Jules Carey acts for the family of Ian Tomlinson
Who? Jules Carey, 42, head of civil liberties and police action at national firm Tuckers.
Why is he in the news? Acted for the family of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson, who died during the G20 demonstration in London in April 2009 after being struck by a policeman and pushed to the ground.
The incident involving Tomlinson, who was not taking part in the protest, was recorded on video. However, the Crown Prosecution Service said last week that charges will not be brought against the officer as pathologists could not agree after three postmortem examinations on why Tomlinson died.
The CPS said the discrepancy in the postmortems jeopardised the chance of obtaining a conviction for manslaughter, and an assault charge could not be brought later than six months after any incident.
Tomlinson’s family has told its legal team to review the prosecutor’s decision.
A CPS statement said: ‘After a thorough and careful consideration of all the available evidence, the CPS has decided that there is no realistic prospect of a conviction against PC ‘A’ for any offence arising from the matter investigated and that no charges should be brought against him.’
The officer is now facing disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct.
Thoughts on the case: ‘The concern of Ian Tomlinson’s family that there is an institutional reluctance to prosecute police officers is hard to fault. First, the coroner refused to admit the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the first postmortem. Second, the IPCC delayed taking over the investigation from the City of London Police. And finally, the CPS decided not to prosecute the officer for any offence – this despite having evidence that the injuries consistent with the baton strike amounted to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The legal effort will now be focused on the inquest. The CPS will review possible charges at the end of the inquest, as will we. We would also expect this to be a case where the Metropolitan Police Service’s misconduct proceedings are held in public.’
Dealing with the media: ‘There were shockingly graphic images of Ian’s final moments printed in a red top which caused great upset to the family, and the bile of one columnist towards the family, only days after Ian’s death, was quite extreme.’
Career high: ‘Wringing an acknowledgement out of Jack Straw, just weeks before he lost office as minister of justice, that [airline pilot] Lotfi Raissi should be completely exonerated after being accused of training the 9/11 hijackers.’
Career low: ‘Discovering on the final day of a Supreme Court hearing how sensitive the desk microphones were that broadcast proceedings into the cafe area in the basement. It became apparent that our concerns about the line of reasoning of a particular justice had been audible to the diners.’
