An innocent man walks?

The face of innocence - PC Simon Harwood, a member of London's Finest

The innocent man who didn't walk was Ian Tomlinson, an alcoholic and occasional rough sleeper who held down a part time job as a newspaper vendor in the City of London. He was wearily minding his own business trying to wend his way home through police lines during protests at the G20 Summit in London on 1^st April 2009 when he his hit with a baton by PC Simon Harwood when he was walking away from the police and engaging in no threatening behaviour. He collapses in the street and dies. Days later on the fourth April the Metropolitan Police issue a statement saying the post-mortem examination shows he died of "natural causes."

PC Simon Harwood, 45, of south London, denied the manslaughter, in April 2009, of Mr Tomlinson, 47, on the grounds that he used reasonable force. Last year a Coroner’s Inquest ruled that Ian Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed by PC Harwood and his death (caused by haemorrhaging of his diseased liver and a heart attack of his diseased heart) was as a direct result of the Police assault.

Ian Tomlinson being helped by a member of the public just after he was assaulted

by PC Simon Harwood circled in the background. Police initially claimed they went to 

his assistance when he became ill and they had no previous contact with him

PC Simon Harwood who hit Ian Tomlinson with a baton and pushed him to the ground at the G20 protests has today been found not guilty of manslaughter. He had previously resigned from the Metropolitan Police (on medical grounds with a full pension as if he had completed 30 years service) to avoid facing serious disciplinary charges on a Friday and was reemployed through the Masonic back door as a civilian on the following Monday as a civilian computer operator. Less than two years later he is appointed as a uniformed PC by Surrey Police (no doubt his Brother Masons helped) and despite his previous record of violence towards a member of the public he rejoins the Met less than a year later joining the TSG (Territorial Support Group). They used to be known as The Riot Squad and who are universally referred to by their colleagues as “The Filth.”

Let us now pause and toy with a remarkable statistic. Despite over 1,000 people dying in police custody or due to police action since the late 1960s PC Simon Harwood is the first police officer to have been (unsuccessfully) charged with manslaughter. Ask yourself the simple question - what is the statistical possibility that these over 1,000 human beings who died in police custody or as a result of police action were all killed lawfully?

Ian Tomlinson being treated by Paramedics - Scotland Yard wrongly claimed 

on their website that police were pelted with rocks and glass as he was being treated 

- They later took down the claim

They include Blair Peach killed (according to the police’s own investigation) by a TSG member at an anti-racism demonstration in 1979, Jean Charles de Menezes shot with 3 bullets in the brain 5 years ago, Sean Rigg and Joy Gardiner who died in police stations and Harry Stanley, 46, from Hackney, East London, was shot in the head and the hand by the Met officers in 1999 carrying a chair leg in a plastic bag which the two officers thought was a sawn-off shot gun.

Let us think how it would have happened if it was the other way around? If a police officer had been assaulted by a protestor and died minutes later. Would there have been “mistakes” in collecting evidence which meant charges were time expired? Would they have waited 16 months to decide not to prosecute?

The police are paid from our taxes to protect us not to kill us. They must operate with our consent and within the Law and they must be held accountable.

For the full details of the assault on Ian Tomlinson and its aftermath see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/ian-tomlinson.html

For more on Policing issues see "Plod Blogs" in my blog sidebar;

Rebekah Brooks Met Police Horse Song

Hat tip Captain Swing (and "The Now Show" and "Ernie").

Ruppie’s World

Mr and Mrs Digger

Is there anything more ridiculous than The Dirty Digger Ruppie Murdoch lecturing us on Twitter @rupertmurdoch from his holiday home on St. Bart’s (Not his house on Centre Island, his yacht “Lionhearty”, etc; etc;) that we take too many holidays? Well, yes it’s the fact his Tweets are so boring! Maybe he could learn from his own low life tabloids (Which speak for the Nation and Back Our Boys) and run a countdown on when his granddaughters become legal like he did with Charlotte Church who as a 13 year old had sung at his wedding to Wendy Goldigger. Or maybe some topless shots of his family on a private beach or some up the skirt shots of your granddaughters getting out of cars.



Come’on Ruppie spice it up and get the cheap tabloid thrills going – nobody expects you as an Oxford Graduate to do it – ring your low life newshounds Rebecca and Andy for advice. No point in barking yourself when you keep several dogs?

Yours ever,

@daithaic

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/07/dish-dirty-digger.html

London Councils Summit 2011: Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe

On Saturday I went to the London Councils Summit in the Guildhall, City of London. I have never been to the 800 year old Guildhall before and was most impressed.  I would recommend a visit. It reminds me of Westminster Hall.  The theme of

this year's summit is "Leadership in challenging times".

