Still hope for justice in the case of British newspaper seller attacked and killed by cop?

G20 inquest told police officers could still be charged over Ian Tomlinson death

Prosecutors may review the decision not to charge police officers over the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests, an inquest heard today. Jurors were urged to ignore previous investigations by the Crown Prosecution Service and Independent Police Complaints Commission as the inquiry into the newspaper seller's collapse in April 2009 got under way.

Judge Peter Thornton QC, sitting as assistant deputy coroner at the central London hearing, said the cause of his death was "likely to be a controversial area".

Dr Freddy Patel's initial verdict that Mr Tomlinson died of natural causes was contradicted by a second and third pathologist, the inquest heard.

In his opening comments, Mr Thornton told the inquest: "There is likely to be controversy too about the finding of Dr Patel in the first post-mortem of the presence of fluid in the abdomen and to what extent it contained blood.

Relatives of the 47-year-old looked on as dramatic video of him being confronted by police was shown to the jury. Footage showed Mr Tomlinson being hit with a baton and pushed to the ground by an officer. He then sits up to gesture to police.

He died after staggering about 100 yards and falling to the ground in Cornhill, near St Michael's Alley. Footage showed him being attended to by officers near a Starbucks cafe. The footage became global news after it challenged the original official version of events.

Pc Simon Harwood, a member of the Met's territorial support group, originally escaped prosecution but faces being sacked under misconduct proceedings.

The jury, sitting at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street, London, was told the inquest will examine the actions of police, the pathologist and independent investigators in the aftermath of Mr Tomlinson's death.

Original report here




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