"Within minutes of the verdict being announced, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said a "thorough review" of his earlier decision not to bring criminal prosecutions against Harwood had begun.
"That review will now take place and will be thorough," he said. "It will take into account all of the evidence now available, including any new evidence that emerged at the inquest, the issues left by the coroner to the jury and the conclusions they reached. The review will be conducted as quickly as is compatible with the care and rigour required in a thorough exercise.........
The Tomlinson inquest verdict comes just over a year after the Met was forced to accept one of its officers almost certainly killed Blair Peach, an anti-fascist protester, at a protest in Southall, west London, in 1979.
The Met kept a report into Peach's death secret for more than 30 years. It revealed he was killed by an officer from the Special Patrol Group – the precursor to the TSG.
Police initially denied Tomlinson had had contact with police officers before his death. Reporters were briefed that Tomlinson had died of "natural causes".
Tomlinson's family, who have alleged that police covered up information about involvement in his death, were told he probably died of a heart attack before a postmortem had even taken place.
They were discouraged from talking to reporters investigating the death and told Tomlinson has simply been seen to "run out of batteries".
Details about a bruise on his leg and puncture marks in his skin, now known to have been caused by a baton strike and dog bite, were also withheld from them.
However, the release six days later of footage obtained by the Guardian showing the newspaper seller's encounter with Harwood prompted the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to launch a criminal inquiry."
REPORTER PAUL LEWIS: THE GUARDIAN;
REMINDER: Julian Sher's documentary on Brenda Waudby - "A Mother's Ordeal" - will be aired on Friday May 6, 2011, on Global TV. 10PM (9PM Manitoba/Sask.)
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A thorough account of "The death of Ian Tomlinson" can be found on Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: If Dr. Freddy Patel had the last word, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor named Ian Tomlinson's death after he collapsed on the pavement on the fringes of protests at the G20 on April 1, 2009 would have been written off as "natural causes." However amateur video footage emerged showing him being pushed to the ground by a police officer who faces misconduct proceedings after an inquest beginning in March 2011 is completed. As noted on Wikipedia: "Ian Tomlinson (7 February 1962 – 1 April 2009) was an English newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London on his way home from work during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. A first postmortem examination indicated that he had suffered a heart attack brought on by coronary artery disease, and had died of natural causes. His death became controversial a week later when The Guardian obtained footage of his last moments, filmed by an American investment fund manager who was visiting London. The video showed Tomlinson being struck on the leg from behind by a police officer wielding an extendable baton, then pushed to the ground by the same officer. It appeared to show no provocation on Tomlinson's part—he was not a protester, and at the time he was struck, the footage showed him walking along with his hands in his pockets. He walked away after the incident, but collapsed and died moments later. After The Guardian published the video, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began a criminal inquiry. A second postmortem indicated that Tomlinson had died from internal bleeding caused by a blunt force trauma to the abdomen, in association with cirrhosis of the liver. A third postmortem was arranged by the defence team of the accused officer, PC Simon Harwood; the third pathologist agreed that the cause of death was internal bleeding. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced in July 2010 that no charges would be brought, because medical disagreement about the cause of the death meant prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a causal link between the death and the alleged assault. The first pathologist, Dr Freddy Patel, was suspended for three months in August 2010 for "deficient professional performance" in several unrelated cases." As the Guardian reported on March 19, 2011, Patel, who had been previously suspended for incompetence in a series of high profile autopsies, was found guilty of professional misconduct after failing to spot that a murder victim had been suffocated. He now faces being struck off the medical register.
A disciplinary panel of the General Medical Council ruled that his "fitness to practise was impaired" because of his reluctance to consider asphyxiation in the murder case, the falsification of his professional CV, and his failure to redress previous professional shortcomings. The UK Press Association says that the inquest, "is likely to examine the actions of police, the pathologist, the coroner and independent investigators in the aftermath of Mr Tomlinson's death." The Goudge Inquiry into many of former Dr. Charles Smith's cases also examined relationships between pathologists and police - particularly a case in which Smith agreed to interview a woman, suspected of murdering her baby, at her home while fully aware that the home had been secretly bugged by the authorities.
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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"Britain's most senior prosecutor has said he was considering whether to prosecute the police officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson for manslaughter after an inquest jury found that the newspaper seller had been unlawfully killed," the Guardian story by reporter Paul Lewis published on May 4, 2011 begins, under the heading, "Police officer who struck Ian Tomlinson could face manslaughter trial: Director of public prosecution to review earlier decision following jury's finding that newspaper vendor was 'unlawfully killed'."
