G20 protest death officer to appear in court

PC Simon Harwood to face charge of manslaughter over death of Ian Tomlinson at G20 demonstration in April 2009 The Scotland Yard officer accused of killing homeless newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests is to appear in court on Monday. PC Simon Harwood, from Carshalton, south London, will appear before City of Westminster magistrates court charged with manslaughter. Tomlinson, 47, collapsed and died on the fringes of the demonstrations in central London in April 2009, after being hit by a police baton and pushed. Harwood was charged over the death after Keir Starmer, QC, director of public prosecutions, reviewed an inquest jury’s verdict of unlawful killing. Starmer overturned an earlier decision not to prosecute anyone in relation to the death after the inquest heard new medical evidence and the opinion of experts leading him to conclude there was a “realistic prospect” of a successful prosecution of Harwood. Starmer said after the inquest: “The difficulties that would now confront any prosecution have changed in nature and scale from last year when a decision was taken not to prosecute, although it is clear that real difficulties remain.” Tomlinson’s death became the subject of intense controversy after New York businessman Christoper La Jaunie handed video footage taken during the protest to the Guardian. The inquest saw CCTV images, police helicopter footage and hand-held video recordings showing Tomlinson staggering away from a police cordon after being hit by a baton. He is seen gesturing to police and appearing angry after being sent tumbling to the ground. The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said the case was “clearly a very, very serious matter for all concerned”. He added: “I have got to be very, very concerned at an inquest verdict that returns a verdict of unlawful killing involving, as the inquest did, one of my police officers. My sympathies continue to be with the Tomlinson family.” Ian Tomlinson Police London Sir Paul Stephenson Keir Starmer G20 Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 19, 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.