I missed the morning session due to my ward sugary, but arrived in time to hear the keynote speaker, Bernard Hogan-Howe, the new Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police.  Who I have not heard speak or be interviewed before. 

I don't think that he started off that well by saying if Police numbers in London are reduced due to budget cuts "he will not be defeatist", which is hardly the signal to send before the budget is finalised.  Also he promised a "total war on crime" then immediately said "without being violent or aggressive". I'm not sure how you can have a "total war" with criminals without being at least a little bit "aggressive"? 

He improved as he went on. He handled himself well in the Q&A.  Answering hard questions on hassling innocent photographers, the student protests and "baton rounds" with honesty and candour.  He also knows how to tell a joke.

I think by temperament he is a no nonsense "say it as is it" northerner, a "Coppers' copper"who can also walk and talk.  We're see how he gets on with a job that is potentially a poisoned chalice in so many ways.

Anyway compared to the evil one guest speaker last year - he was a great improvement! I will post on the summit workshops later this week.

I agree with Nick!

I suspect in London tonight we have seen the end of High Visibility / Low Reality Policing by Call Centre & CCTV and publicity seeking campaigns. The Met Police is broke and not fit for purpose, not least because Boris The Great Buffoon of London has forced out two Commissioners.





Riots in Brixton



Good to see that Boris is now “rushing” back to London even though his day job doesn’t pay as much as the Daily Telegraph. No doubt his oration to the unsmiling Piccaninnies who have lost their watermelon smiles will become a modern classic. We are in safe hands.





Rioting in Hackney



Violence has broken out for a third consecutive day in London, with riot police deployed and fire-fighters tackling blazes across the capital. Shops were looted and buildings set alight as police clashed with youths. The trouble also spread outside London. Violence first flared on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police.





Fire started by rioters in Croydon



The prime minister is also returning early from holiday to chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee Cobra. David Cameron, who is on holiday in Italy, was due to board a flight on Monday night ahead of a meeting with Home Secretary Theresa May and Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin on Tuesday.



Fires and violence have also broken out in Lewisham, Peckham, Croydon and Clapham Junction. Looting has also taken place in Birmingham, while police in Liverpool have dealt with burning cars and criminal damage. More than 200 people have been arrested and 30 charged so far in relation to the three days of violence.







Yo! Maximum respect to Dave Cameron and De Eton Massive! It took Maggie's Gang over two years of attacking "Society" and de poor with de Poll Tax to have rioting on de streets. The Con Dem Gang with their reckless polarising policies have done it in only 15 Months! Aight me mate Dave!!

Tottenham Riots

It is amazing that over 15 hours after the most serious civil unrest in the UK for over 10 years there has been no appearances by any senior politician; not the PM, Deputy PM, Home Secretary or even Boris Johnson, the Great Buffoon of London. We are all in it together, unless you live in Tottenham? The same politicians who were wetting themselves to appear on TV within minutes when middle class student sons and daughters of their voters rioted in their backyard in Westminster two months ago have been totally absent today. As for Mayor Boris, who would turn up at the opening of an envelope to claim credit for other's achievements, where is he today? If he was being paid £10,000 an article by the Daily Telegraph he'd certainly turn up?


Boris Johnson, The Great Buffoon of London. Chief Political commentator for The Daily Telegraph and a Family Man according to his re-election site. Indeed.

This of course is one of the most deprived areas of London and even when not rioting doesn't appear to receive much attention. Like all such areas it is reeling under the ConDem's Coalitions savage cuts and indifference to the plight of the poor. These cuts are necessary of course so we can spend over £300 Million + bombing Libya and in London itself over £9 Billion ensuring we have an Olympics fit for commercial sponsors and the hordes of "VIPs" for which Zhil Lanes off limits to Londoners will be carved through the city.



More than 40 people have been arrested after rioting saw police attacked and buildings and vehicles set alight in Tottenham, north London. Overnight, 26 officers and three others were hurt in the violence which erupted after a protest over the fatal shooting by police of Mark Duggan on Thursday. Residents surveyed the damage after homes were looted and shops burnt down. I have deliberately steered clear of making a judgement on the shooting of Mark Duggan as we need to know the facts first. However this is not an area where the Metropolitan Police or the Independent Police Complaints Commission have a good record;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/05/any-justice-still-for-ian-tomlinson.html

Tottenham Labour MP David Lammy said: "A community that was already hurting has had its heart ripped out." The Metropolitan Police said two officers were still in hospital and three members of the public had been injured. More than 40 people remain in custody.



The BBC's Andy Moore said that since riots in 1985, relations between the local community and police had been generally good, but last week's shooting raised tensions. London Fire Brigade said all the fires were under control "at the moment" He said elements of the community were looking for instant answers but the investigation into Mr Duggan's death would be more long-term. A friend of Mr Duggan, who gave her name as Niki, 53, said those who had joined Saturday's protest, which began with a march from Broadwater Farm area, wanted "justice for the family".

