As we go to press another killer policeman has walked away free with a smirk on his face following his trial for the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstration in the City of London on 1 April 2009. Simon Harwood, a known police thug employed by the Metropolitan Police, argued at the trial that the force used was ‘reasonable’. He killed a middle-aged frail man who was trying to find his way home through the crowds and the police barriers. At the point when he was struck from behind by Harwood, Ian Tomlinson had his hands in his pockets and was walking away from the police lines.
There is nothing new in this story. Since 1990 1,433 people have been killed whilst in police custody or after contact with the police. The vast majority of the victims have been working class and a disproportionate number from black or minority ethnic communities.
An examination of the circumstances of these killings shows many common factors, not least of all the systematic attempts by the police and other authorities to cover up the crimes. From Harry Stanley (1999) to Jean Charles de Menezes (2005), from Ian Tomlinson (2009) to Mark Duggan (2011) and Anthony Grainger (2012), a similar pattern of events emerges. The killing of Ian Tomlinson is archetypal:
1. In the immediate aftermath the police told lies to both close relatives and the press about the circumstances surrounding the killing. In Ian Tomlinson’s case the police prevented the family seeing his body, said he had died of natural causes, blamed ‘anarchist’ demonstrators for his death and when at last film footage showed a riot squad officer clubbing Tomlinson to the ground, claimed that this could be an agent provocateur dressed as a policeman. The family were warned not to speak to the press. Stories were spread about Tomlinson’s health and background; the demonstrators were vilified.
2. The police appointed a ‘tame’ and dodgy pathologist to carry out the post mortem on their behalf whose faulty conclusions were to overshadow the inquest and the trial.
3. The Independent Police Complaints Commission waited nine days before beginning an investigation which ignored witness accounts and relied on police prejudice. The Director of Public Prosecutions tried to stop criminal proceedings against the police on the grounds of uncertainty.
The Metropolitan Police has now admitted it was at fault to continue employing Harwood, who had a record of violence and bad discipline as long as your arm. Apologies come cheap; the reality is that the Tomlinson family will not see justice done and the police retain their power to use violence and coercion against the public. Ultimately they still have their licence to kill with impunity.
Jane Bennett
For more information see: ‘Licence to kill’, FRFI 207 February/March 2009: http://tinyurl.com/cgvb7um and ‘Policing the crisis’, FRFI 214 April/May 2010: http://tinyurl.com/c9pdd8h
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism 228 August/September 2012
