Family calls for hearing in public after Met commissioner says proceedings will be brought for gross misconduct over death

The police officer caught on video striking newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson during last year's G20 protests in London faces disciplinary proceedings, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, told MPs today.

Tomlinson later died. His family today called for those proceedings to be held in public.

Stephenson's announcement came less than a week after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would not press charges against PC Simon Harwood, a member of Scotland Yard's territorial support group. That decision provoked anger from Tomlinson's family and supporters.

The Met commissioner said the officer has been told he will face a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct after the force received an independent report into the incident. Stephenson told a meeting of the Commons home affairs committee that he was "disturbed" by the footage of Tomlinson being hit with a baton and pushed to the ground.

"I can confirm that the officer has been notified that a decision has been made to bring disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct," he said, adding: "It is right we move swiftly and it is also right that there is full public disclosure at the inquest."

But it would be "entirely inappropriate" to comment on the CPS decision, announced on Thursday, not to prosecute, he said. The incident had "cast a shadow" on the professionalism of the "overwhelming" number of officers and staff involved in policing G20.

Stephenson said: "I do fully understand the Tomlinson family and public sense of anger, having seen the video of the incident prior to the death of Ian Tomlinson.

"I do understand the level of outrage that this did not lead to a criminal prosecution, I can sense it and I can feel it."

Tomlinson died after the G20 demonstrations on 1 April 2009 in central London. The official account, that he died from a heart attack, was challenged when the Guardian obtained video footage showing a riot officer striking the 47-year-old with a baton and pushing him to the ground shortly before he collapsed and died.

But after a 15-month investigation, Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said last week there was "no realistic prospect" of a conviction owing to a conflict between postmortem examinations.

Tomlinson's family welcomed Stephenson's announcement.

Jules Carey, their solicitor, said: "There is provision in the police conduct regulations for misconduct proceedings to be held in public if it is in the public interest. There is an overwhelming argument in this case that the proceedings should be held in public. The family will be looking carefully at what the charges are, the timing of proceedings and whether they are open to the public."

Paul King, Tomlinson's stepson, said: "If the officer faces disciplinary charges now, does that mean he could get away with not facing charges for the death of our dad if there is an unlawful killing verdict at the inquest? I can see how it would look nice for the police if the officer turned up to the inquest in his civilian clothes."

King added that public support "has really lifted us up and given us strength to keep going".

Stephenson is sympathetic to the hearings being held public but would not back such a move if it unduly delayed Tomlinson's inquest.

The Commons committee is to write to the home secretary, Theresa May, over Starmer's failure to prosecute. Its chairman, Keith Vaz, has also asked the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, to review the decision.

, Grieve said he supported the CPS decision, but that he sympathised with the anger that the decision had provoked.

"No one who has seen the pictures of Mr Tomlinson's treatment that day could fail to be disturbed by them," he said. But the facts "were rightly and thoroughly investigated".

Speaking to the committee earlier, the policing minister, Nick Herbert, said he was "deeply unhappy" about the incident.

"Clearly we have concerns about what happened, as anybody would on viewing that video," he said.

"But I think we also do recognise there are still formal proceedings which have to be gone through."

There was a continuing investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the disciplinary action by the Met commissioner.

The IPCC has powers to direct hearings to be held openly, but it is thought they have only been used once. Its temporary chair, Len Jackson, said: "We have been verbally informed by the Metropolitan police that they will be recommending gross misconduct proceedings for the officer in the Ian Tomlinson case.

"We are pleased the Metropolitan police has responded quickly to the file of evidence we provided them with on Friday. We welcome their proposal and await receipt of a formal letter from the Met which will set out the full detail.

"We will examine the proposed course of action before agreeing how this should proceed and respond as swiftly as possible."

The Green MP Caroline Lucas is planning an early day motion in parliament expressing disquiet over how Tomlinson's death and inquiry were handled.

The MP for Brighton Pavilion called on the City of London coroner, Paul Matthews, to step aside because of his decision to appoint the pathologist Freddy Patel to conduct the first crucial postmortem on Tomlinson.

Patel has been suspended from the Home Office register and faces being struck off by the General Medical Council over claims he botched four other autopsies. His actions after the Tomlinson's death were also criticised by prosecutors in a document released alongside their decision.

Lucas said the home secretary should appoint a judge to oversee a "prompt and effective" inquest into the "far-ranging issues" raised by the case while the Tomlinson family should receive public funds to support their legal challenge.

The only police misconduct hearing to be held in public followed the fatal stabbing of 24-year-old Colette Lynch in Rugby in February 2005. Two PCs were found guilty of failing to conduct their duties "conscientiously and diligently" when they were called to Lynch's home. They were fined five days' pay. Lynch's former partner Percy Wright was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and detained at a secure psychiatric unit.