On Question Time the next year, MacKenzie publicly repeated the claims he said at the dinner; he said that he believed some of the material they published in The Sun but was not sure about all of it. [100], The report noted that the official capacity of the central pens was 2,200, that the Health and Safety Executive found this should have been reduced to 1,693 due to crush barriers and perimeter gates,[101] but actually an estimated 3,000 people were in the pens around 3:00pm. "[304], In 2013, a formal complaint was made against David Crompton, South Yorkshire's chief constable, over internal emails relating to the Hillsborough disaster. In all but one case, the jury recorded the time of death as later than the 3:15pm cut-off point adopted by the coroner at the original inquests. During a 2011 debate in the House of Commons, the Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, Steve Rotheram, read out a list of the victims and, as a result, the names were recorded in the Hansard transcripts. [252], The story accompanying The Sun headlines claimed "drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and "police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon". [80] Andrew Devine, who was 22 at the time of the disaster, died in 2021 at the age of 55. [323][324], As the documentary included previously unreleased security camera footage from the stadium on the day of the disaster, it could not be shown in the UK upon initial release due to the 2012 High Court inquest still being in progress. Perimeter and lateral fencing was removed and many top stadiums were converted to all-seated. [46]:145 Any individuals within the stadium in need of medical attention were to be delivered expeditiously by police and paramedics to the CRP. Of those statements, 116 were amended to remove or change negative comments about South Yorkshire Police. [32] Although Mole could have been assigned the semi-final match's planning despite his transfer, that was not done. I do not consider that there is any material which should be put before the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Police Complaints Authority which might cause them to reconsider the decisions they have already taken. THE HILLSBOROUGH STADIUM DISASTER 15 APRIL 1989 INQUIRY BY THE RT HON LORD JUSTICE TAYLOR INTERIM REPORT Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty August 1989 LONDON HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE CONTENTS This work is licensed under the United Kingdom Open Government Licence v1.0 . [17] From 1974, when these security standards were put in place, crushes occurred in several English stadiums. A quotation, attributed to an unnamed policeman, claimed a partially unclothed dead girl had been verbally abused, and that Liverpool fans were "openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead". It's fine to apologise afterwards. The Leppings Lane end of the ground did not hold a valid safety certificate at the time of the disaster; it had not been updated since 1979. In 1999, Anfield was packed with a crowd of around 10,000 people ten years after the disaster. (Everyone in the office) seemed paralysed"looking like rabbits in the headlights"as one hack described them. [98], There was no means for calculating when individual enclosures had reached capacity. But it didn't cause the disaster any more than the sunny day that encouraged people to linger outside the stadium as kick off approached. An additional three victims came from Sheffield with two more living in counties adjacent to South Yorkshire. The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, at the time of the report, 95 Liverpool F.C. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong". Shortly before kick-off, in an attempt to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, the police match commander, David Duckenfield, ordered exit gate C to be opened, leading to an influx of supporters entering the pens. People are very upset by it. An apology appeared on page 10, reiterating previous statements that the 1989 headline had been an error of judgement. [124] Their report was in 395 pages and delivered 153 key findings. Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool's manager at the time of the disaster, read a passage from the Bible, "Lamentations of Jeremiah". In July 2021, a coroner ruled that Andrew Devine, who died 32 years after suffering severe and irreversible brain damage on the day, was the 97th victim. It was selected by the Football Association (FA) as a neutral venue to host the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs. I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now". They will have to answer 14 key questions about the disaster . [52] Within days, donations had passed 1million,[54] swelled by donations from individuals, schools and businesses. After the two minutes' silence, bells on civic buildings rang out throughout Merseyside. [55] Elsewhere on the same day, a silenceopened with an air-raid siren at three o'clockwas held in central Nottingham with the colours of Forest, Liverpool and Wednesday adorning Nottingham Council House. List of archive and library material relating to the disaster held at Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives. Former Sheffield Wednesday F.C. Mackrell pleaded not guilty to the two charges against him. From 2007, an annual Hillsborough Memorial service was held at Spion Kop, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. [59], During the final match of the 198889 English Football League season, contested on 26 May 1989 between Liverpool and second-place Arsenal, the Arsenal players presented flowers to fans in different parts of Anfield in memory of those who had died in the Hillsborough disaster. Flames were added either side of the Liverpool F.C. Several campaigns have attempted to get the government to relax the regulation and allow standing areas to return to Premiership and Championship grounds. September 2012 Hillsborough disaster report (7.25 megabytes), 1915 British football match-fixing scandal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hillsborough_disaster&oldid=1141795975, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from January 2022, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Articles to be expanded from January 2022, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Christine Gifford, expert in the field of access to information. An annual memorial ceremony is held at Anfield and at a church in Liverpool. Trevor Hicks, whose two daughters had been killed, described the verdicts as 'lawful' but 'immoral'.