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The pathologist whose diagnosis scuppered any charges being brought over the death of a man during the G20 protests has been suspended from practicing medicine for three months. Dr Patel concluded in the first post mortem that Ian Tomlinson died of natural causes and did not have a police contract to carry out the examination and had been suspended from the Home Office register of forensic pathologists. Today, the General Medical council suspended him from the medical register after ruling that he was irresponsible and failed to meet professional standards and that his fitness to practise was impaired after its inquiry into three other autopsies he performed. At a trial Dr Patel would have been called as a witness and such a conflict over the cause of death meant there was "no realistic prospect of a conviction" according to the Crown Prosecution Service. In a damming cross-examination, Richard Davies, head of the GMC panel told the Doctor he was: "...willing to jeopardise your professional independence by complying with the wishes of others". In 2002 he ruled that the Camden Rippers first victim died of a heart attack despite her body being found in a locked cupboard with head injuries and a bite mark on her thigh. Anthony Hardy went on to kill two women - the doctor has refused to comment. The CPS ruled that PC Simon Harwood could not be charged with manslaughter or assault despite a video showing him apparently push the man to the ground. Whilst the CPS accepted the 47-year-old was assaulted they could not prosecute a common assault charge due to a six month limit. A "stark disagreement" over the cause of death was the main reason the officer could not be charged. Since the death of Tomlinson, Dr Patel was removed from the government register of accredited forensic pathologists amid concern as to whether he has breached regulations.
Conflicting accounts
A second examination by the IPCC showed that Ian Tomlinson died of an abdominal haemorrhage, massive internal bleeding. His family were originally told he died of a heart attack. Such an injury could have been caused by blunt trauma - a video shows Tomlinson calmly walking away from police lines with his hands in his pockets then struck with a baton to the back of the legs and forcibly pushed forward, falling heavily. The results of a third post mortem, conducted on behalf of his family were not made public. He was not a protester, but was caught behind police cordons on his way home during clashes in the City of London on April 1 2009. Amateur video footage showed him being apparently struck by a baton and then pushed to the ground. He was seen moving away after the incident but was found collapsed 100 meters away in Cornhill.
Cover up denied
Indications were that the man had died of natural causes, and then there were briefings that he had been struck by a missile. Scotland Yard has denied there was a cover up. Riot police and mounted officers were involved in sporadic violence all day around the Bank of England, in what has been dubbed "the Battle of Threadneedle Street". Thousands of peaceful demonstrators were sealed off around the Royal Exchange without access to water or toilet facilities for hours in a controversial police crowd control method called 'kettleing' that hems people in.
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