1. In a press briefing, Marsh and Hewitt acknowledged current challenges facing police following a series of recent scandals, and said the public and media would hold police to account for adherence to the new charter and ethical code. But the OWP never flagged up that the capacity of the Leppings Lane terrace needed recalculating. He turned up to command the semi-final, he admitted, knowing very little about Hillsboroughs safety history: about the crushes at the 1981 and 1988 semi-finals, or that the approach to the Leppings Lane end was a natural geographical bottleneck to which Mole had carefully managed supporters entry. Hillsborough inquests: Jury shown 1981 footage. Hillsborough disaster: Police forces agree 'cover-up' compensation for William West, a constable, remembered Duckenfield telling officers we were useless, we were no good, we had been doing it all wrong He got us into the briefing room and he basically spoke at us for 20 minutes, telling us how the district was a disgrace, it had been badly run, it was going to be his way now. Duckenfield, said West, wasnt a pleasant man. Media reports that followed focused on allegations that Liverpool fans drunken behaviour was the cause of the disaster and hindered the emergency response. Then Greaney put to him: That failure [to close off the tunnel] was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 persons in the Hillsborough tragedy?. Later that day, the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her press secretary, Bernard Ingham, visited Hillsborough. This decision - and the design of the approach to the stand - combined to make the congestion worse. However, the resumed inquests heard the response by emergency services had been "woefully inadeqate". This fiction, that fans without tickets had forced the gate, had already found its way to the BBC, reported as a version by John Motson, the television match commentator, at 3.13pm. He said any delay was a decision for the match commander, he "failed to properly assess the situation", did not arrive until after all the injured had been removed, When he was passed a cylinder, it was empty, "earlier intervention before cardiac arrest, prioritising a casualty with a broken leg, blamed Tottenham fans for "arriving late" and "rushing to their places", missed opportunities to reassess the capacity, none of which led to a revised safety certificate, the crowd so tightly packed, he was "unable to clap his hands", later gave accounts of crushing within the Leppings Lane pens, denied knowledge of any crowd-related concerns, The risks were known and "the crush in 1989 was foreseeable", US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78, Sonic boom heard as RAF Typhoon jets escort plane, Nelson's 97th-minute stunner gives Arsenal victory. Hillsborough trial: Police 'wanted to blame Liverpool fans' One of the most senior officers at South Yorkshire police considered blaming the Hillsborough disaster on a fictitious colleague . There was a "lack of the basic necessary life-saving equipment on the pitch where it was most needed", said the HIP report. It emerged at the inquests that one of the nastiest stories, that fans had picked the pockets of the dead, was not just untrue, but that the police had evidence that it was untrue from the beginning because they had made routine logs of all the cash and other property found on each person. Investigations carried out entirely by the police. In the half-hour before kick off, the approach to the Leppings Lane end quickly became congested. Joness November 2017 report, commissioned by Theresa May when she was home secretary, made 25 recommendations to ensure the pain and suffering of the Hillsborough families is not repeated, including a charter for bereaved families, a duty of candour for police officers, and that bereaved families should have public funding for legal representation at inquests where public bodies are represented. June 28, 2017. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. He criticised Mr Eason for failing to assess the situation and prioritising a casualty with a broken leg. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. He accepted he "failed to properly assess the situation" and "failed to declare a major emergency at the earliest opportunity". According to the HIP report, Sheffield Wednesday "denied knowledge of any crowd-related concerns arising from the 1987 or 1988 FA Cup semi-finals". Wright briefed them. Following two years of harrowing evidence, the verdicts in the inquest into the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 are a complete vindication of the 27-year campaign for justice for the 96 victims and . It airs on consecutive nights this week, from Sunday, January 2, to Wednesday, January 5, at 9pm each . You speak up for us to tell them in parliament what happened.. David Duckenfield arrives to give evidence in March 2015. The Hillsborough disaster occurred during a football match in 1989, oversaw by police chief superintendent David Duckenfield. Survivors of the lethal crush bore tearful witness to the vice-like squeeze, the cracking of ribs, arms and legs, faces losing colour, the vomiting and emptying of bowels and bladders, relatives and friends dying next to them, the still barely believable piles of dead bodies at the front of the pens. Page had read of police officers saying that dead and injured people strongly smelled of alcohol. When leadership was most needed, the bereaved