Dish the Dirty Digger!

The Dirty Digger

When the history of UK Media comes to be written then the “Tale of the Dirty Digger” Rupert Murdoch will come to be writ large. This was no uneducated yokel who clawed his way up; rather he is the Oxford educated scion of a wealthy Australian Newspaper owner who more than anybody else has been singled handedly responsible for destroying the integrity of the media in Australia, Britain and the United States (of which, ever the opportunist, he became a citizen) whilst corrupting and vulgarising society. The corruption was through political patronage and endorsement, the vulgarising was through his trashy Tabloids and his corrupting of the News agenda with Fox News and the right wing Chav politics of the Sun and the News of the World or “News of the Screws” as it is known from its main fare, trashy exposes often with the help of illegal eavesdropping or subterfuge such as its notorious “False Sheik.”


The delightful Rebecca Brooks who like all News of the World editors knew nothing about phone hacking

So widespread illegality and criminality occurred seemingly untroubled by the long arm of the Law or indeed the laughable “voluntary” Press Complaints Council whose motto seems to be “Scum regulating the Scum” although it is careful to pay good money to have as its head a plausible “Lord Frontman.”

Indeed the original investigation into phone hacking was led by none other than our old friend “shy” Andy Hayman who is now on News International’s payroll, writing without any discernible hint of irony on “Policing Issues.” But now the years of rampage have come home to roost as pressure piles on News International;


Shy and sensitive Andy Hayman

Read about "shy" Andy;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/policemans-lot.html

Police warned Holly and Jessica families their phones may have been hacked by News of the World private eye

Car giant scraps adverts as Npower and Halifax 'consider' following suit

Scotland Yard contacted schoolgirls' parents in connection with hacking scandal, it has emerged


Rupert Murdoch's Long Island mansion - naturally any stalkers, paparazzi, hackers or prowlers here will be dealt with using the full force of the law. How dare they intrude on the Boss's privacy!

Revelation comes on day of claims murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler also had her phone tapped by the paper

Questions raised over whether it could have hampered police investigation into Milly's disappearance in 2002

Ed Miliband has led calls for former editor Rebekah Brooks to resign

Ms Brooks says she is 'appalled and shocked' over allegations Milly's voicemail was hacked

John Prescott has called on the Culture Secretary to block News Corp's proposed takeover of BSkyB

Shamed private investigator Glenn Mulcaire apologises to victims


The News of the Screws

This from anti-Murdoch Group 38 Degrees

How much lower can Rupert Murdoch's media empire sink? Today, one of his papers stands accused of hacking the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, causing her family even more pain, and risking a police inquiry. [1]

Rupert Murdoch's empire is now under investigation by the police. [2] But at the same time, he’s getting ready to take even more control of our media. This week, Murdoch’s expecting to get the green light from David Cameron’s government for his takeover of BSkyB. [3]

If we work together, we can make sure this week doesn't end with Murdoch getting awarded even more power. Let's stand together for higher media standards and against Murdoch's latest power grab. Help break Murdoch's grip, sign the petition now:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch-deal-petition

The final government inquiry into Murdoch's power grab ends this Friday at midday. [4] We'll deliver a copy of the petition to the inquiry - demanding that the phone hacking allegations are taken into account and the deal is halted.


PR Dave and Andy Coulson

The government wants to approve Murdoch’s BSkyB takeover. They say that Murdoch promises to respect media independence, so there's nothing to fear from giving him even more control. They want us to trust Rupert Murdoch! [5] But how can we trust Murdoch when his paper stands accused of hacking into the phone of a murdered teenager?

We’ve got until noon on Friday to prove to the government that the public wants the brakes put on Murdoch’s power grab. Let's get over 100,000 signatures by then – add your name now:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch-deal-petition

Yesterday, Murdoch's empire thought this deal was in the bag. Our people-powered campaign had helped delay things - but they had just one hurdle left. The minister in charge, Jeremy Hunt, was clearly on Murdoch’s side. Murdoch's backing for the Conservatives at the election and his executives’ cosy dinners with David Cameron all seemed to be paying off.

But now, we have a real chance to stop this power grab. [6] Across the UK, people are shocked at how one of Rupert Murdoch’s papers is accused of heartlessly abusing a family facing one of the worst situations any of us can imagine. Let’s work together to make sure this is a turning point in the battle for higher media standards in Britain.

