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[316], In March 2018, British clothing retailer Topman marketed a T-shirt which was interpreted by members of the public, including relatives of Hillsborough victims, as mocking the disaster. [140][141][142] Bettison denied the claim, and other allegations about his conduct, saying:[143]. I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster. The prosecution ended on 24July 2000, when Murray was acquitted and the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of Duckenfield. I have never, since hearing the Taylor evidence unfold, offered any other interpretation in public or private. [56], The FA chief executive Graham Kelly, who had attended the match, said the FA would conduct an inquiry into what had happened. "[303], Popplewell was criticised for the comments, including a rebuke from a survivor of the Bradford fire. Fans' behaviour, to the extent that it was relevant at all, made the job of the police, in the crush outside Leppings Lane turnstiles, harder than it needed to be. The error staring them in the face was too glaring. By 22 October 2012, the names of at least 1,444 serving and former police officers had been referred to the IPCC investigation. [240], Initial media coveragespurred by what Phil Scraton calls in Hillsborough: The Truth "the Heysel factor" and "hooligan hysteria"began to shift the blame onto the behaviour of the Liverpool fans at the stadium, making it a public order issue. The findings concluded that 164 witness statements had been altered. In the following days and weeks, South Yorkshire Police (SYP) fed the press false stories suggesting that football hooliganism and drunkenness by Liverpool supporters had caused the disaster. "[304], In 2013, a formal complaint was made against David Crompton, South Yorkshire's chief constable, over internal emails relating to the Hillsborough disaster. Failure to put Hillsborough on front page a shocking misjudgement", "FHM Australia, pulled after Hillsborough comments", "FHM faces a boycott after Hillsborough 'joke', "The truth about that awful Boris Johnson 'quote' on Hillsborough", "Hillsborough: Boris Johnson 'very, very' sorry for blaming Liverpool fans", "Hillsborough: Boris Johnson apologises for slurs in 2004 Spectator article", "Hillsborough papers: Boris Johnson apologises over article", "United fans want to end Hillsborough chants", "Manchester United fan groups want end to sick chants", "Hillsborough disaster: Sir Oliver Popplewell outrages campaigners with comments", "Former judge tells Hillsborough families to drop 'conspiracy theories', "Hillsborough disaster: Probe into South Yorkshire police email", "Hillsborough verdict finds Liverpool fans unlawfully killed, fans blameless and shocking police failures", "South Yorkshire Police chief suspended over Hillsborough", "Civil servant sacked for offensive Wikipedia edits on Hillsborough", "Q&A: Fox's Steven Cohen on the Advertiser Boycott Over His Remarks on Soccer Stadium Deaths", "Steven Cohen Apologizes For Inaccurate Hillsborough Claims", "Steven Cohen Blames Liverpool Fans For Hillsborough Disaster", "Flashback: The Hillsborough Disaster and the Fall of Steven Cohen", "Hillsborough mum tells of Sir Bernard Ingham's "hurtful" letters", "Bernard Ingham, who called Liverpool fans 'tanked up yobs', still refuses to apologise to Hillsborough families despite inquest findings", "Ingham STILL refuses to say sorry for blaming Liverpool fans over Hillsborough", "Petition to strip Bernard Ingham of his knighthood for blaming fans", "Why the people of Liverpool are totally justified in holding Topman to account", "The Immediate Aftermath 4. 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 . In paragraph 5 of his summary, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith said:[113]. Let's be honest about thispeople were against us. [4][8] Reporting in 2012, it confirmed Taylor's 1990 criticisms and revealed details about the extent of police efforts to shift blame onto fans, the role of other emergency services and the error of the first coroner's inquests. [183], Commissioned by the Home Secretary Theresa May, a report was published on 1 November 2017 by the Right Reverend James Jones titled The patronising disposition of unaccountable power: A report to ensure that the pain and suffering of the Hillsborough families is not repeated. Bibliography of over 150 books, journal articles, TV programmes and websites relating to the Disaster and its aftermath produced by Sheffield City Council's Archives Service. Crowd safety was "compromised at every level" and overcrowding issues had been recorded two years earlier. trying to usher myself and my husband out . [241] As well as The Sun's 19 April 1989 "The Truth" article (see below) other newspapers published similar allegations; the Daily Star headline on the same day reported "Dead fans robbed by drunk thugs"; the Daily Mail accused the Liverpool fans of being "drunk and violent and their actions were vile", and The Daily Express ran a story alleging that "Police saw 'sick spectacle of pilfering from the dying'." [37] At 2:46pm, the BBC's football commentator John Motson had already noticed the uneven distribution of