Tomlinson pathologist guilty of misconduct

The pathologist who carried out the first autopsy on Ian Tomlinson after he died at the G20 protest has been found guilty of misconduct.

A General Medical Council disciplinary panel ruled that Dr Freddy Patel acted in a way that amounted to misconduct during two earlier post-mortem examinations and his fitness to practise is impaired.

The panel said Dr Patel was "irresponsible" and failed to meet professional standards during examinations of the bodies of a five-year-old girl in 2002, a four-week-old baby in 2003 and a woman who died in 2005.

The 63-year-old failed to meet standards expected of a Home Office pathologist and acted in a way liable to bring the profession into disrepute when he changed the woman's cause of death in 2005.

He originally decided she had died due to a blood clot in the coronary arteries. But a month later, following a second post-mortem by another pathologist, he altered the cause of death to a brain haemorrhage.

Panel chairman Richard Davies said Dr Patel's "acts and omissions were very serious" and amounted to misconduct. He said pathologists "must not set aside their professional judgment for any of the parties involved during or after a post-mortem examination for reasons of expediency or anything else".