Please sign the petition now:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch-deal-petition

Thanks for being involved,

David, Hannah, Johnny, Becky, Cian, Marie and the 38 Degrees team

PS: Would you take a promise from Rupert Murdoch at face value? Help break Murdoch's grip, add your name to the petition now:

>https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch-deal-petition

NOTES:

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/04/milly-dowler-voicemail-hacked-news-of-world
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8617299/News-of-the-World-executives-to-meet-police-over-Milly-Dowler-phone-hacking-claims.html
[3] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/01a242ce-a2df-11e0-a9a4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1REVIppSL
[4] http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/media_releases/8258.aspx
[5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/30/news-corp-bskyb-bis-jeremy-hunt-approval
[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14023233

A SCANDAL THAT JUST WON'T GO AWAY – The Diary of Shame




November 2005 The NoW publishes a story about Prince William's knee injury, prompting fears that his aides' phone voicemail messages are being intercepted. Complaints by three royal staff members spark a police inquiry.

August 2006 Detectives arrest the News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

January 2007 Goodman is jailed for four months and Mulcaire for six months after they admit intercepting voicemail messages on royal aides' phones, including some left by Prince William. News of the World editor Andy Coulson resigns from his post, saying he 'deeply regrets' what happened and takes 'ultimate responsibility' for it.

May 2007 The Press Complaints Commission says in a report that it is satisfied no-one else at the News of the World knew Goodman and Mulcaire were tapping phone messages.

July 9 2009 The Crown Prosecution Service announces an urgent review of material provided by the police in 2006.

July 21 2009 Mr Coulson tells MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee things went 'badly wrong' under his editorship of the News of the World, but insists he knew nothing about alleged phone tapping by his journalists.

November 9 2009 The Press Complaints Commission says it has seen no new evidence to suggest anyone at the News of the World other than Goodman and Mulcaire hacked phone messages, or that the paper's executives knew what the pair were doing.

February 24 2010 A Culture, Media and Sport Committee report finds no evidence that Mr Coulson knew phone hacking was taking place at the News of the World, but says it is 'inconceivable' that no-one apart from Goodman was aware of it.


John "well I be buggered" Prescott

November 4 2010 Mr Coulson is interviewed as a witness by Metropolitan Police detectives investigating the phone tapping allegations. He is not cautioned or arrested.

December 10 2010 The Crown Prosecution Service says no further charges will be brought over the News of the World phone hacking scandal because witnesses refused to co-operate with police.

January 5 2011 News of the World suspends its news editor Ian Edmondson.

January 7 2011 Scotland Yard asks the News of the World for any new material they may have in relation to hacking.

January 26 2011 The Met Police launch a fresh investigation after receiving 'significant new information' about activities at the News of the World. Ian Edmondson, is sacked.

9 February 2011 The Met Police release a statement saying officers have identified more potential victims of hacking while reviewing files relating to the original Goodman and Mulcaire case.

18 February 2011 A judge rules that Glenn Mulcaire must provide information about whether other journalists at the NoW were involved in hacking.

5 April 2011 News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former news editor Ian Edmondson are arrested on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages. They are released on bail until September.

8 April 2011 News International announces it will offer an unreserved apology and admission of liability to those suing over alleged phone hacking.

10 April 2011 The News of the World apologises for intercepting voicemails between 2004 and 2006 and says its past behaviour was a 'matter of genuine regret'.

14 April 2011 News of the World journalist James Weatherup is arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications.

7 June 2011 At a brief hearing at London's High Court, News Group - the owner of the News of the World - formally apologises to Sienna Miller for hacking into several of her mobile phones. The actress, who does not attend, formally settles for £100,000 damages and legal costs.

22 June 2011 Football pundit Andy Gray accepts £20,000 in compensation from the News of the World owner News Group Newspapers, plus undisclosed costs, over voicemail interceptions.

27 June 2011 Police arrest Laura Elston, who covers royal stories for the Press Association news agency.

July 4 2011 Lawyers for the parents of Milly Dowler confirm Scotland Yard told them the murdered teenager's phone was hacked by an investigator for the News of The World.


The murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler

John Prescott has called on the Culture Secretary to block News Corp's proposed takeover of BSkyB

Read more:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011182/Milly-Dowler-News-World-phone-hacking-Police-warned-Soham-families.html%23ixzz1RGdhyBfn

Any justice still for Ian Tomlinson?

Ian Tomlinson being treated by Paramedics - Scotland Yard wrongly claimed on their website that police were pelted with rocks and glass as he was being treated - They later took down the claim

PC Simon Harwood, a member of the Metropolitan Police's Territorial Support Group, used "excessive and unreasonable force" against Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London on 1st April 2009, a jury has decided and they found that the newspaper seller had been unlawfully killed. To reach an unlawful killing conclusion in English Law 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". They had to be convinced "beyond reasonable doubt", the same threshold used in criminal trials.


