THE widow of Ian Tomlinson, who died after being pushed to the ground by a police officer in protests in 2009, has said an apology and settlement from Scotland Yard is "as close as we are going to get to justice".
Julia Tomlinson described the past four years as "a really hard uphill battle" as her family has fought to get to the truth of what happened to the 47-year-old.
Her husband was hit with a baton and shoved by Pc Simon Harwood at G20 demonstrations in the City of London, and later collapsed and died.
An inquest jury found that Mr Tomlinson was unlawfully killed, but Pc Harwood was cleared of manslaughter at a trial at Southwark Crown Court last year.
Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police paid tribute to the pain his widow and family have "endured with dignity".
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Maxine de Brunner said: "I take full responsibility for the actions of Simon Harwood on 1 April 2009. His actions fell far below the standard we expect from our officers. I accept the finding of the inquest that Mr Tomlinson was unlawfully killed.
"As the jury found, 'at the time of the strike and push Mr Tomlinson was walking away from the police line. He was complying with police instructions to leave Royal Exchange Buildings. He posed no threat.' Today, I apologise unreservedly for Simon Harwood's use of excessive and unlawful force, which caused Mr Tomlinson's death, and for the suffering and distress caused to his family as a result."
Mr Tomlinson's fatal encounter with Mr Harwood was caught on film by a New York hedge fund manager.
It showed Mr Tomlinson walking away from police officers, and falling to the ground after he was hit and shoved by Mr Harwood.
Mrs Tomlinson said: "Today's apology and admission by the Metropolitan Police that their officer unlawfully killed Ian marks the end of our campaign and legal case."
Mr Harwood was sacked by the Met after a disciplinary panel, sitting in public for the first time, found him guilty of misconduct.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article