Police Complaints withdraws G20 inaccuracies
By Ian Dunt
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been forced to withdraw claims it had made suggesting there were no CCTV cameras around the area Ian Tomlinson was killed during the G20 protests.
During a live interview with Channel 4 news on April 9th, Nick Hardwick, chair of the commission, said: “We don’t have CCTV footage of the incident… there is no CCTV footage, there were no cameras in the location where he was assaulted.”
Today, a commission spokesperson was forced to retract the statement.
“At this point Mr Hardwick believed that he was correct in this assertion- we now know this may not be accurate,” the spokesperson said.
“There are cameras in the surrounding area.
“From the outset it has been a main line of our enquiry to recover all CCTV from the Corporation of London and from all private premises in the area. This work is ongoing and involves many hours of viewing and detailed analysis.”
The statement prompted a flurry of concern in political circles.
Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth said: “This investigation has been characterised by the authorities jumping to conclusions and issuing inaccurate statements.
“This latest U-turn hardly adds to public confidence in this inquiry. There is clearly no shortage of footage of the incident concerned.”
Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack minutes after being assaulted by a policeman during the G20 protests on April 1st. Video footage shows him walking away from the police with his hands in his pockets when he is struck by a baton and pushed to the floor.
