archived 1 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 27 February 2009.
  107. ^ Paul Lewis, "Ian Tomlinson's family accuse police of cover-up over his death" Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 6 August 2009.
  108. "Full statement from the IPCC on the investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson" Archived 8 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 8 April 2009.
  109. Denis O'Connor, Adapting to protest, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary.
  110. Sean O'Neill, "Policing principles undermined by riot tactics, says Denis O'Connor", The Times, 26 November 2009.
  111. O'Connor 2009, pp. 57–58.
  112. Rose Rouse, "How the police fell in love with embroidery" Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 28 February 2010.
  113. "A year on, we still wait for answers about Ian Tomlinson's death" Archived 4 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 1 April 2010.
  114. Vikram Dodd, Paul Lewis, "Advice to charge police officer over Ian Tomlinson death ignored" Archived 29 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 23 July 2010.
  115. Paul Lewis, "Ian Tomlinson death: senior judge appointed to oversee inquest" Archived 5 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 10 November 2010.
  116. "Ian Tomlinson inquest" Archived 27 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 29 March 2011.
  117. Paul Lewis, "Ian Tomlinson did not die of heart attack, specialist tells inquest" Archived 27 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 18 April 2011.
  118. "Ian Tomlinson was 'amost inviting physical confrontation' says G20 officer" Archived 31 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 6 April 2011.
  119. "G20 protests: Ian Tomlinson unlawfully killed by PC, inquest rules" Archived 14 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 3 May 2011.
  120. "Ian Tomlinson inquest verdict" Archived 27 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 3 May 2011.
  121. "CPS statement following conclusion of inquest into death of Ian Tomlinson". Crown Prosecution Service. 3 May 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  122. Peter Walker, "Ian Tomlinson jury shown video of moments before his death" Archived 5 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 19 June 2012.
  123. Victoria Ward, "G20 protests: Tomlinson family weep at final footage" Archived 20 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 19 June 2012.
  124. Victoria Ward, "Officer who struck out at Ian Tomlinson had 'lost control'" Archived 3 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 18 June 2012.
  125. "Tomlinson's sudden death 'did not obey any of the medical rules'", The Times, 20 July 2012.
  126. Peter Walker, "Ian Tomlinson seemed deliberately obstructive, police officer tells court" Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 2 July 2012.
  127. Peter Walker, "Ian Tomlinson case: PC Simon Harwood guilty of gross misconduct" Archived 4 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 17 September 2012.

External links

Video of Tomlinson

Video taken nearby

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