[83]. The anniversary "comes 12 days after a jury at Preston . [58], At the 1989 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and local rivals Everton, held just five weeks after the Hillsborough disaster, the players from both participating teams wore black armbands as a gesture of respect to the victims. [148][306] Following continued criticism of Crompton in the wake of the unlawful killing verdict, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings suspended Crompton from duty on 27April 2016. Other fans were pulled to safety by fans in the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace. [46]:149 Out of this number, two managed of their own accord to make their way onto the pitchwhile a third ambulance made its way onto the pitch at the direction of DCAO Hopkins, who felt its visibility might allay crowd concerns. The two teams involved in the Bradford City stadium fire, Bradford City and Lincoln City, met for the first time since the 1985 disaster in a game that raised 25,000 for the Hillsborough fund. It noted "The weight placed on alcohol in the face of objective evidence of a pattern of consumption modest for a leisure event was inappropriate. [43], South Yorkshire Police Superintendent Greenwood (the ground commander) realised the situation, and ran on the field to gain referee Ray Lewis's attention. The programme was repeated on 1May 2016, at the end of the week in which the Hillsborough inquest ruled that the 96 Liverpool football fans died unlawfully. Another psychiatric injury claim was brought to the House of Lords, White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 A.C. 455. [198] On 3April, the jury returned with a guilty verdict against Mackrell on a health and safety charge but was unable to reach a verdict on Duckenfield. A boycott of advertisers by American Liverpool fans eventually brought about an apology from him. After a 27-year campaign by victims' families, the behaviour of Liverpool fans was exonerated. [155], Echoing his 2012 expression of regret[158] former Home Secretary Jack Straw apologised to the families for the failures of his 1997 review of the disaster. [65] Despite having stronger ties to Liverpool F.C., Gerry and the Pacemakers' earlier hit "You'll Never Walk Alone" was not used because it had recently been re-recorded for the Bradford City stadium fire appeal. After the crush in 1981, Hillsborough was not chosen to host an FA Cup semi-final for six years until 1987. [156][157] Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh called for David Cameron to make a formal apology in the House of Commons to the families of those killed at Hillsborough and to the city of Liverpool as a whole. This memorial is inscribed with the words: "Hillsborough Disaster we will remember them", and displays the names of the 96 victims who died. [191] The ruling also noted that the original statements had neither been destroyed, nor had they been ordered to be destroyed. [261][262] The Financial Times reported in 2019 that Merseyside sales were estimated to drop from 55,000 per day to 12,000 per day, an 80% decrease. Two British stage plays also dealt with the disaster with different view points: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [200] On 28November 2019, Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter. [195], At a trial preparation hearing at Preston Crown Court on 10September 2018, Duckenfield pleaded not guilty to all 95 charges against him. A lengthier apology was published online. [42] People entering were unaware of the problems at the fence; police or stewards usually stood at the entrance to the tunnel and, when the central pens reached capacity, directed fans to the side pens, but on this occasion, for reasons not fully explained, they did not. It emphasised the general situation at Hillsborough was satisfactory compared with most grounds. [43] Football players from both teams were ushered to their respective dressing rooms, and told that there would be a 30-minute postponement. Mackenzie reportedly spent two hours deciding on which headline to run; his original instinct being for "You Scum" before eventually deciding on "The Truth". Hillsborough first aired in the US on 15April 2014, the 25th anniversary of the disaster. This included the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star, which reported that the match had been cancelled as a result of a "pitch invasion in which many fans were injured". Ninety-four people, aged from 10 to 67 years old, died on the day, either at the stadium, in the ambulances, or shortly after arrival at hospital. Everything was against us. "[305], In March 2016, Crompton announced that he would retire in November. ", "Hillsborough: Freemason cops banned from working on criminal probe into cover-up", "Freemasons barred from investigation into alleged Hillsborough 'cover-up', "Hillsborough disaster: Why have freemasons been banned from the 1989 tragedy 'cover up' probe? Documents disclosed confirm that repeated attempts were made to find supporting evidence for alcohol being a factor, and that available evidence was significantly misinterpreted. Hillsborough inquests: Fans unlawfully killed, jury concludes [62] Other fundraising activities included a Factory