Pc ‘whose blood was up killed newspaper seller at G20 demo’

Pc Simon Harwood is accused of striking Mr Tomlinson with a baton and pushing him to the ground as he prepared to walk away from a line of officers policing the G20 protests in London.

The 47-year-old – who had been trying to head home but found his usual route blocked – collapsed within minutes and later died.

Harwood, 45, from Carshalton in Surrey, maintains he used reasonable force and denies manslaughter.

But Mr Tomlinson was facing away from Harwood and would have been “taken completely by surprise” with little opportunity to protect himself from a heavy fall when he was hit in the City of London on April 1 2009, jurors were told yesterday.

The incident came not long after Harwood had been “embarrassed, if not humiliated” by his failure to arrest a demonstrator he spotted trying to daub graffiti on a police van, prosecutors said.

Opening the case against Harwood at London’s Southwark Crown Court, Mark Dennis QC said: “The assault upon Ian Tomlinson had been an unnecessary and unreasonable use of force by the defendant.

“Ian Tomlinson was not posing any threat to the defendant or any other police officer. He was displaying no aggression towards anyone nor even making any provocative comments.”

Harwood’s reaction was “wholly disproportionate” in the circumstances, he added.

“There had been no need to use any force upon Tomlinson, let alone a forceful baton strike followed by a powerful push to the back that sent Ian Tomlinson flying to the ground,” the prosecutor said.

“The display of force has all the hallmarks of a gratuitous act of aggression by a lone officer whose blood was up, having lost the self-control to be expected of a police officer in such circumstances, and who was going to stand no truck from anyone who appeared to be a protester and to be getting in his way.”

Initially, pathologist Dr Freddy Patel concluded Mr Tomlinson died from a heart attack, but questions were raised when an American tourist came forward with a film of him being hit.

Further medical reports suggested he had in fact died from an injury to his liver that caused internal bleeding and then cardiac arrest.

Mr Tomlinson was a heavy drinker, suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. He had been drinking from early morning on the day he died.

Harwood, who was tasked with driving a police carrier and monitoring radios, had tried to arrest the graffiti protester, but the demonstrator had wriggled free as others cheered. He then decided to join colleagues who were on foot in Threadneedle Street.

Mr Dennis said: “The defendant had now abandoned the role of driver or radio monitor but was assuming the posture of someone who was ready to take on the protesters, standing with his baton held in his left hand, resting on his shoulder ready for immediate use.

“The prosecution submit that by this stage his blood was up, no doubt as a result of his confrontation with the graffiti protester, and the scene was set for what was to happen two or three minutes later when Ian Tomlinson made the error of turning into the Royal Exchange Buildings pedestrian passage.”

In a statement made that night, Harwood said he had used “reasonable force in order to clear police lines”. He added: “I do not remember how many persons I struck, but done (sic) so in order to prevent any further rioting and to preserve my safety.”

Harwood also said the graffiti protester had written “All cops are bastards” in blue marker pen on the police carrier.

The trial continues.