A medical tribunal concluded today that Dr Freddy Patel acted with “deficient professional performance” over his postmortem investigation into the death of Tomlinson.
Met police officer Simon Harwood was cleared of killing Tomlinson by using excessive force last month, marking the end of a high-profile trial.
Patel concluded that Tomlinson had died from a heart attack, but further medical reports suggested the newspaper vendor had died from an injury to his liver that caused internal bleeding and subsequently a cardiac arrest.
An American tourist’s video footage of Tomlinson being hit by Harwood raised further questions around Patel’s investigation.
Mr Tomlinson’s widow, Julia, responded to today’s ruling by saying that Dr Patel’s “incompetence” had given the family “an uphill battle for justice from the start”.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service said of Patel: ‘[T]he panel has determined that your fitness to practise … is impaired by reason of misconduct and deficient professional performance in the case of Mr Tomlinson.”
The MPTS added that Patel’s conduct had “brought the profession into disrepute”.
Patel, who is currently suspended, was handed a four-month ban last year for dishonesty and leaving out key findings after he examined the body of a murder victim and concluded the victim had died of natural causes.
Simon Harwood, meanwhile, faces a gross misconduct hearing with the Met police, despite being cleared of manslaughter in court.
Image: G20 protests, Getty
