G20 victim’s widow weeps at death footage

RELATIVES of Ian Tomlinson wept as dramatic new video footage of his death at the G20 protests was screened at his inquest.

A compilation of CCTV, police helicopter footage and amateur video recordings showed the newspaper seller cutting a lonely figure as he was confronted by a row of heavily protected police officers.

His widow Julia wiped tears from her eyes as footage from two handheld cameras showed him being shoved to the ground by an officer on the fringes of the 2009 protests in London.

One family member walked out on proceedings as he was seen staggering about 100 yards and collapsing in Cornhill, near St Michael’s Alley.

New footage showed him being attended to by officers as he died in the road near a cafe.

Video showing his last moments became global news after it challenged the original official version of events.

PC Simon Harwood, a member of the Met’s territorial support group, originally escaped prosecution but faces being sacked under misconduct proceedings.

The jury, sitting at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street, London, was told the inquest will examine the actions of police, the pathologist and independent investigators in the aftermath of Mr Tomlinson’s death.

Prosecutors may review the decision not to charge officers over the death, the jurors heard.

Judge Peter Thornton QC, sitting as assistant deputy coroner at the central London hearing, said: “There is likely to be controversy too about the finding of Dr Patel in the first postmortem of the presence of fluid in the abdomen and to what extent it contained blood.

“But I will say no more at this stage.”

Dr Freddy Patel’s initial verdict that Mr Tomlinson died of natural causes was contradicted by a second and third pathologist, the inquest heard.

The footage showed Mr Tomlinson, in his “distinctive” Millwall FC T-shirt, gesture to police and appearing angry after being pushed to the ground by an officer with a yellow jacket.

After receiving treatment, he is seen being carried through the police cordon. Mr Tomlinson was pronounced dead 40 minutes later on April 1.

The inquest continues.