British police coverup coming apart

Their tame pathologist initially said that the guy they killed died of a heart attack. Luckily, the family's lawyers insisted on an independent pathology examination -- which showed that he did NOT die of a heart attack. One hopes that the crooked pathologist faces some form of justice in due course too

A BRITISH police officer has been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter over the death of a man in protests during the London G20 summit earlier this month. Britain's police watchdog said the action had been taken against the unnamed officer after a second post-mortem found that newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson had not died from a heart attack as first thought.

Mr Tomlinson, 47, died after being caught up in protests near the Bank of England in the heart of London's financial district as he made his way home on April 1, the day before world leaders gathered to discuss the economic crisis. Video footage taken by a New York Fund manager showed Mr Tomlinson, who had not taken part in the demonstrations, being shoved to the ground by a police officer in riot gear. He collapsed shortly afterwards in a nearby street.

The officer involved has already been suspended by London's Metropolitan Police and the matter is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). "Following the initial results of the second post mortem, a Metropolitan Police Officer has been interviewed under caution for the offence of manslaughter as part of an on-going inquiry into the death of Ian Tomlinson," the IPCC said in a statement.

The first post mortem had recorded that Mr Tomlinson had died from natural causes. But lawyers for Mr Tomlinson's family said a second pathology report had indicated that the cause of death was abdominal haemorrhage. "First we were told there had been no contact with the police, then we were told that he died of a heart attack," said Paul King, speaking on behalf of the family. "As time goes on we hope the full truth about how Ian died will be made known."

London's police force said it could not comment while the IPCC probe was ongoing but said it would fully co-operate.

The watchdog has received a total of 145 complaints about the policing of the protests which turned increasingly violent as the day wore on, with confrontations between anti-capitalist demonstrators, environmental campaigners and riot officers.

Earlier this week, a sergeant was suspended after more video footage showed him apparently lashing out at a woman who was remonstrating with him during one protest.

The capital's police chief has expressed his concern about the video images and has ordered a review of public order tactics, especially the use of "kettling" where protesters are herded by officers into a confined space. That followed growing criticism from politicians and civil rights groups that the police had used excessively violent force to deal with the protests.

Original report here

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Pressure on police officers over their conduct at the G20 protests increased dramatically today on the word of one man - Britain’s most eminent pathologist.

Dr Nat Cary announced, after a second post-mortem on Ian Tomlinson, that he had rejected initial findings that the newspaper seller collapsed after suffering a heart attack. Dr Cary, who has worked on some of the most high profile murder cases of the past decade, said it was most likely that Mr Tomlinson died of an abdominal haemorrhage after police officers confronted him.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission and Mr Tomlinson’s family requested that the case was re-examined by Dr Cary, who has a celebrated record of forensic discovery. He worked on the Suffolk prostitute killings and Ian Huntley’s double murder, before solving the mystery over the sudden death of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan cricket coach, in 2007. By studying video footage of the post-mortem carried out on Woolmer in Jamaica, Dr Cary concluded that the high-profile murder hunt was misdirected and the former England bowler had actually died from natural causes.

Dr Cary first came to national prominence when he disproved Huntley’s claims that Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman had died in a freak accident in his bath. Huntley’s defence had initially said the bath contained 18in of water when Holly fell into it, a figure questioned by Dr Cary, who pointed out that the overflow was at 11in. Huntley was forced to revise the height to six to eight inches, insisting there had been a miscommunication between him and his legal team as his defence fell apart.

Dr Cary, who is affiliated to the Home Office, is often called in to review contentious cases. He examined all of the prostitutes killed by Steve Wright and gave evidence at Ipswich Crown Court last year that discredited the defendant’s claim that Paula Clennell had died during a sex game.

There was some surprise that the first post-mortem on Mr Tomlinson was not carried out by Dr Cary, who often oversees suspicious cases in the London area. Instead, it was handled by Dr Freddy Patel, who had previously been warned by the General Medical Council about his conduct. He found that the man died of natural causes minutes after he was struck by the police officer.

Original report here

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The rough treatment given to Ian Tomlinson by police at the G20 protests could easily have led to the internal bleeding that allegedly killed him, according to experts. But it could also have resulted from natural causes or a preexisting health condition. A second postmortem examination found that Mr Tomlinson, 48, died from an “abdominal haemorrhage”, or bleeding within the abdomen, despite the conclusions of an earlier postmortem, which gave the cause of death as a heart attack.

Charles O’Donnell, the consultant in emergency and intensive care medicine at Whipps Cross University Hospital, London, said that it was “definitely well within the realms of possibility” that a preexisting condition such as liver disease or an enlarged spleen had left Mr Tomlinson vulnerable to internal bleeding. “It might only take a small thump which in a healthy individual would not do any harm.” The postmortem report showed that Mr Tomlinson had a diseased heart and liver and narrowing of the arteries.

Another possible cause of an abdominal haemorrhage was a burst heart artery, or aortic aneurysm, said Dr O’Donnell. This would be unlikely to have any connection with a violent assault, he pointed out.

Guy Rutty, chief pathologist at East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit, said that to be fatal an abdominal haemorrhage would involve “substantial” blood loss. Internal bleeding could come from a blood vessel or a major organ, and it might not be clear to the pathologist what the cause was, he added. “Significant bleeding can put a strain on the heart and if someone already suffers from heart disease or a weakness in that area, it may not be obvious which has been the main cause of death – the bleeding, a heart attack or a combination of the two,” he said. Dr Rutty added that “there could be a multitude of factors at play” in Mr Tomlinson’s case.

Original report here




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