people in the Leppings Lane pens. This is our response", "Hillsborough inquest verdict: the front pages", "As disgusting as it is unsurprising. A seven-foot-high circular bronze memorial was unveiled in the Old Haymarket district of Liverpool in April 2013. [112] The terms of reference of his inquiry were limited to "new evidence", that is "evidence which was not available or was not presented to the previous inquiries, courts or authorities. [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. [54] The following Sunday, a link of football scarves spanning the 1 mile (1.6km) distance across Stanley Park from Goodison Park to Anfield was created, with the final scarf in position at 3:06pm. [94] Attention was focused on the decision to open the secondary gates; moreover, the kick-off should have been delayed, as had been done at other venues and matches. "[155] The Labour Party described the handling of the Hillsborough disaster as the "greatest miscarriage of justice of our times", with Labour MPs Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram calling for accountability and the prosecution of those responsible. Between 2:30pm and 2:40pm, there was a build-up of supporters outside the turnstiles facing Leppings Lane, eager to enter the stadium before the game began. Just one person has been convicted for anything related to the Hillsborough disaster: Graham Mackrell, the then Sheffield Wednesday secretary, of a safety offence, for which he was fined. [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. In October 1988 a probationary PC in Mole's F division, South Yorkshire was handcuffed, photographed, and stripped by fellow officers in a fake robbery, as a hazing prank. [29] Leeds were assigned the Leppings Lane end. Documents disclosed confirm that repeated attempts were made to find supporting evidence for alcohol being a factor, and that available evidence was significantly misinterpreted. [43] Chief Superintendent John Nesbit of South Yorkshire Police later briefed Michael Shersby MP that leaving the rescue to the fans was a deliberate strategy, and is quoted as saying "We let the fans help so that they would not take out their frustration on the police" at a Police Federation conference. [94], Lord Taylor noted with regard to the performance of the senior police officers in command that "neither their handling of the problems on the day nor their account of it in evidence showed the qualities of leadership to be expected of their rank". A third legal case which resulted from the Hillsborough disaster was Airedale N.H.S. [7] Families disputed the findings,[4] and fought to have the case re-opened. "[289] The British edition disassociated itself from the controversy, stating: "FHM Australia has its own editorial team and these captions were written and published without consultation with the UK edition, or any other edition of FHM. [T]he police case was to blame the fans for being late and drunk, and to blame the Club for failing to monitor the pens. 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. Lord Justice Taylor, Interim Report (Cm 765), The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, 15 April 1989: Inquiry by the Rt. A Leeds fan described disorganisation at the turnstiles and no steward or police direction inside the stadium, resulting in the crowd in one enclosure becoming so compressed he was at times unable to raise and clap his hands. [147] On 6 April 2016, the nine jurors were sent out to consider their verdicts. On the day after the verdicts were reached, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, made a statement to Parliament which included the verdicts of the jury to the fourteen questions they had been asked regarding the roles of South Yorkshire police, the South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, Sheffield Wednesday football club and Hillsborough stadium's engineers and two specific questions specific relating to the time and cause of death for each of the dead. On Wednesday 19 April 1989, four days after the disaster, the second leg of the European Cup semi-final tie between A.C. Milan and Real Madrid was played. Peter Caton 2012. Over 4,000 were still outside, crammed tightly around the turnstiles and in the holding area. [46]:149[47][48][49][50] The remaining 39 ambulances were collectively able to transport approximately 149 people to either Northern General Hospital, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, or Barnsley Hospital for treatment. They always believed in us. That was after the IPCC's Hillsborough Contact team had received 230 pieces of correspondence since October 2012. Fans were still streaming into pens 3 and 4 from the rear entrance tunnel as the match began. [234][235] In April 1989, Bradford City and Lincoln City held a friendly match to benefit the victims of Hillsborough. By this time, a small gate in the fence had been forced open and some fans escaped via this route, as others continued to climb over the fencing. MacKenzie was suspended as a contributor to the newspaper. [37], The report dismissed the theory, put forward by South Yorkshire Police, that fans attempting to gain entry without tickets or with forged tickets were contributing factors. [293], In November 2007, the BBC soap opera EastEnders caused controversy when the character Minty Peterson (played by Cliff Parisi) made a reference to the disaster. