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| Tomlinson death case officer faces Met disciplinary hearing | Tomlinson death case officer faces Met disciplinary hearing |
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| The police officer cleared of killing Ian Tomlinson on the fringes of the G20 protests in London will this week face further scrutiny into his conduct through an internal Metropolitan police disciplinary hearing which, unusually, will be held in public. It will be only the second time such an internal police hearing will take place in the open since a 2008 law gave the Independent Police Complaints Commission powers to compel this in instances with particular public interest. | The police officer cleared of killing Ian Tomlinson on the fringes of the G20 protests in London will this week face further scrutiny into his conduct through an internal Metropolitan police disciplinary hearing which, unusually, will be held in public. It will be only the second time such an internal police hearing will take place in the open since a 2008 law gave the Independent Police Complaints Commission powers to compel this in instances with particular public interest. |
| A three-strong panel, comprising two police officers and a member of the public, will decide whether PC Simon Harwood's baton strike and push on Tomlinson as the 47-year-old bystander walked away from police lines on the evening of 1 April 2009 amounted to misconduct, and if so whether he should be sacked from the force or face another sanction. In July a jury acquitted Harwood, a member of the Met's elite the Territorial Support Group public order unit, of manslaughter following one of the most high-profile cases of alleged police misconduct in recent years. Harwood conceded his actions were excessive in retrospect but insisted he was reacting to a perceived threat following a day of wide disorder. | A three-strong panel, comprising two police officers and a member of the public, will decide whether PC Simon Harwood's baton strike and push on Tomlinson as the 47-year-old bystander walked away from police lines on the evening of 1 April 2009 amounted to misconduct, and if so whether he should be sacked from the force or face another sanction. In July a jury acquitted Harwood, a member of the Met's elite the Territorial Support Group public order unit, of manslaughter following one of the most high-profile cases of alleged police misconduct in recent years. Harwood conceded his actions were excessive in retrospect but insisted he was reacting to a perceived threat following a day of wide disorder. |
| The verdict left Tomlinson's family in something of a legal limbo: just over a year before another jury, at the inquest into Tomlinson's death, ruled he was unlawfully killed by Harwood. The disciplinary panel will know details of Harwood's past record which were not disclosed to the jury for legal reasons, notably that he quit the Met on health grounds in 2001 shortly before an earlier planned disciplinary hearing into claims he illegally tried to arrest a driver after a road rage incident while off duty, altering his notes to retrospectively justify the actions. Harwood was nonetheless able to join another force, Surrey, before returning to serve with the Met in 2005. The 45-year-old also allegedly punched, throttled, kneed or threatened other suspects while in uniform in other incidents. | The verdict left Tomlinson's family in something of a legal limbo: just over a year before another jury, at the inquest into Tomlinson's death, ruled he was unlawfully killed by Harwood. The disciplinary panel will know details of Harwood's past record which were not disclosed to the jury for legal reasons, notably that he quit the Met on health grounds in 2001 shortly before an earlier planned disciplinary hearing into claims he illegally tried to arrest a driver after a road rage incident while off duty, altering his notes to retrospectively justify the actions. Harwood was nonetheless able to join another force, Surrey, before returning to serve with the Met in 2005. The 45-year-old also allegedly punched, throttled, kneed or threatened other suspects while in uniform in other incidents. |
| The hearing has no legal force, meaning that Harwood is not obliged to attend. The only other public hearing concerning officers accused of failing in their duty when they did not respond to repeated calls from Colette Lynch, a young woman in Rugby, Warwickshire, about threats from her ex-partner. He stabbed her to death days later. | The hearing has no legal force, meaning that Harwood is not obliged to attend. The only other public hearing concerning officers accused of failing in their duty when they did not respond to repeated calls from Colette Lynch, a young woman in Rugby, Warwickshire, about threats from her ex-partner. He stabbed her to death days later. |
| Deborah Glass, the IPCC's deputy head, announced in March last year that Harwood's hearing should also be public. Glass first consulted with Tomlinson's family, police and other potential witnesses on the idea of a public hearing. While Tomlinson's relatives supported this, 11 of the 13 individual police officers she contacted were opposed. | Deborah Glass, the IPCC's deputy head, announced in March last year that Harwood's hearing should also be public. Glass first consulted with Tomlinson's family, police and other potential witnesses on the idea of a public hearing. While Tomlinson's relatives supported this, 11 of the 13 individual police officers she contacted were opposed. |
| The Met's official position was that a public hearing was necessary to "maintain and if necessary restore public faith" in the police force. However, speaking about the case, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley of the Met police said there was no plan to extend public disciplinary hearings to other cases. | The Met's official position was that a public hearing was necessary to "maintain and if necessary restore public faith" in the police force. However, speaking about the case, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley of the Met police said there was no plan to extend public disciplinary hearings to other cases. |
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