Ian Tomlinson walking past the police before he was struck

Tomlinson, a 47-year-old father of nine, had been trying to walk home from work through the demonstrations near the Bank of England on the evening he died. An alcoholic, he had been drinking heavily and was looking vacant and confused as he was repeatedly turned away from police cordons. At 7.20pm he stumbled on to Royal Exchange Buildings, a passage police had been ordered to clear. Tomlinson had his hands in his pockets and was walking away from police when he was struck with a baton and pushed from behind by Harwood.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/07/ian-tomlinson.html

Now, there are many strange stories to be told in relation to the sad and needless death of Ian Tomlinson who is no longer alive due to the actions of those who should protect us.

There is the story of a Met Police Officer who resigned rather than face disciplinary proceedings relating to a road rage incident, later joined Surrey Police as a civilian worker, applied and was accepted as a Police Officer and then transferred back to the Metropolitan Police?

There is the story of the same Police Officer who in the 17 minutes prior to assaulting Ian Tomlinson had roughly arrested a protester for graffiti to a Police vehicle, had assaulted from behind and thrown to the ground a BBC cameraman before attacking Ian Tomlinson who was walking away and posing no threat, all in view of fellow officers all sworn to uphold the law and "The Queen's Peace"?

This is the story of a Home Office pathologist Freddy Patel, who’s verdict on the cause of death (heart attack) was different to two other highly respected pathologists. Dr. Patel has since been struck off the medical register for misconduct in two previous cases where he acted as a Home Office pathologist. The Crown Prosecution Service justified its decision not to prosecute PC Simon Harwood as they said Patel's findings would provide a jury with enough reasonable doubt that the attack by the officer contributed to the death?



This is the story of Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, acknowledging there was evidence that the officer assaulted Tomlinson minutes before he died, but saying there was no realistic prospect of conviction because of "sharp disagreements" between pathologists?

This is the story of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) saying it could not bring an assault charge because such a charge must be brought within six months, and it had taken 11 months to reach a decision, due to delays by the Police in submitting evidence?

This is not a story not of a single rogue officer but of a Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which denied the true version of events until citizens and photographers who were indiscrimately “kettled” with protesters proved that the version of events circulated by the MPS was a pack of lies?


Ian Tomlinson being helped by a member of the public just after he was assaulted by PC Simon Harwood circled in the background. Police initially claimed they went to his assistance when he became ill and they had no previous contact with him

At first, the police strenuously denied any involvement with Tomlinson prior to his collapse. Witness statements immediately contested the police position. But it was the video footage shot by Chris La Jaunie and passed to the Guardian Newspaper that proved Tomlinson had been struck and pushed to the ground by a police officer. Were it not for this visual evidence, the Metropolitan police service (MPS) would have successfully denied and defused allegations of police violence, as it has on so many occasions in the past.

The police officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests could be prosecuted for manslaughter after an inquest jury ruled that he unlawfully killed the newspaper seller. Returning their verdict after three hours of deliberation, jurors said Tomlinson died of internal bleeding in the abdomen after being struck with a baton and pushed to the ground by the officer.

The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, immediately said he would "review" his decision last July not year not to prosecute Harwood. There were shouts of "yes" from Tomlinson's family when the jury confirmed their verdict that he was unlawfully killed. For legal reasons, the verdict did not name the officer, Metropolitan police constable Simon Harwood. However, they said that "excessive and unreasonable" force was used when he struck the newspaper vendor who "posed no threat".


A police cordon during the G20 summit protests. Thousands of protesters had been "kettled" by cordons as Tomlinson was trying to make his way home.

The family's lawyer, Jules Cary, said: "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." Today's verdict brings to an end a two-year wait for Tomlinson's family, who maintain police attempted to cover up officers' involvement in his death.



Let us think how it would have happened if it was the other way around? If a police officer had been assaulted by a protestor and died minutes later. Would there have been “mistakes” in collecting evidence which meant charges were time expired? Would they have waited 16 months to decide not to prosecute? The police are paid from our taxes to protect us not to kill us. They must operate with our consent and within the Law and they must be held accountable.

Before we get too excited at the possibility of judicial accountability for the death of a harmless slightly sozzled newspaper vendor who was wandering public streets just minding his own business and trying to find his way home consider this. Despite over 1,000 people dying in police custody or due to police action since the late 1960s if the police officer who the DPP said had assaulted Ian Tomlinson was charged with manslaughter it would have been the first time this has ever happened in Britain. Ask yourself the simple question - what is the statistical possibility that these over 1,000 human beings who died in police custody or as a result of police action were all killed lawfully? I suspect you would get a better answer to this question from bookmaker Paddy Power than you would from the Metropolitan Police Service, Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, or the myriad other per functionaries paid out of our taxes to protect us.

