What we do know about that day is that around 19:00 Mr Tomlinson was walking home from work along Cornhill street when the police mounted something known as a running clearance of the area. This led to Mr Tomlinson being bitten on the back of the leg by a police dog. Moments later a police officer, now identified as PC Simon Hardwood, stepped forward and struck Mr Tomlinson across the legs with his baton. Clearly this was just PC Hardwood getting warmed up because he soon stepped forward again and struck Mr Tomlinson a second time, this time with his hand to Mr Tomlinson's back, just below the ribcage. The force of this blow knocked Mr Tomlinson to the ground where he lay dazed for a few minutes. After getting back to his feet Mr Tomlinson walked a short distance to the Bishopsgate area where he collapsed and died.
Probably even before Ian Tomlinson had officially been pronounced dead the police began covering up the events surrounding his death. By 22:00 they announced that a man who had been passing through the area and had no contact with the police had collapsed and died of an unconnected heart attack. By this time photographs, video and eye witness statements had begun to emerge that showed Mr Tomlinson had been in the area for at least an hour and had most certainly been in contact with the police. This prompted the police to change their story and suddenly Mr Tomlinson became a passer-by who had suffered a heart attack after being attacked by violent protesters. When the heroic police rushed to his assistance the same protesters attacked the police with a barrage of missiles that stopped Mr Tomlinson receiving medical attention. Again it quickly emerged that Mr Tomlinson had not been attacked by protesters and in fact the first people to give him medical attention were the protesters own first-aiders. They quickly established contact with London Ambulance Service (LAS) and were working under the supervision of a paramedic to keep Mr Tomlinson alive when the police arrived at the scene. The police's first action was to attack the protest first-aiders with batons and riot shields before sending in a police first-aider. This police officer refused to maintain contact with LAS which delayed Mr Tomlinson receiving full scale medical assistance.
On the following day, April 2nd, the cover up picked up pace and made it's most sickening turns. First the police's Special Branch used their story of Mr Tomlinson being attacked by protesters to put a family liaison team in with the family. Not only did this allow the police to gather lots of information about the family it also allowed them to effectively quarantine the family from the press and protest lawyers in the crucial first few days of the investigation. The liaison team were also able to exploit the families grief to make them take part in publicity stunts that supported the police's version of events. This included the sick little photo-opportunity on April 3rd when Mr Tomlinson's widow was paraded in front of the cameras tearing down a makeshift memorial that protesters had erected outside the Corn Exchange.
Secondly the police drafted in a specially selected pathologist, Dr Freddie Patel, to carry out the first autopsy on April 2nd. Normally autopsies on people who died in suspicious circumstances in Greater London are carried out by pathologists who are members of the Forensic Pathology Service. Dr Freddie was accredited by that service but seem to specialise in deaths where the police of medical services appear to be liable. In 1999 he carried out the autopsy on Roger Slyvester who died in police custody. Ignoring the fact that Mr Slyvester had been quite brutally restrained by several police officers during his arrest Dr Patel concluded that he had died of pre-existing coronary artery disease which caused cardiac arrest. Shortly afterwards Dr Patel was reprimanded by the General Medical Council (GMC) for giving false and mis-leading information about Mr Slyvester's death. In 2006 Dr Patel carried out the autopsy on Sandra Allen who apparently choked to death while being held in the custody of a psychiatric hospital. Again Dr Patel disregarded all the evidence and concluded that Mrs Allen had died of pre-existing cardiac artery disease which caused cardiac arrest.
With a track record like that it is no great surprise that Dr Freddie Patel ruled that Ian Tomlinson had also died of pre-existing coronary artery disease which caused cardiac arrest.
Once they'd managed to free themselves of the clutches of the police liaison team the Tomlinson family requested a second autopsy. On this occasion the pathologist disagreed with Dr Patel's findings and ruled that Mr Tomlinson had died from internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen, just below the ribcage. With an investigation already under way this prompted PC Simon Hardwood to request a third autopsy. This third pathologist also disagreed with Dr Patel's findings and also ruled that Mr Tomlinson had died from internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen, just below the ribcage.
Inspite of all the police and the state's repeated efforts to hide the truth it was obvious to all that Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully struck by PC Hardwood and did not die of natural causes. That meant that the case had to be handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to decide if PC Hardwood could be prosecuted for any of the following offences;
- Manslaughter. This is causing death by a deliberate, unlawful act but without the intent to kill.
- Actual Bodily Harm (ABH). This is deliberately and unlawfully causing actual, physical harm to someone's body.
- Common Assault. This much less serious offence is making physical contact with another person without lawful excuse of necessarily causing any injury.
In this case the ABH offence is more or less redundant. If it can be proved that PC Hardwood caused actual harm to Mr Tomlinson's body then it is also proved that he has committed manslaughter.
On July 22nd 2010 the CPS announced that it wouldn't be attempting to prosecute PC Hardwood for any of these offences. The CPS decided not to pursue the manslaughter or ABH offences because a conflict in the medical opinions over the cause of death meant the CPS felt that there was no realistic chance of prosecution. The conflict of medical opinion in question was Dr Patel's opinion versus the opinions of the other two pathologists who preformed autopsies and the opinion of any other pathologist who has read the case file. Given that Dr Freddie Patel is not accredited by the Forensic Pathology Service and is currently facing some 25 charges of unprofessional conduct at the GMC it is highly unlikely that his opinion will carry any weight at all in a criminal court. The CPS decided not to pursue that common assault charge because there is an informal, six month statute of limitations on this very minor offence. It took the CPS sixteen months to reach a prosecution decision.
This is far from the end of the matter though. The CPS can revisit their prosecution decision at any time. This is especially true if further evidence comes to light. For example if Dr Freddie Patel was struck of the medical register or is himself prosecuted for attempting to pervert the course of justice by destroying evidence in an ongoing investigation. The Tomlinson family are also able to mount a private prosecution of Simon Hardwood for Manslaughter. Given that in this case the chances of a criminal prosecution are generally considered to be very high the chances of a civil conviction where the burden of proof is much lower is almost an absolute certainty.
This is part of the reason why the CPS were ordered to announce their decision on July 22nd. Not only did it come right in the middle of the AIDS 2010 conference it came on the fifth anniversary of Jean Charles De Menezes being shot by the police at Stockwell Underground station. During the four years of inquest, prosecutions, investigation and public inquiry into this incident the De Menezes were repeatedly humiliated and exploited by the state. Therefore the choice of date was an attempt to intimidate the Tomlinson family into not taking the matter further. A clear sign if the ever was one that the state knows it doesn't stand a chance if the Tomlinson family take the matter further.
That said mounting a private prosecution for manslaughter against a serving police officer will be an expensive, time consuming and painful experience. At every turn the state will attempt to intimidate, abuse and humiliate the Tomlinson while trying to exploit the case for all sorts of political purposes. However if the Tomlinson family think they can cope then I'm sure the family can certainly cope.
Incidentally there will be a protest over the case outside the Department of Public Prosecutions, Southwark Bridge, SE1 9HS on Friday July 30th at 12:00.
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