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies. The city of Liverpool will today remember the 96 football fans who died at Hillsborough stadium, 30 years to the day since the disaster. [4] Prosecutor Alun Jones told the court that Duckenfield gave the order to open the gates so that hundreds of fans could be herded onto the already crowded terraces at the stadium. Following the findings of the Independent Panel in September 2012, Alex Ferguson and two Manchester United fan groups called for an end to the "sick chants". [132] They also called for prosecutions for unlawful killing, corporate manslaughter and perversion of the course of justice in respect of the actions of the police both in causing the disaster and covering up their actions; and in respect of Sheffield Wednesday FC, Sheffield Council and the Football Association for their various responsibilities for providing, certifying and selecting the stadium for the fatal event. According to the BBC report: "The names of the victims were read from the memorial book and floral tributes were laid at a plaque bearing their names. [307], In June 2014, an unnamed 24-year-old British civil servant was sacked for posting offensive comments about the disaster on Wikipedia. Ruling on Submissions of No Case to Answer", "Lack of Hillsborough accountability is a scandal, says minister", "Hillsborough families attack 'ludicrous' acquittals of police", "Hillsborough families to sue police for 'abuse on industrial scale', "Hillsborough: Police forces agree cover-up compensation for victims", "Hillsborough memorial returns to Anfield", "Anfield memorial updated in honour of 97th victim of Hillsborough", "Hillsborough memorial clock unveiled at Liverpool Town Hall", "Everton FC to unveil tribute to Hillsborough 96 ahead of Merseyside derby", "Uefa to help Liverpool avoid Hillsborough clash", "Anfield's Hillsborough memorial service to be held for last time in April", "Football to remember Hillsborough disaster", "A minute's silence to remember Hillsborough", "Liverpool avoid Hillsborough anniversary clash", "Thousands flock to Anfield as Liverpool marks 20th anniversary of Hillsborough", "Hundreds mark Hillsborough anniversary in city", "Giggs showed that even in a cash-conscious age the game has moments which defy evaluation", "Milan vs Real Madrid Fans Sing You'll Never Walk Alone", "MP's tearful tribute to Hillsborough 96", "Hillsborough debate full transcript: Read everything MPs said in the House of Commons link to full video now added", "Hillsborough: 97th victim's family 'proud' of Freedom of Liverpool award", "Chapter 12: Behind the headlines: the origins, promotion and reproduction of unsubstantiated allegations (Page 3 of 10): 'The Truth', "The Immediate Aftermath The Media Reaction Hillsborough Football Disaster", "Is it time to forgive and forget Kelvin Mackenzie and the Sun over the lies they told about Hillsborough? [91], After the disaster, Lord Justice Taylor was appointed to conduct an inquiry into the events. The 96 people who died at the Hillsborough football stadium disaster in 1989 were unlawfully killed and a catalogue of failings by police and the ambulance services contributed to their deaths,. For some time, problems at the front of the Liverpool central goal pens went largely unnoticed except by those inside them and a few police at that end of the pitch. The Liverpool Echo condemned the apology as "cynical and shameless". [85], One of the individual cases where the circumstances of death were not fully resolved was that of Kevin Williams, the fifteen-year-old son of Anne Williams. [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. Hon. Although there was enough evidence to charge the farrier with perverting the course of justice, it was felt not to be in the public interest to charge him. In December 2009, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the Hillsborough Independent Panel's remit would be to oversee "full public disclosure of relevant government and local information within the limited constraints set out in the disclosure protocol" and "consult with the Hillsborough families to ensure that the views of those most affected by the disaster are taken into account". He was omitted from the first team squad and never played for the club in any capacity again. No orders were given for officers to enter the tunnel and relieve pressure". [118], In the years after the disaster, the Hillsborough Family Support Group had campaigned for the release of all relevant documents into the public domain. The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from salewhich we will be doing. Mackrell pleaded not guilty to the charge against him. ", "South Yorkshire police to ask IPCC to investigate Hillsborough officers' conduct", "Justice for Hillsborough Victims and Families: What Happens Next? Trust v Bland [1993] A.C. 789, a landmark House of Lords decision in English criminal law, that allowed the life-support machine of Tony Bland, a Hillsborough victim in a persistent vegetative state, to