This is the story of an institutionally violent Police Force whose members believe they can behave in this manner with impunity? This is the story of one law for the Police and a different law for the public? This is the story of collusion to ensure Police Officers who commit crimes on duty are not held to account? This is the story of an innocent victim whose family are still searching for justice?

The Guardian Newspaper obtained this footage of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protest in London shortly before he died. It shows Tomlinson, who was not part of the demonstration, being assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by baton-wielding police.

TUC March against the Cuts

Memo to the Metropolitan Police; The Right to Protest does not equal the Right to be Kettled. Perhaps it is timely to remind Lib Dems and other members of the Coalition of Opportunism who are pushing relentlessly the politics of dispossession and driving the country into stagnation what at the 2009 Lib Dem conference their then Justice spokesman David Howarth said:

"The ugly scenes of police aggression and intimidation witnessed at the G20 protests and the Kingsnorth demonstrations were a national disgrace. Tactics like baton charges, the seizure of personal property and the kettling of protestors for hours on end are fundamentally wrong. They are a threat to democratic rights; they cause distress and injury, increase tension, provoke reaction and damage the reputation of the police.



These tactics must change. The police must recognise the democratic right to protest and put the protection of the public first at all times."

The tactic is not actually legal. Almost every other European court that has examined the tactic has found that it cannot be justified - the police cannot legally detain hundreds or thousands of people indefinitely without probable cause. Only in the UK have the courts found that the ancient right to freedom from arrest without cause can be sacrificed in the name of "public safety." Thus, no legal standards apply - the police have and will kettle pregnant women, children, the sick, and the elderly for extended periods without access to basic necessities. No courts have shown a willingness to stop them so far.



We have reached a point in the UK where the police can do almost whatever they like, and even the Law Lords will not stop them. There is currently an application pending at the ECHR; perhaps our EU neighbours will save us from this abuse of power.



Remember, Dear Protestors, that the Police who are paid out of our taxes to protect us and to respect our right to protest at the TUC Rally against the cuts in London tomorrow are not like us. They will start their day under the quaint “Spanish Practices” agreed with the Police Federation with “Operational Feeding.” This will be the notorious “999 Breakfast”, many will be on triple time for working “Rostered Rest Days” which are agreed 9 months in advance and all will be entitled to have overtime calculated from the NOTIONAL time they clock on at their usual “Nick” to the NOTIONAL time they get back to their usual “Nick.”

Cuts or No Cuts, many of them will double their salary through a combination of overtime and restrictive practices. That is why “ordinary coppers” who claim they can’t live on their salaries are fighting through the thuggish Police Federation to protect their Redneck Rights to holiday homes in Spain / Florida and their Harley Davidson’s. It’s only right ‘innit that they are compensated for the abuse they get and are not forced to take kickbacks from the News of the World and former colleagues in “Security” for leaking confidential information?



To those taking part in the TUC March against the Cuts tomorrow there are two sources of advice to help you stay safe – Below is the Police’s own advice and then there is a new mobile app called SUKEY.

Here is what the Police say

“Containment will be very much a tactic of last resort. If it does become necessary, again we have responded to feedback, and now have a dedicated Chief Inspector to ensure the swift dispersal of innocent and vulnerable people and to ensure the needs of those contained are considered. We will communicate with those inside the containment via Twitter, as well as face to face communications with officers at the scene.

The MPS Twitter account @CO11MetPolice will be running for fast time communication updating information about the march, and responding to enquiries as appropriate. Leaflets will be handed out on the day of the march, and we will make use of dot matrix signs on the route. Our website has a dedicated page for the march and will be updated with information, including the route of the March, road closures and questions and answers on what to expect on the day.

We have launched a texting service; to register text the word police to 83123, for updates throughout the 26th March. We will be making use of Bluetooth technology, please switch yours on. Officers have already been out meeting and speaking with businesses and local communities affected by the route on the 26th.”


What is SUKEY?

To keep peaceful protesters informed with live protest information that will assist them in avoiding injury, in keeping clear of trouble spots and in avoiding unnecessary detention. The application suite gives maximum information to those participating in a demonstration so that they can make informed decisions, as well as to those following externally who may be concerned about friends and family.

It should make full use of the crowd in gathering information which is then analysed and handed back to the crowd.



If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being detained here is a survival guide from a Police Officer!

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/06/survival-guide-for-decent-folk.html

The strange case of Smiley Culture

Smiley Culture

Smiley Culture, who died on March 15 aged 48, allegedly from self-inflicted stab wounds during a police drugs raid, produced two of the most influential reggae singles of the 1980s, notably Police Officer, a song about police harassment.

