Tomlinson unlawfully killed
The BBC are reporting that Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed when a police officer hit the newspaper seller with a baton and pushed him to the ground. Should the officer now face charges? There are a few potential charges: Common assault; Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH); Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, s.20 (GBH) Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, s. 18 (GBH) Manslaughter. All forms of assault are basically the same; all require an assault (usually by way of battery). The difference between the offences is the level of injury caused to the victim. So, common assault there will be little or no injury. The injury needed to get home on an ABH is defined as being "more than merely trifling" and GBH is commonly accepted to involve the breaking or both layers of the skin, although you'd probably find yourself facing a GBH charge if you smashed somebodies skull in without killing them The difference between the two types of GBH i...