be switched off. Of those statements, 116 were amended to remove or change negative comments about South Yorkshire Police. Fans outside could hear cheering as the teams came on the pitch ten minutes before the match started, and as the match kicked off, but could not gain entrance. The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently dropped all charges against one of the defendants. [97] The failure by the police to give the order to direct fans to empty areas of the stadium, was described by Taylor as "a blunder of the first magnitude". Team captain Steven Gerrard and vice-captain Jamie Carragher handed the freedom of the city to the families of all the victims. The disaster has been acknowledged on 15April every year by the community in Liverpool and football in general. Is there, perhaps, a lesson there for the Hillsborough campaigners? Kick-off was scheduled for 3:00pm on 15 April, and fans were advised to take up positions 15 minutes beforehand. The publication was finally discontinued in 2016, for unrelated reasons. It affirmed the position of the courts once again towards claims of psychiatric injuries of secondary victims. It's too little, too late. [125] The report concluded that the then Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam, Irvine Patnick, passed inaccurate and untrue information from the police to the press. [180], The IPCC is[needs update] also investigating the actions of West Midlands Police, who in 1989 had been tasked with investigating South Yorkshire Police's conduct for both the original inquests and also the Taylor independent inquiry. [133], Calls were made for the resignation of police officers involved in the cover-up, and for Sheffield Wednesday, the police and the Football Association to admit their blame. Stand Up Sit Down A Choice to Watch Football. Jones stated that minutes after the disaster, Duckenfield "deceitfully and dishonestly" told senior FA officials that the supporters had forced the gate open. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong". Resumed on 19 November 1990,[81] they proved to be controversial. [96], Taylor concluded that in responding to the disaster there had been no fault on the part of the emergency services (St John Ambulance, South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service and fire brigade). He said of the Bradford families: "They did not harbour conspiracy theories. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. 's Deva Stadium was the first English football stadium to fulfil the safety recommendations of the Taylor Report, with Millwall F.C. [257] In 1993, he told a House of Commons committee, "I regret Hillsborough. 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. 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. Among the guests were bereaved father James Delaney and his wife Eileen, who said "they didnt give the poor people who were killed any dignity . [284], The November 2002 edition of the men's lifestyle magazine FHM in Australia was swiftly withdrawn from sale soon after its publication, and a public apology made in the Australian and British editions, because it contained jokes mocking the disaster. A lengthier apology was published online. The Taylor Inquiry sat for a total of 31 days (between 15May and 29June 1989)[92] and published two reports: an interim report (1August 1989) which laid out the events of the day and immediate conclusions; and a final report (19January 1990) which outlined general recommendations on football ground safety. [99] However, on the day of the disaster, "by 2:52pm when gate C was opened, pens 3 and 4 were over-full [] to allow any more into those pens was likely to cause injuries; to allow in a large stream was courting disaster". Four officers resigned and seven were disciplined over the incident. followed in April 2017 on the eve of the 28th anniversary of the disaster after a column by Kelvin MacKenzie concerning Everton footballer Ross Barkley. South Yorkshire Police had performed blood alcohol tests on the victims, some of them children, and ran computer checks on the national police database in an attempt to "impugn their reputation". List of archive and library material relating to the disaster held at Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives. South Yorkshire coroner Dr Stefan Popper limited the main inquests to events up to 3:15pm on the day of the disasternine minutes after the match was halted and the crowd spilt onto the pitch. [263] Chris Horrie estimated in 2014 that the tabloid's owners had lost 15million per month since the disaster, in 1989 prices. I think there will be a real boycott." [181][182], In April 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would consider bringing charges against both individuals and corporate bodies once the criminal investigation by the Independent Police Complaints CommissionOperation Resolvehad been completed. With 97 deaths and 766 injuries, it has the highest death toll in British sporting history. The crushing occurred during a match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, on April 15, 1989. [15], Hillsborough Stadium had been constructed in 1899 to house Sheffield Wednesday. The IPCC announced on 