There is a strange feeling about this case. We are asked to believe a man was allowed to make a cup of tea on his own while he was being raided and a house was been combed for evidence in an alleged serious drugs case? Wouldn't it be dangerous to let a man boil hot water if he is being arrested alone in the kitchen? Wouldn't it be dangerous to allow a man to walk into a kitchen filled with knives and all sorts if he was being raided? Would experienced officers allow themselves and potential evidence be put at risk in this way? Would a suspect not be cuffed and taken out of the way as a matter of course? Also isn't it very hard almost impossible to stab yourself through your heart at close range to the point where the knife comes out the other side?



The supposedly autobiographical song ("Everytime me drive me car police a stop me superstar"), reached number 12 in the charts in 1984 and told of his being caught in possession of cannabis but being let off with a request for an autograph when the officer concerned recognised him as a reggae star. It earned Smiley Culture an invitation to meet the Queen who, he claimed, said she listened to his records at Buckingham Palace. He also appeared twice on Top of the Pops, the BBC apparently failing to understand the meaning of the term "ganja". The refrain, "Police officer no give me producer", a reference to a notice to produce driving documents at a police station, became a catchphrase on south London streets.

He was born David Emmanuel in 1962 to a Jamaican father and a Grenadian mother and grew up in Stockwell, south London. He attended Tulse Hill School where he acquired the nickname "Smiley" due to his method of chatting up girls – he would ask them for a smile. As reggae became popular he and his friends would practise "chatting" – rapping staccato lyrics over rhythm tracks.

In September last year, however, he appeared at Croydon magistrates' court, charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine. At the time of his death he was out on bail but due to face trial next Monday. The police raid on his home at Warlingham, Surrey, came after two kilos of cocaine were recovered from a drugs mule who had been apprehended trying to enter Britain – allegedly as part of a separate plot in which Smiley Culture was implicated.



There are a number of things about this tragic death which raise more questions than answers;

• For instance, why would experienced police officers let a person caught in a serious drug-related raid get up and stroll into the kitchen in order to “make a cup of tea”?

• Did David really stab himself in the heart so hard that it penetrated right through his body and came through the other side? Does this seem likely?

• Would the calculated risk of a drug-related potential prison sentence drive a person, described by those that knew him best as calculating, very calm and pleasant really drive him to such a brutal suicide?

• Why are anonymous police sources engaging in a spinning exercise by telling the press he committed suicide when the family of a man (who died in police custody) has not even had their questions answered and the matter is more properly answered by a Coroner’s Court?


The house at Warlingham, Surrey, where David Emmanuel died

Whilst the unexpected can always happen, both those who have been subjected to police raids and actual police officers agree that it sounds at best strange and certainly contrary to procedure for officers to let a person pop out of the room – unsupervised - to make a cup of tea, during a drug bust.

There are very serious questions that require clear and loud answers. This is not to prejudice the result of an IPCC and Coroner's enquiry for people under the influence of drugs (if that is the case) can do strange things. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating events at Emmanuel's house and for the sake of public confidence it needs to fully answer these worrying questions. This is not an isolated incident; no fewer than 104 black and ethnic minority people have died in police custody in the past 16 years.

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Death of Ian Tomlinson

Ian Tomlinson being treated by Paramedics - Scotland Yard wrongly claimed on their website that police were pelted with rocks and glass as he was being treated - They later took down the claim

There is outrage in the UK that yet again there is one law for the public and another law for the police. An official decision to bring no charges against the policeman who struck Ian Tomlinson minutes before he died at the G20 protests came under intense scrutiny as it emerged that the Independent Police Complaints Commission had backed a prosecution for manslaughter.

Yesterday on the 22nd July, on the fifth anniversary of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) presented their report into the death of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper seller killed in the City of London as he tried to make his way home past the police during the G20 protests on 1 April 2009.

Ian Tomlinson (1961/62 – 1 April 2009) was a British newspaper vendor who died in the City of London, London's financial district, during the 2009 G-20 London summit protests on his way home from work. A first post-mortem indicated that he had suffered a heart attack because of coronary artery disease, and had died of natural causes.


Ian Tomlinson walking past the police before he was struck

His death became controversial a week later when The Guardian Newspaper obtained video footage, taken by an investment fund manager from New York, showing that Tomlinson, who was not a protester, had been struck on the leg from behind by a police officer wielding a baton, then pushed to the ground by the same officer. The footage showed no provocation on Tomlinson's part, who at the time was walking along with his hands in his pockets. Dressed in a bright yellow reflective jacket, black uniform and helmet, Pc Harwood’s identity number was covered up and he had a scarf across the lower part of his face.