Records benefit concert and several fundraising football matches. Several British stadiums have a stand called "Spion Kop" or "The Kop". The crushing occurred during a match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, on April 15, 1989. [33], Opposing supporters were segregated, as is common at domestic matches in England. [46]:138140 Others who did leave their vehicles were then faced with the obstacles inherent in placing distance between themselves and their equipment. . Over 4,000 were still outside, crammed tightly around the turnstiles and in the holding area. A memorial at Hillsborough stadium, unveiled on the tenth anniversary of the disaster on 15 April 1999, reads: "In memory of the 96 men, women, and children who tragically died and the countless people whose lives were changed forever. [35], Three chartered trains transported Liverpool supporters to Sheffield for a match in 1988, but only one such train ran in 1989. South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright appointed chief constable Simon Parr of Cambridgeshire Constabulary to head an investigation into the matter. The jury found they did not contribute to the danger unfolding at the turnstiles at the Leppings. The tragedy was largely attributed to mistakes made by the police. [14] In June 2017, six people were charged with offences including manslaughter by gross negligence, misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice for their actions during and after the disaster. Hillsborough disaster: Witnesses give their accounts of the events that He concluded that this formed an exacerbating factor but that police, seeking to rationalise their loss of control, overestimated the element of drunkenness in the crowd. [26] This 1981 change and other later changes to the stadium invalidated the stadium's safety certificate. In response, Trevor Hicks, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, rejected MacKenzie's apology as "too little, too late", calling him "lowlife, clever lowlife, but lowlife". [115] Falconer added: "It made the families in the Hillsborough disaster feel after one establishment cover-up, here was another. [232] Supporters of Everton, Liverpool's traditional local rivals, were affected, many of them having lost friends and family. On 26July, the judge refused the prosecution's application for a retrial of Duckenfield. Hillsborough Disaster - YouTube It affirmed the position of the courts once again towards claims of psychiatric injuries of secondary victims. [71][72] The death toll reached 96 in March 1993, when artificial feeding and hydration were withdrawn from 22-year-old Tony Bland after nearly four years, during which time he had remained in a persistent vegetative state showing no sign of improvement. Liverpool is a handsome city with a tribal sense of community. April 15th 1989, Liverpool faced Nottingham Forest away in the semi-final of the FA cup, as kick-off approached a large crowd built up outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles. [314][315] On the day of the inquest verdict, Ingham refused to apologise or respond to the previous comments he made, telling a reporter, "I have nothing to say. Duckenfield admitted that he had lied in certain statements regarding the causes of the disaster. They buried their dead, comforted the bereaved and succoured the injured. [96] He said that "the Operational Order and police tactics on the day failed to provide for controlling a concentrated arrival of large numbers should that occur in a short period. A case, Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C. 310, was eventually appealed to the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and was an important milestone in the law of claims of secondary victims for negligently inflicted psychiatric injury. They see themselves whenever possible as victims, and resent their victim status; yet at the same time they wallow in it. The jury saw CCTV images of the girls and their father going through the turnstiles at 13:53. [313] In another letter written to a Liverpool supporter, also written in 1996, Ingham remarked that people should "shut up about Hillsborough". A memorial stone in the pavement on the south side of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral. [38] "There's gaps, you know, in parts of the ground. Rather than establishing crowd safety as their top priority, the clubs, local authorities and police viewed their roles and responsibilities through the 'lens of hooliganism'. . Chief Superintendent Mole himself was to be transferred to the Barnsley division for "career development reasons". [90], Ashton and Phillips were not the only doctors present at the disaster not to be called to give evidence to the Popper inquests. [4] The disaster led to a number of safety improvements in the largest English football grounds, notably the elimination of fenced standing terraces in favour of all-seater stadiums in the top two tiers of English football. FA Cup semi-final Liverpool v Nottingham Forest. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies. No known minutes exist of this meeting. The Hillsborough memorial at Anfield (featuring the names of the 96 who lost their lives, and an eternal flame) was located next to the Shankly Gates before it was moved to the front of the redeveloped main stand in 2016. [149][150] Upon receiving the April 2016 verdict, Hillsborough Family Support Group chair Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James was killed in the disaster, said:[151][152][153]. [139], On 23 October 2012, Norman Bettison resigned with immediate effect as Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, after Maria Eagle MP on the floor of the House and protected by parliamentary privilege, accused him of boasting about concocting a story that all the Liverpool fans were drunk and police were afraid they were going to break down the gates and decided to open them.