12 October 2012 that it would investigate the failure of the police to declare a major incident, failure to close the tunnel to the stands which led to overcrowded pens despite evidence it had been closed in such circumstances in the past; changes made to the statements of police officers; actions which misled Parliament and the media; shortcomings of previous investigations; and the role played by Norman Bettison. On 14 May, more than 20,000 people packed Anfield for a match held in memory of the victims. [20], Risks associated with confining fans in pens were highlighted by the Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds (the Popplewell inquiry) after the Bradford City stadium fire in May 1985. On 26April 2016, after the inquest jury delivered a verdict affirming all the charges against the police, Crompton "unequivocally accepted" the verdicts, including unlawful killing, said that the police operation at the stadium on the day of the disaster had been "catastrophically wrong", and apologised unreservedly. Some ambulance crew did take equipment when they left their vehicle, but there was no systematic direction to do so, not all did, and none initially had been given any information about the situation inside the stadium. [179], On 12 July 2013, it was reported that the IPCC had found that in addition to the now 164 police statements known to have been altered, a further 55 police officers had changed their statements. [309][310] Despite this he was replaced as presenter of Fox Football Fone-in. [41], When the gates were opened, thousands of fans entered a narrow tunnel leading from the rear of the terrace into two overcrowded central pens (pens 3 and 4), creating pressure at the front. Mackrell pleaded not guilty to the two charges against him. The film was aired for the first time in 1996, and has been shown four times since then: in 1998, in 2009, in September 2012 (shortly after the release of the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel), and again on 1May 2016 on ITV. Topman stated that the T-shirt was in reference to a Bob Marley song re-released in 1996 and apologised and withdrew the item. This memorial is inscribed with the words: "Hillsborough Disaster we will remember them", and displays the names of the 96 victims who died. I too was totally misled. [94], Lord Taylor concluded that the behaviour of Liverpool fans, including accusations of drunkenness, were secondary factors, and said that most fans were: "not drunk, nor even the worse for drink". It was a fundamental mistake. Why are we treated like animals?' [264], In 2004, after Wayne Rooney gave exclusive interviews to The Sun, causing backlash in Liverpool, The Sun ran a front page story apologising for "the most terrible mistake in its history", saying "We long ago apologised publicly We gladly say sorry again today: fully, openly, honestly and without reservation". He later apologised and said "I know that fan unrest played no part in the terrible events of April 1989 and I apologise to Liverpool fans and the families of those killed and injured in the Hillsborough disaster if my comments caused any offence." Nor do I consider that there is any justification for setting up any further inquiry into the performance of the emergency and hospital services. [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. [90], Ashton and Phillips were not the only doctors present at the disaster not to be called to give evidence to the Popper inquests. Wright said: "The request has been submitted by a firm of solicitors in Liverpool acting on behalf of a number of individuals affected by the event. [86] The Hillsborough Independent Panel considered the available evidence and stated that "the initial pathologist's opinion appeared definitive, but further authoritative opinions raised significant doubts about the accuracy of that initial opinion. I held those views then, I hold them now. No, his apology doesn't mean a thing to me. One supporter wrote to the Football Association and Minister for Sport: "The whole area was packed solid to the point where it was impossible to move and where I, and others around me, felt considerable concern for personal safety. [322], The American sports network ESPN produced the documentary Hillsborough as part of its 30 for 30 series of sports films (under a new "Soccer Stories" subdivision). It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Tuesday 26 April 2016, 6:25pm Details of how and when the 96 Hillsborough disaster victims died: John Alfred Anderson, 62 - Cause of death: traumatic rupture of the abdominal aorta. Andrew Devine, 55, died on Tuesday, his family said in a statement released by Liverpool FC. His actions were disowned by Chelsea Football Club and he no longer works as a broadcaster. [216] Following on from (and out of respect for) the Hillsborough families' decision to conclude official memorials at Anfield with a final service in 2016,[217] it was decided not to hold any further memorials at Spion Kop. [184][185][186], Home Secretary Theresa May announced on 18December 2012 that a new police inquiry would be initiated to examine the possibility of charging agencies other than the police over the Hillsborough deaths.