23rd July 2010
Outrage As Assault on Ian Tomlinson Ignored
Mark Hanson
A whipping up to fury; an assault; a death; a campaign of misinformation; a delay of over one year. And now the Crown Prosecution Service has decided that the report by a suspended pathologist rules out any chance of conviction.
The story of Ian Tomlinson is tragic. His tangled personal life was sad enough (and only his alcoholism relates to this situation) yet the tales surrounding his death are a dangerous and startling indictment on what remains of British justice.
In his report, the Director of Public Prosecutions speaks that: “In the weeks leading up to the event in London there was a great deal of media coverage about possible disruption.” He fails to mention that this media coverage was prompted by the Metropolitan Police’s own remarks concerning a “summer of rage”. It was the police, not the protesters, who went to the G20 protests expecting trouble.
The DPP, Keir Starmer QC, also remarks on the increasing levels of violence as that day progressed on April 1st 2009, or “Fossil Fools Day” as it has been named. He neglects to mention that the vast majority of these increases in violence were due to police tactics of “kettling”, and the violence against the Climate Camp in the City, which was reported as being “good humoured” until the police stormed the camp.
Ian Tomlinson was not part of the protests. He was caught up, quite innocently, and from the video footage did not move along sufficiently quickly to the liking of the police, resulting in him receiving a dog-bite, a baton strike, and a forceful barge which knocked him to the ground. He collapsed and died approximately 10 minutes later.
The police said at the time that they had had no contact with Tomlinson until he collapsed, and blamed the protesters for hindering their efforts to help him. This story remained the official line until the Guardian newspaper released video footage. The situation that we now find ourselves in, where Ian Tomlinson is dead and no-one can be held responsible, is unbelievable.
There are three reasons why the CPS has decided that no charges should be brought. In the case of a charge of manslaughter, the CPS states that there is not a reasonable chance of conviction due to disagreements between the medical experts. The report by Dr Freddy Patel, who regarding an unconnected matter is currently suspended from duty and is facing possibly being struck off due to his incompetence, apparently outweighs the reports by Dr Nat Cary and Dr Kenneth Shorrock, who are, and remain, highly respected pathologists.
In the case of Actual Bodily Harm, the CPS maintains that the injuries were “minor”, ignoring the evidence provided by the respected pathologists.
In the case of Common Assault, the CPS has left it too late to press charges.
And in another possible charge, Misconduct in public office, the CPS has decided that the events that happened at the G20 of extreme police misconduct, does not meet the required threshold, of which the DPP states: “The threshold is a high one requiring conduct so far below acceptable standards as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder.” Apparently the collapse of the aware public’s confidence in the UK police force does not meet this threshold.
Is this a disgraceful “cover-up” as the Tomlinson family allege? I am, in many ways, hoping that it is. Public confidence must be restored. The police, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and the CPS need to look again, and admit that they have been complicit in a grave miscarriage of justice. The possibility that either incompetence and/or corruption have become so ingrained in the British justice system should not have to be countenanced. If the truth is that there has been a hidden agenda of providing the police with immunity from the law, it is at this point that the Government must ensure that it is exposed, and removed.
The Tomlinson Family want justice.
