Tomlinson unlawfully killed, inquest rules

•  Newspaper seller ‘unlawfully killed’ at G20 protests • Jury took just over three hours to reach verdict • Family breaks down in tears at news • Read our news story on the Tomlinson verdict • Follow live updates and reaction here 3.55pm: Ian Tomlinson’s family will be giving a statement in about 25 minutes. I’ll post an update with the details here. 3.53pm: We’ve just published my news story on the verdict , which recaps the evidence from the hearing and explains how jurors were given 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 July that complications with medical evidence led him to believe prosecutors were unlikely to prove a cause of death. His decision was supported by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve. Both will now have to consider how a jury of seven men and four women concluded Tomlinson died as a result of being pushed by Harwood. 3.47pm: A quick word on the importance of “unlawful killing” as a verdict. To reach an unlawful killing conclusion, the jury were required to have been satisfied to a higher burden of proof than the other possible verdicts, which could have been reached “on the balance of probabilities”. But to reach the unlawful killing verdict, the jury had to be convinced “beyond reasonable doubt”, the same threshold used in criminal trials. 3.45pm: For legal reasons, the jury was not permitted to name “the police officer”, but we know that he was PC Simon Harwood, a member of the Metropolitan Police’s Territorial Support Group. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, who decided in July last year not to prosecute Harwood for manslaughter, will now be under intense pressure to reverse that decision. An official Crown Prosecution Service review of the decision not to prosecute Harwood is now under way. 3.42pm: The court was caught unaware by the jury’s quick decision. They returned to the room and answered four short questions, known as the inquisition. What was the name of the deceased? Ian Tomlinson. What was the cause of his death? Injury or disease? Abdominal haemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen in association with cirrhosis of the liver. If the person died of injury, what were the circumstances? Mr Tomlinson was on his way home from work on the 1st of April 2009 during the G20 demonstration. He was fatally injured at around 19.20pm on Royal Exchange Buildings … This was the result of a baton strike from behind and a push by the officer which caused Ian Tomlinson to fall heavily. The jury said both the baton strike and the push were “unreasonable”. “As a result, Mr Tomlinson suffered internal bleeding which led to his collapse within a few minutes and his subsequent death.” The jury decided that at the time of the strike and push Tomlinson was was walking away from the officer and “posed no threat”. What is the jury’s conclusion as to the death? Unlawful killing. 3.37pm: Ian Tomlinson’s family could be heard shouting “yes” at the verdict. His wife, Julia, six of their children are present at the hearing and have broken down, crying. 3.34pm: The jury has concluded Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed by a police officer at the G20 protests. 3.32pm: The jury has taken just three hours and fifteen minutes to reach their verdict. 3.30pm: Welcome back to the Ian Tomlinson inquest blog. The verdict is now imminent. For five weeks eleven men and women have heard detailed evidence about Tomlinson’s death at the G20 protests on April 1, 2009. They heard how he was struck with a baton and pushed to the ground by Metropolitan police officer Simon Harwood at 7.20pm. Tomlinson collapsed just under three minutes later. They retired to deliberate their findings at 11.15am. They are about to come back and deliver their verdict. Police Metropolitan police Protest London G20 Ian Tomlinson Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.