In the longest running inquest in British legal history and possibly the biggest policing cover up ever, a Coroner's Jury found retired Police Superintendent David Duckenfield and other senior commanders responsible for the unlawful killing of 96 soccer fans.
The unlawful killing finding was the key component of the 14 counts and now invites criminal manslaughter charges to be filed. That decision will be taken by Assistant Police Commissioner John Stoddart, appointed directly by Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012 to run Operation Resolve. It is the official investigation that would then refer evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Duckenfield is part of a group of senior officials under suspicion for gross negligence manslaughter
It's just the beginning though of an avalanche of legal activity. According to the Telegraph: "Duckenfield is part of a group of senior officials under suspicion for gross negligence manslaughter (while) officers are separately considering corporate cases against South Yorkshire Police, the Football Association and Sheffield Wednesday FC as they prepare to send files to the Crown Prosecution Service by Christmas".
May's Operation Resolve will be tracked closely by her opposite number in the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet, Andy Burnham, a key figure in forcing the investigation to be re-opened 7 years ago. Additionally a police panel will conduct a separate internal investigation having had to ditch the conclusions of the one at the time, another whitewash that may yet come under scrutiny itself.
The stadium disaster occurred at a football (soccer) match on April 15th 1989 at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during an FA Cup Semi Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. As crowd management by the Sheffield police failed to funnel Liverpool fans into the stadium quickly enough and in an evenly distributed enough way before kick-off, police commanders fatefully ordered the opening of additional gates causing a rush resulting in two already full enclosures to be massively and very quickly overfilled, while two more enclosures were largely unused.
The two central terraced enclosures were standing room sections and the overfilling caused those at the front to be crushed up against the fencing separating the supporters from the field of play. As a barrier broke under the strain, 96 died by asphyxiation including the youngest, Jon-Paul Gilhooley , the 10 year old cousin of future Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard. Another 766 were injured, some of whom suffer to this day.
The police quickly told the FA, the games governing body in the UK, that drunken fans were at fault
The police quickly told the FA, the games governing body in the UK, that drunken fans were at fault. The media ran with the story and in some cases embellished it. The Sun was the worst--saying on its front page that Liverpool fans "picked the pockets of victims, urinated on cops and beat up another policeman giving the kiss of life".
But none of it was true! Then ensued an ongoing cover-up spanning years. Based on information by the police to cover their tracks, the original Coroner on the scene blood tested all the dead for alcohol including the children.
Later on, 164 rank and file officers who had acted to protect human life were secretly 'expected' to change their statements (sanitized was the official term used 6 years later) to avoid contradictions of the official line. Testimonies such as lack of radios, lack of command structure, and being seriously undermanned were removed from the official record.
According to the ESPN documentary 30 for 30, BBC Match of the Day commentator John Motson was heard identifying the problem at 225pm from his commentary position. 10 minutes later police officers were reportedly sounding afraid of the situation on the radio with one saying "open the gates or people are going to die." While fans tried to climb the barriers inside the stadium onto the pitch to alleviate the crush police initially tried to tell them to go back. PC Douglas Earles said it was obvious that the middle pens were overcrowded. The match was stopped 3:06 (6 minutes after kick-off) and police began opening pens at front to let people onto the pitch.
For the benefit of TV, John Motson was told that an outside gate was broken and people without tickets got in and that's why the crush occurred. But in truth David Duckenfield, stationed in the stadium control room from where he could see everything, knew he had ordered the gate opened. Regardless the story was successfully sold along with the competing drunken fans story.
But family members of the deceased didn't buy the official line and their instincts proved to be correct. After more than 2 decades of campaigning by the Hillsborough Justice Committee, led by warriors such as Margaret Aspinall and the late Anne Williams, a national petition forced debate in Parliament after garnering the necessary 250,000 signatures.
Meanwhile MP Andy Burnham, who had become convinced the truth had not been revealed, set up the Hillsborough Independent Panel to oversee the release of documents and assess what understanding it added. This finally led to the release of all the evidence in 2012. The results were shocking!
The front-page newspaper headlines alone told the essential truths! "the police lied and lied" yelled the Daily Mail; "41 Lives could have been saved" said the Mirror; "the shocking cover-up" said the Express continuing "the truth is revealed over the deaths of 96 innocent fans"; while the Star stated what has now become the official finding "Liverpool fans were NOT to blame".
The Sun tried to cover its tracks with a front page correction and apology but to this day Liverpool's global fan base has refused to accept it and most fans won't even say or write the name of the newspaper, let alone buy a copy. The soon to follow wiretapping scandal at The Sun's sister paper The News of the World perhaps validating their beliefs that the paper's apologies were meaningless.
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Hillsborough is not over! Who will be charged and with what has still to be determined!
The original Coroners verdict was overturned by the High Court and a new inquest ordered. 3 1/2 years on families are experiencing an onslaught of emotion with the official conclusions ranging from joy to relief to yet melancholy reflection with the knowledge that no action can bring back those that were lost.
That this has dragged on for 27 years is a commentary on what happens to a society whose moral values have been superseded by the prideful protection of reputations without regard for the value of holding to truth. "Give me liberty or give me death" has been replaced by "keep it quiet will you, and make others do the same".
Burnham underscored this right after the verdicts were read with a statement saying: "Disgracefully, slurs have been thrown around in this courtroom about supporters of Liverpool football club. Disgracefully, the cover-up has continued in this courtroom. Disgracefully, public money has been spent on those lies and putting these families through hell once again. I find that completely unacceptable. People must be held to account for their actions. Prosecutions must follow."
Hillsborough is not over! Who will be charged and with what has still to be determined! Will there be trials or pleas remains to be seen. The idea of Police Commanders going into the general prison population is unfathomable, yet it is hard to see an alternative given the magnitude of the findings. Justice and her consequences have stalked the liars like a predator for this long and now it seems she is close to having her way.
In the longest running inquest in British legal history and possibly the biggest policing cover up ever, a Coroner's Jury found retired Police Superintendent David Duckenfield and other senior commanders responsible for the unlawful killing of 96 soccer fans.
The unlawful killing finding was the key component of the 14 counts and now invites criminal manslaughter charges to be filed. That decision will be taken by Assistant Police Commissioner John Stoddart, appointed directly by Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012 to run Operation Resolve. It is the official investigation that would then refer evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.
