Why Was Ian Tomlinson in a Bail Hostel?

[nick1982]

Had he been in prison? If so,why?

I don't want a debate about the protests and the police. I'm just want to find out the answers to these questions.

[nick1982]

Correction - I just want to find out the answers to these questions.

[Leo-Ireland]

Do you think the police might be trying to blacken his name? I don't know if he ever was in a bail hostel, but i do know he was subjected to unacceptable violence from someone who was supposed to be upholding the law.

[jno]

as far as I know he was an alcoholic and lived in shelter for the homeless. If he'd been in prison, you can bet the police spin doctors would have leaked his record by now.

[hc4361]

He was living in a bail hostel, but if he was remanded on bail until his trial, he had not been found guilty of anything.
Being in a bail hostel does not mean he has been in prison. He was a homeless alcoholic, and in those circumstances it is not unusual to make living in a bail hostel part of the conditions of bail while waiting for trial.

[Gromit]

Ah, he was in a bail hostel, obviously was a trouble maker and deserved everything he got.

Is that the message are are supposed to take?

[Mr Veritas]

Are you sure you are not confusing him with Ricky Tomlinson (the actor) who, to quote, was:~

"Before becoming an actor, Ricky Tomlinson was a militant trade unionist. In 1973 he was imprisoned for 15 months for organising flying pickets as part of a building workers' strike. An MI5 / Special Branch file at the time described him as "a subversive... a left-wing activator, prone to violence, and a political thug".

Just a thought?

[sp1814]

Just a point...it might not be the police who released this information. It might very well be the press.

However it does seem to follow a bit of a pattern.

Remember in the days after Jean Charles de Menezes that story started to circulate that he was wanted in an investigation into a rape?

Turned out to be a load of baloney.

[paraffin]

Hi nick:

People living in Bail Hostels are there because they do not have what a Court would call "a fixed abode". Mr Tomlinson had obviously appeared in Court accused of whatever, his case must have been adjourned, for whatever reason(s), he was granted Bail by the Court to what they considered a suitable address, which, in this case, appears to have been a Bail Hostel address.

It does not mean that Mr Tomlinson had ever been in prison. He may well have never been in any kind of trouble with the authorities previously.

Hope this helps to explain.

[DSnewsKE]

No doubt the woman who was beaten up will have stolen a pint of milk when she was twelve.

[Rollo]

The ex-Downing Street Spinner is now spinning for the MET I expect.