Ian Tomlinson inquest verdict – live updates
• Newspaper seller 'unlawfully killed' at G20 protests
• Jury: police officer used 'excessive and unreasonable force'
• Family breaks down in tears at news
• Read our news story on the Tomlinson verdict
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A still from video footage of Ian Tomlinson being struck by a police officer at the G20 protests.We've just got a statement from Jenny Jones, a Green party member of the Metropolitan Police Authority.
She says:
"Ian Tomlinson's family must be relieved to finally have public recognition of the fact that he was unlawfully killed. But the question remains as to when PC Harwood will face the consequences of what he has done. There simply has to be a prosecution to bring him to justice.
We have so often seen the police appearing to get away with serious assault or even manslaughter. From Blair Peach to Jean Charles de Menezes, Ian Tomlinson's death must not join that list."While we wait for more comment, here's a tweet from one of Tomlinson's sons, Francis King
YESSSSSS we won the case. Love u dad RIPless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
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francis
franie_kingWe're now waiting for a statement from the Met, which is due to be read out soon. The Mayor's office is also thought to be putting something out.
OK. Here's the line we were waiting for from the CPS: the DPP has now promise a "thorough review" of the evidence.
This is the statement in full:
"The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, made it clear last year that the decision not to prosecute anyone in relation to the death of Mr Ian Tomlinson would be reviewed in light of the evidence heard at the Inquest. That review will now take place and will be thorough. It will take into account all of the evidence now available, including any new evidence that emerged at the Inquest, the issues left by the Coroner to the jury and the conclusions they reached. The review will be conducted as quickly as is compatible with the care and rigour required in a thorough exercise. It accords with our usual practice and the Attorney General's review into deaths in custody published in 2003."
This is Sam Jones taking over from Paul, who's gathering some reaction from the aftermath of the inquest.
Jules Carey, of Tuckers solicitors, representing the Tomlinson family, has just released a statement. It says:
Today's decision is a huge relief to Mr Tomlinson's family. To many, today's verdict will seem like a statement of the blindingly obvious, however this fails to take account of the significant and many obstacles faced by the family over the last two years to get to this decision. The CPS will now review whether a prosecution will be brought following today's verdict and the way in which the evidence has been clarified during the inquest process.
We've now also published my profile of Ian Tomlinson: a "gentle, unassuming man who always avoided confrontation".
Ian Tomlinson's family will be giving a statement in about 25 minutes. I'll post an update with the details here.
Ian Tomlinson's widow, Julia, arrived at an earlier hearing of the inquest into his death with her stepsons Richard King (left) and Paul King (right). Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
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.
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.
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.
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.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.
The jury has concluded Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed by a police officer at the G20 protests.
The jury has taken just three hours and fifteen minutes to reach their verdict.
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.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Ian Tomlinson inquest verdict: live updates | UK news | guardian.co.uk
via guardian.co.uk
