The Ian Tomlinson Inquest.

Today, March 27th sees the start of the Coroner's Inquest into the death of Mr Ian Tomlinson. Being held at the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC) in London the inquest is expected to last for 5 -6 weeks.

For those who have forgotten Ian Tomlinson was the man who died after being struck by a policeman at the anti-G20 protests in London in April 2009. The initial autopsy was preformed by pathologist called Dr Freddie Patel who ruled that Mr Tomlinson had died of a heart attack brought about by pre-existing coronary artery disease and that the police had nothing to do with his death. Although two subsequent autopsies carried out at the request of the Tomlinson family and PC Simon Hardwood, the police officer who struck Mr Tomlinson both ruled that Mr Tomlinson died of internal bleeding caused by a traumatic injury, like a punch, to his abdomen the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) controversially decided that the confusion created by Dr Patel's autopsy report made it impossible to pursue a manslaughter charge against PC Simon Hardwood and the case was dropped.

While all that was being decided it emerged that this was not the first time that Dr Patel had provided controversial evidence in a controversial case. In 1999 he preformed the autopsy on Roger Silvestre, a young black man who died after being restrained by members of the police's Territorial Support Group (TSG) in North London. Ignoring all the evidence of physical abuse on the body Dr Patel ruled that Mr Silvestre had died of a heart attack brought about by pre-existing coronary artery disease. During this case Dr Patel was reprimanded by the General Medical Council (GMC) for making false and misleading statements. In 2002 Dr Patel preformed the autopsy on the body of a young woman who had been found dead in a stranger's apartment. Although the body showed head injuries, extensive bruising and a human bite mark on the woman's inner thigh Dr Patel ruled that the death was caused by a heart attack brought about by pre-existing coronary artery disease. The male occupant of the apartment went on to murder and dismember two further women in a case that became known as the Camden Ripper. In 2006 Dr Patel preformed the autopsy on Mrs Sandra Allen who suddenly dropped dead whilst being detained at a North London psychiatric hospital. Although the doctor who pronounced Mrs Allen dead reported that she was unable to breathe as her airway was blocked Dr Patel ruled that Mrs Allen died of a heart attack brought about by pre-existing coronary artery disease. Dr Patel's ruling cleared the hospital of any wrongdoing in Mr Allen's death by preventing an independent investigation being carried out.

After the CPS decided not to prosecute PC Simon Hardwood over Ian Tomlinson's death Dr Freddie Patel was once again investigated by the GMC, this time over his role in the Camden Ripper case. On March 17th 2011 the GMC found Dr Patel guilty of 27 charges of misconduct including gross misconduct and bringing the profession into disrepute. Although the GMC has yet to pass sentence given the severity and the sheer scale of the offences it is hard to imagine how they will avoid striking Dr Patel of the medical register, a move that will prevent him from describing himself as a doctor ever again. When this happens it should force the CPS to review the Tomlinson case because it will make the conflict over the cause of Mr Tomlinson's death a conflict between two properly qualified pathologists and a random member of the public. Something that will dramatically increase the chances of a successful prosecution.

In the meantime the Coroner's Inquest has begun. If you look at the specially selected location where the inquest is being held and it's dedicated website http://www.tomlinsoninquest.org.uk it's quite clear that the whole process is simply a charade to convince the world that Britain is a peaceful, democratic country which takes the killing of political protesters very seriously. The problem is that in Britain Coroner's Inquests are not normally held in cases where the is a chance of a criminal prosecution being brought until that criminal prosecution has been completed. This is to prevent evidence presented to the inquest prejudicing the criminal prosecution.

So by holding the Ian Tomlinson inquest now Britain is actually further helping a police officer escape prosecution for killing a protester and in doing so is endorsing the killing of political protesters by the police.