Blair wasn't a martyr.. he was just a good man who met a pointless, awful death; Killed when cops charged in 1979.. but still no justice.

Byline: MELISSA THOMPSON

THE shocking images of events leading up to the death of Ian Tomlinson - showing him apparently being knocked to the ground by a policeman - are a chilling reminder of a case exactly 30 years ago.

An inquest has now been opened into the death of newspaper seller Mr Tomlinson, 47, who died on a London street amid last week's G20 protests. And a police officer has been suspended over the incident.

But the news reports will have seemed too frighteningly familiar to the family and friends of Blair Peach.

Blair, a 33-year old teacher, died while taking part in a demonstration against the National Front in Southall, West London, on April 23, 1979. He was killed when 3,000 policemen attempted to disperse protesters.

One eyewitness said at the time: "I have never seen such unrestrained violence against demonstrators.

"The Special Patrol Group were just running wild." The Special Patrol Group (SPG), an independent police division, dealt with "serious public disorder".

In 1987, it was replaced by the Territorial Support Group - whose officers policed last week's G20 protests in London.

Blair was struck on the head during the police charge. He was found bleeding by the side of the road and pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Three decades on, no one has ever been charged with any crime related to his killing.

A spokesman for anti-fascist magazine Searchlight said: "Blair was incredibly brave - he taught in schools where parents of kids were often open National Front supporters.

"This was a time when the NF were very active - there were lots of attacks on Asian properties, a lot of inter-racial killings. It was a seriously bad time and you had to be brave to get involved and speak up against it."

Born in New Zealand, Blair had come to London aged 23 to teach at a special needs school in the East End. A community activist, he was a member of the Socialist Workers Party and was active in demonstrating against the National Front.

The NF grew so concerned about his influence that they even tried to take matters into their own hands.

"Blair was so effective at trying to educate the kids against that kind of prejudice that the NF decided to teach him a lesson," said the Searchlight spokesman.

"A few of their top men went to an East London pub known to have connections with villains. They found half a dozen of the roughest guys and offered them money to beat up Blair.

"And you know what? They were lucky to get out of that pub in one piece.

"These guys said, 'He may hang out with p***s but he teaches our kids and he's a bloody good teacher, so f*** off before we teach you a lesson.'" On the day he died, Blair was taking part in an Anti-Nazi League demonstration, protesting against the decision to let the NF hold a meeting in Ealing town hall.

According to Socialist Worker magazine, the NF had pledged to "bulldoze Southall to the ground and replace it with an English hamlet".

When the protesters reached the town hall, the police charged. In the ensuing panic, truncheons were raised - some demonstrators were cornered in a churchyard, others fled to the temporary headquarters, a house in nearby Park Road.

"They were beating people horribly," said one of Blair's fellow protesters. "They just ran riot.

"There was a house which was being used as a first aid centre, with trained doctors. The police battered down the front doors, assaulted medical staff and even those who were already injured. It was chaos."

Blair's girlfriend, social worker Celia Stubbs, said at the time: "Blair had gone to the demonstration ahead of me. We never joined up - police cordoned off the town - so I didn't see what happened to him.

"I'd been on a lot of ANL demos. But Southall was different. People were very angry. There was such a mass of police, many on horseback, and we were boxed in. It was very frightening.

"When I got back to Hackney, where we were living, I got a phone call from the hospital. They said Blair was in a bad condition and I should come immediately. When I got there, he was dead.

It emerged quickly that he'd been killed not by the National Front but by the Special Patrol Group.

"The inquest verdict was death by misadventure, but I believe it wasn't a misadventure. There were 13 eyewitnesses who'd seen a policeman strike Blair."

The inquest was one of the longest in legal history. Over 80 witnesses gave evidence - including 40 SPG officers. None admitted striking him and no officer was ever charged with Blair's death.

It later emerged that several SPG members had crowbars, baseball bats and sledgehammers in their lockers. A pathologist also revealed that the damage to Blair's skull could not have been inflicted by a truncheon - but rather by a heavy police radio.

Celia also claimed that all the SPG uniforms were dry-cleaned straight after Southall, so investigators weren't able to gather any forensic evidence.

The outrage reached Westminster, with 79 MPs calling for a public inquiry - a request denied by the Government. In 1999, Celia asked Home Secretary Jack Straw to reinvestigate. That too was ruled out.

Today, 30 years after his death, those who knew Blair don't remember him as a martyr - but simply as a good teacher who met a horrible, pointless death.

"If Blair symbolises anything, he's a symbol of something very good about teachers," said our Searchlight source. "He took responsibility for kids in an area where the NF were rampant.

"He tried to drum a bit of decency in them when they might not have been getting any at home.

"He didn't have to go to a school like that, or protest against racism the way he did. He got involved. He wanted to do something good. He was a solid guy."

The then Home Office minister Paul Boateng said: "Lessons have been learned from the circumstances of his death about the policing of public order incidents and the importance of good policecommunity relations... it is right that we should commemorate the anniversary of his death.

"I look forward to doing so in a way that recognises how far we have come since then."

Those words might sound rather hollow now to the friends and family of Ian Tomlinson.

CAPTION(S):

SALUTES Clenched fists hail Blair's coffin, as it is carried out of Southall PROTEST Demanding answers in 1980 CAUGHT ON CAMERA Police and Ian Tomlinson last week PROTEST Demanding answers in 1980 ANGRY Celia Stubbs, Blair's girlfriend REPORT Daily Mirror, 1979