G20 death: Ian Tomlinson died from bleeding stomach

Ian Tomlinson died of an abdominal haemorrhage and not a heart attack, a second post-mortem has shown. The newspaper vendor, who was struck and shoved to the ground by police during the G20 protests, was initially thought to have died from a heart attack. But a second examination contradicted these findings, Mr Tomlinson's family solicitor said. The post-mortem, carried out by Dr Nat Cary at the request of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and Mr Tomlinson's family, rejected the earlier conclusion of Dr Freddy Patel that Mr Tomlinson died from coronary artery disease. It said: "Dr Cary's opinion is that the cause of death was abdominal haemorrhage. The cause of the haemorrhage remains to be ascertained. Dr Cary accepts that there is evidence of coronary atherosclerosis but states that in his opinion its nature and extent is unlikely to have contributed to the cause of death." The news came as the IPCC revealed an officer suspended over Mr Tomlinson's death has been questioned under caution for manslaughter. Mr Tomlinson's son Paul King said: "First we were told that there had been no contact with the police, then we were told that he died of a heart attack. Now we know that he was violently assaulted by a police officer and died from internal bleeding. "As time goes on, we hope that the full truth about how Ian died will be made known." He said the family hoped there would be a "prompt referral" to the Crown Prosecution Service for charge.

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ITN | April 17, 2009

Tags:. .nature. .carried. .full. .vendor. .caution