The inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson, who died during the G20 protests in 2009, will commence on Monday 28 March 2011 and is expected to last for of 5-6 weeks. It is expected to sit from Monday to Thursday from 10.00am – 4.00pm. The family welcomes supporters to attend.

An inquest is a legal investigation that is open to the public. Its purpose is to establish who the person was and where, when and how they died.

The inquest will be conducted by the Chief Coroner, Judge Peter Thornton QC, who replaces the City of London Coroner Paul Matthews. Hearings will take place at the International Dispute Resolution Centre at 70 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1EU.


First day

If you are attending on the first day it is recommended that you arrive at 9.00am.

Seating

At the time of posting this article, we still await the City of London Corporation to set up a dedicated website giving full details about the inquest including information for the public around entry. We will provide a link to this when it becomes available. In the meantime, we are providing some general information about what to expect and will amend this as further details become available:

Seats for the court are likely to be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

There will also be a separate ‘link room’, in addition to the court room, with a live audio-visual link.

It is anticipated that one-day seating passes for the court will be issued. To avoid disappointment it is advisable to arrive at 9:00am to queue for these. It is also likely that there will be some delays as a result of a security and bag check. Given the size of courtrooms and the need to accommodate interested persons, the jury and media representatives, seating spaces in the public gallery will be limited.

Those attending the inquest should anticipate that both the courtroom and the link-room are likely to be subject to the same restrictions as would apply to other courts. It is anticipated that when the court is sitting the use of mobile telephones, blackberries, recording equipment, cameras, personal stereos and eating and drinking will be prohibited.