By News Editor Declan Wilkes

A second post mortem has revealed that the man who died at the G20 protests did not die of a heart attack.

The shocking revelation shows that Ian Tomlinson died of an abdominal haemorrhage, massive internal bleeding - his family was told by police that he died of natural causes on 1 April.

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.

He was not a protester, but was caught behind police cordons on his way home.

Jules Carey of Tuckers, the familys solicitor, said:

"The video footage of the unprovoked and vicious assault on Ian by the police officer would easily justify charges of assault being brought against the officer. The findings of Dr. Nat Cary significantly increase the likelihood that the officer will now face the more serious charge of manslaughter."

Manslaughter 

The Independent Police Complaints Commission ordered a second post mortem after the footage went public - the investigation was originally handled by City of London police.

The police constable seen in the video has been questioned under caution on suspicion of manslaughter, he has also been suspended.

There have been witness statements that Tomlinson had several "contacts" with the police.

1st examination

The first examination, carried out by Dr Freddy Patel, concluded that Mr Tomlinson had a diseased heart and liver and a substantial amount of blood in the abdominal cavity. The IPCC statement said:

"His provisional interpretation of his findings was that the cause of death was coronary artery disease.

A subsequent post-mortem examination was conducted by another consultant forensic pathologist, Dr Nat Cary, instructed by the IPCC and by solicitors acting for the family of the late Mr Tomlinson."

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 hemms people in.

On Wedenesday, the Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson asked Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, the hightest inspectorate in the land, Denis O'Connor, to review policing tactics.

The review was prompted a second video showing a woman being slapped and struck with a baton after shouting at a sergeant at a solidaity march for Ian Tomlinson. 145 people have complainted to the IPCC over the police's handling of the protests.

IPCC backtrack over "absence" of CCTV

The chair of IPCC wrongly told Channel 4 news on Thursday that there was no CCTV evidence in the area newspaper salesman Ian Tomlinson was allegedly assaulted.

Tuesday morning the IPCC initially stood by Hardwick's claims, saying:

"Mr Hardwick said there was no available CCTV footage of the incident and we stand by that. Any footage that is available, whether taken by police or by the public, will be fully investigated as and when it becomes available."

However, by 10.30am, after pictures were published showing cameras in the area, the IPCC changed its stance. Stating:

"At this point, Mr Hardwick believed that he was correct in this assertion – we now know this may not be accurate, there are cameras in the surrounding area."

The IPCC would not comment on why, almost two weeks after Tomlinson's death and one week after it saying investigators had pieced together his last moments by looking at "many hours of CCTV", that their boss had been mistaken about the locations of cameras.

Former IPCC member John Crawley has accused the commission of being "too close" to the police - the investigation into Tomlinson's death was initially handed over to City of London police.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Dr Hugh Montgomery, emergency care expert at University College Hospital London, said a sudden trauma like a blow to the body was a common cause of abdominal haemorrage.

He told the Standard:

"The most common bleed is from your gut but this would mean blood would come out of your mouth. There are only a very few causes in cases where blood isn't visible. These include an abdominal aortic aneurysm. This affects the main vessel which runs all the way down from the heart to the stomach. This can expand like a balloon and then rupture with all the blood contained inside the body. High blood pressure can be a cause but so is a sudden trauma like an assault. Another cause of abdominal bleeding is a ruptured spleen or liver. This is most likely to be caused by a blow to the abdomen."

Photo credit - Melanie Robinson