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Family torn apart by his death, says widow
Kiran Randhawa and Danny Brierley08.04.09
THE wife of Ian Tomlinson today spoke for the first time of her devastation after discovering he was attacked by police just moments before he died.
Julia Tomlinson said the family had been “torn apart” by her husband's death and demanded that justice be done.
The 52-year-old said: “We are absolutely devastated. My daughters are struggling the most. They keep seeing his picture everywhere, it brings it all back. It is extremely hard.”
Speaking from their home on the Isle of Dogs, Mrs Tomlinson and her son Paul King said they believe he would never have died if he had not been pushed by a policeman.
Mr King, 26, the dead man's stepson, said: “He had never had any heart trouble in the past. There's no way he just collapsed and that's obvious now from this footage.”
The security guard added: “Before seeing this footage it was all what-ifs', but now that we have this evidence we now have the answers and we plan to take things further.
“As the footage shows, it is clear Ian was not a threat. There was no need for such a violent attack on him as he had his back to them. He had his hands in his pockets. He was just walking home to watch the football. He was just minding his own business.”
He added: “We want this officer identified and punished the way any normal person would be. We want justice for Ian.”
Mr Tomlinson's daughter Katie said she discovered her father had died from seeing his picture in a newspaper. The 18-year-old said: “I was in shock —especially as we had not been told a thing by police up until that point.”
She added her father was “a people's person” and a “fantastic guy” who would do anything for anyone. “No one had ever said a bad word about him,” she said. Her father had been an Evening Standard vendor at Blackfriars station in the past and then helped friend Barry Smith, another vendor, in Fish Street.
He lived in the Lindsey hostel opposite Smithfield Market, which is run by the homelessess charity St Mungo's and caters mainly for alcoholics who had been living on the streets.
Mr Smith said: “Although Ian had his health issues, he had never had a heart attack before. He used to be as fit as a fiddle and even ran a half marathon a few years ago. I think the shock of being hit like that brought on his heart attack.”
Reader views (1)
The officers who must have been under great stress, were seemingly under orders not to let anyone get through and probably made assumptions that he was a protester trying to do just that. In fact our police are a lot less heavy handed than elsewhere in Europe. It was a tragic accident, that's all.
- Chrissy, Halifax UK