Let us now pause and toy with a remarkable statistic. Despite over 1,000 people dying in police custody or due to police action since the late 1960s if the police officer who the DPP said had assaulted Ian Tomlinson was charged with manslaughter it would have been the first time this has ever happened in Britain. Ask yourself the simple question - what is the statistical possibility that these over 1,000 human beings who died in police custody or as a result of police action were all killed lawfully? They include Blair Peach killed (according to the police’s own investigation) by a TSG member at an anti-racism demonstration in 1979, Jean Charles de Menezes shot with 3 bullets in the brain 5 years ago, Sean Rigg and Joy Gardiner who died in police stations and Harry Stanley, 46, from Hackney, east London, was shot in the head and the hand by the Met officers in 1999 carrying a chair leg in a plastic bag which the two officers thought was a sawn-off shot gun.


Ian Tomlinson being helped by a member of the public just after he was assaulted by PC Simon Harwood circled in the background. Police initially claimed they went to his assistance when he became ill and they had no previous contact with him

Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, acknowledged there was evidence that the officer, named as PC Simon Harwood, assaulted Tomlinson minutes before he died. But he said there was no realistic prospect of conviction because of "sharp disagreements" between pathologists. He said the police officer captured on film striking Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in London will not face criminal charges over his death because of conflicting opinions about the cause of death. Dr Freddy Patel conducted the first post-mortem on Mr Tomlinson's body and ruled he had died of a heart attack. That was contradicted by two subsequent post-mortems, which both found that the 47-year-old died of internal bleeding caused by a blow to the abdomen.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) also said it could not bring an assault charge because such a charge must be brought within six months, and it had taken 11 months to reach a decision. A charge of misconduct in public office was also considered, but rejected. But a direct challenge to the CPS also emerged tonight from Dr Nat Cary, the second forensic pathologist who examined Tomlinson's body. He told the Guardian prosecutors made a factual error in dismissing a charge of actual bodily harm. He said his report contained clear evidence that Tomlinson suffered injuries sufficient to support a charge of ABH. But the CPS dismissed the injuries as "relatively minor" and thus not enough to support a charge of ABH in its written reasons given to the family.

Cary, speaking for the first time about the case, told the Guardian: "I'm quite happy to challenge that. No the injuries were not relatively minor. It is a flawed approach. He sustained quite a large area of bruising. Such injuries are consistent with a baton strike, which could amount to ABH. It's extraordinary. If that's not ABH I would like to know what is."

The CPS said Patel's findings would provide a jury with enough reasonable doubt that the attack by the officer contributed to the death, and as a result they would acquit. By coincidence Patel today faced a disciplinary hearing at the General Medical Council for allegedly conducting four other autopsies incompetently. He could be struck off and the Home Office has suspended him from its approved list.

See details in the Daily Telegaph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/7904804/G20-riots-profile-of-Dr-Freddy-Patel.html


A police cordon during the G20 summit protests. Thousands of protesters had been "kettled" by cordons as Tomlinson was trying to make his way home.

But another entirely strange aspect of this tragic case emerged today. Pc Simon Harwood, 43, retired from the Met a decade ago on ill health grounds while facing a misconduct hearing for an alleged road rage incident. The officer was working for the Met during the 1990s when he was accused of a road rage incident while off duty, but retired on health grounds. He then rejoined the force as a civilian computer worker, before moving to Surrey Police as a Pc after passing a medical and vetting process, during which it is understood that he made a full disclosure of his background. He moved back to the Met in November 2004 and later given a place in the force's controversial Territorial Support Group (TSG) unit. The TSG are referred to by other police officers by their nickname “The Filth” as they have a fearsome reputation as “hardmen” even within the police service and officers who have “aggression issues” are often taken off front line policing and assigned to the TSG. One commentator asked why PC Harwood was facilitated in rejoining the service, a very good question which deserves a very good answer. Was he a brother Mason, perhaps?

Let us think how it would have happened if it was the other way around? If a police officer had been assaulted by a protestor and died minutes later. Would there have been “mistakes” in collecting evidence which meant charges were time expired? Would they have waited 16 months to decide not to prosecute? The police are paid from our taxes to protect us not to kill us. They must operate with our consent and within the Law and they must be held accountable.

The DPP decision in the Ian Tomlinson case is a whitewash which destroys confidence in the police and in the Rule of Law. No matter how much the Police talk about a new era of policing and enshrining the right to protest, the establishment has once again have allowed police officers to kill an innocent man.


The Guardian obtained this footage of Ian Tomlinson at a G20 protest in London shortly before he died. It shows Tomlinson, who was not part of the demonstration, being assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by baton-wielding police.

See also;

Jean Charles de Menezes

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/death-in-london.html

Remember Sean Rigg

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/08/remember-sean-rigg.html

Ian Tomlinson on Wikipedia

For an update (May 2011) on the Ian Tomlinson case see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/05/any-justice-still-for-ian-tomlinson.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson

Vigil for Ian Tomlinson

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/11/tuesday-candlelight-vigil-to-remember.html