"Tomlinson, 47, had been trying to walk home from work through the G20 demonstrations near the Bank of England when he was attacked from behind by a Metropolitan police constable, Simon Harwood, a member of the Met's Territorial Support Group (TSG)," the story continues.
"Returning their verdict after three hours of deliberation on Tuesday, jurors said Tomlinson died of internal bleeding in the abdomen after being struck with a baton and pushed to the ground with "excessive and unreasonable" force on 7.20pm on 1 April 2009.
Within minutes of the verdict being announced, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said a "thorough review" of his earlier decision not to bring criminal prosecutions against Harwood had begun.
"That review will now take place and will be thorough," he said. "It will take into account all of the evidence now available, including any new evidence that emerged at the inquest, the issues left by the coroner to the jury and the conclusions they reached. The review will be conducted as quickly as is compatible with the care and rigour required in a thorough exercise."
For legal reasons, the jury's verdict could not name Harwood or apportion blame. The verdict, however, did say that Tomlinson's death came after he was "fatally injured. This was as a result of a baton strike from behind and a push in the back by a police officer which caused Mr Tomlinson to fall heavily," the verdict said. "Both the baton strike and the push were excessive and unreasonable. As a result, Mr Tomlinson suffered internal bleeding which led to his collapse within a few minutes and his subsequent death."
Their finding noted Tomlinson, a father of nine, was walking away from police, obeying orders and posed "no threat" when he was struck by Harwood.
There were shouts of "yes" from Tomlinson's family when the verdict was returned.
His son Paul King said afterwards: "We've got a long way ahead of us. We've been let down for two years. It's been proven that Ian was killed unlawfully. Now we'd like to go to court and continue with the manslaughter charges."
The Met expressed "profound condolences" to Tomlinson's family, saying in a statement: "It is a matter of deep regret that the actions of an MPS officer have been found to have caused the death of a member of the public."
The Tomlinson inquest verdict comes just over a year after the Met was forced to accept one of its officers almost certainly killed Blair Peach, an anti-fascist protester, at a protest in Southall, west London, in 1979.
The Met kept a report into Peach's death secret for more than 30 years. It revealed he was killed by an officer from the Special Patrol Group – the precursor to the TSG.
Police initially denied Tomlinson had had contact with police officers before his death. Reporters were briefed that Tomlinson had died of "natural causes".
Tomlinson's family, who have alleged that police covered up information about involvement in his death, were told he probably died of a heart attack before a postmortem had even taken place.
They were discouraged from talking to reporters investigating the death and told Tomlinson has simply been seen to "run out of batteries".
Details about a bruise on his leg and puncture marks in his skin, now known to have been caused by a baton strike and dog bite, were also withheld from them.
However, the release six days later of footage obtained by the Guardian showing the newspaper seller's encounter with Harwood prompted the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to launch a criminal inquiry.
The footage was played repeatedly during the five-week hearing at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street, London. Starmer said last July he did not believe a prosecution was possible because of complications on medical evidence, which he said meant prosecutors would struggle to prove a cause of death.
There were two divergent explanations of Tomlinson's death.
The first pathologist to conduct a postmortem examination on the body, Dr Freddy Patel, said he died of a heart attack as a result of coronary heart disease. He was contradicted by three other pathologists who examined Tomlinson's body, all of whom found he died of internal bleeding in the abdomen.
Starmer said last year that changes in Patel's evidence about the extent of blood found in Tomlinson's abdomen rendered any prosecution particularly difficult.
However, Patel made several changes to his evidence in the course of the inquest, and was undermined by a number of experts, including a heart specialist who said defibrillator readings showing Tomlinson's heart attack were "entirely inconsistent" with Patel's theory.
The jury was also told that Patel had twice been suspended by the General Medical Council disciplinary panel in recent months after being found guilty of a botched postmortem and dishonesty.
Reviewing his decision, Starmer will have to consider the new medical evidence as well as the jury verdict.
The jury had to be satisfied "beyond reasonable doubt" that Tomlinson's injuries were caused by the trauma of the fall – the same burden of proof that would be applied in a criminal trial.
Starmer's initial decision not to prosecute was backed by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, but prompted widespread anger and questions in parliament. The Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said at the time he could understand the "outrage" over the decision not to prosecute Harwood. The IPCC is also known to have believed there was sufficient evidence to bring a manslaughter charge.
In a statement released through his lawyers on Tuesday, Harwood said he was "sorry" Tomlinson died, but denied he intended to hurt him.
"The mass of video and other evidence gathered by the IPCC now presents a picture very different from the one PC Harwood had on the day," his lawyer said. "In particular, he wishes that he had known then all that he now knows about Mr Tomlinson's movements and fragile state of health.""
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The story can be found at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/04/ian-tomlinson-verdict-inquest-police
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
