Ian Tomlinson postmortem inquiry goes public

The suspended pathologist Freddy Patel will appear this week before a medical tribunal inquiring into the way he conducted a postmortem on Ian Tomlinson. A disciplinary inquiry into whether he has been guilty of professional misconduct began in private session but is to continue in public following the acquittal of Simon Harwood, the policeman who was accused of killing the newspaper seller during 2009's G20 protests in London. Patel's postmortem stating that Tomlinson died of a heart attack was challenged at Tomlinson's inquest and Harwood's trial. He has been disciplined for other professional failings, most recently in March 2011. The General Medical Council (GMC) asked an independent fitness-to-practice panel to strike him off the professional register. The panel found Patel's 2002 reports on the death of Sally White – the first victim of the "Camden ripper" Anthony Hardy – were "irresponsible, not of the standard expected of a competent forensic pathologist and liable to bring the medical profession into disrepute". Patel decided that White, a 31-year-old sex worker, had died of natural causes despite blood staining her clothing, bedding and a wall at Hardy's flat. Patel said she had died of a heart attack during consensual sex. This discouraged a police investigation that might have saved two of Hardy's later victims. The hearing will be held in Manchester on Monday and move to London on Wednesday.