We were wrong over CCTV, says police watchdog

Violent impact: footage taken by a bystander shows news vendor Ian Tomlinson being shoved to the ground by an officer in riot gear

THE police watchdog investigating the attack on Ian Tomlinson minutes before he died at the G20 protests today did a U-turn over claims there were no CCTV cameras where the assault took place.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has backtracked after first insisting there were no cameras to capture it on film.

After the Standard discovered at least six CCTV cameras in the area, it now says its investigators are looking through footage obtained from several cameras in Threadneedle Street near the corner of Royal Exchange Passage, where the 47-year-old was violently thrown to the ground.

The turnaround comes after the IPCC was accused of trying to sweep away evidence of police brutality with footage revealing Mr Tomlinson was attacked by a Metropolitan Police officer before he had a heart attack.

Critics have also accused the watchdog of being slow to react to claims that the man was attacked by officers, saying it launched a criminal investigation only after being given video evidence taken by a member of the public.

When the footage of Mr Tomlinson's attack was made public on Thursday, Nick Hardwick, chairman of the IPCC, said it took that long to start an investigation because there was no CCTV footage available. He said: "We do not have CCTV footage of the incident. There were no cameras where he was assaulted."

However, at least six CCTV cameras appear to be trained on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Royal Exchange Passage, where Mr Tomlinson came into contact with police. Today, the IPCC released a statement correcting Mr Hardwick's initial comments. A spokeswoman said: "At this point Mr Hardwick believed that he was correct - we now know this may not be accurate. There are cameras in the surrounding area."

Campaigners today criticised the watchdog's handling of the investigation. Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said: "The clock is ticking for the IPCC. This is a body we want to believe in but they are not proving themselves capable. It appointed the City of London Police to investigate itself and that has been exposed as a shocking mistake.

"The IPCC's first big test was the Jean Charles de Menezes case and it failed that test shockingly. Now they have another chance and they better not fail this time."

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