were often treated insensitively and the response lacked coordination and oversight.. The crushing occurred during a match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, on April 15, 1989. He was depicted as a frighteningly authoritarian figure who treated the force like his own personal territory and whose orders nobody tragically dared debate. Your account; Home; News; Sport; Reel; Worklife; Travel; Future; More menu; More menu Only two ambulances reached the Leppings Lane end of the pitch and of the 96 people who died, only 14 were ever admitted to hospital. David Whitmore, an expert in pre-hospital care, criticised a senior ambulance officer, Paul Eason, for failing to look inside the pens, even though a major disaster was unfolding in front of him. Criticism of the turnstiles was rejected by Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell who said the number of turnstiles for the Leppings Lane terrace had proved "satisfactory" at previous games. The Hillsborough inquiries have highlighted serious faults in planning, crowd control, stadium design - internal and external - lack of emergency response plans, lack of police supervision and . Hillsborough disaster: 'There can be no closure' | CNN The Hillsborough gymnasium was designated as the place to house bodies in a fatal emergency. Reaching this notorious moment on his second day in the witness box, Duckenfield made more landmark admissions that went far beyond what he had confessed previously, to Lord Justice Taylors official 1989 inquiry, the first 1990-91 inquest in Sheffield, and the families private prosecutions of him and Supt Bernard Murray in 2000, when Duckenfield exercised his right to stay silent. Standing three rows of lawyers back, he elicited from Duckenfield admissions that he lacked competence and experience, that his knowledge of the ground was wholly inadequate. Time of death: between 15:05 and 15:45. Police had also closed some turnstiles to keep Liverpool and Nottingham Forest fans apart. Wright never doubted the rightness of the violent defeat meted out to the miners, and when the prosecutions collapsed adamantly denied any malpractice. Once in the small control room, he stayed there. Hillsborough disaster trial collapses as judge rules no case to answer Two retired South Yorkshire Police officers and the force's former solicitor are acquitted of perverting the course of justice. At the end of his evidence, Greaves asked if he could say a few words. Operation Resolves terms of reference include: Operation Resolve also looked at the actions of other organisations such as the ambulance service, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club (who hosted the game) and the local authority. The South Yorkshire police officers were ordered, contrary to all regular practice, to record their Hillsborough experiences not in their official pocketbooks but on plain paper. Their relative success at doing that, securing a verdict of accidental death in March 1991, fuelled the families continuing trauma, and their long campaign for justice. Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. Police forces have apologised 'profoundly' for their failings during the 1989 tragedy, which caused the deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters following a crush at a match against Nottingham Forest. Sun editor Victoria Newton: 'My family were at Hillsborough' The inquests heard this was the result of a number of failings. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. Addis said the officers had been on duty for a long time, deserved a meal, and there was nowhere else they could have had it. He did not even know that the police were responsible for monitoring overcrowding, nor that the police had a tactic, named after a superintendent, John Freeman, of closing the tunnel when the central pens were full, and directing supporters to the sides. A flexible process for dealing with complaints that can be adapted to the needs of the complainant. Hillsborough disaster: Police pledge cultural change as they The following timeline shows the key dates following the disaster and prior to our involvement. In the midst of a hard-faced culture in which officers rarely talked about their feelings, some drank heavily after the disaster. A complaint or recordable conduct matter that doesnt need to be referred to the IOPC, but where the seriousness or circumstances justifies referral. Starmer defends appointing partygate investigator Sue Gray as chief of Deborah Coles, the executive director of Inquest, which works with families of people who have died in circumstances of police or state involvement, said: The continuing failure of the government to respond to the bishops report is an insult to bereaved and survivors who want to see no one else suffer a similar injustice. More than 50,000 men, women and children travelled to the match at Hillsborough Stadium, the home ground of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. Walter Jackson, assistant chief constable for operations, however, told the inquests that he did believe Mole was moved for not having dealt with the indiscipline firmly. The average is calculated using the individual results of the forces in that most similar force group. The risks were known and "the crush in 1989 was foreseeable", it added. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 97Liverpool supporters, and remains to this day the worst disaster in British sporting history. Disapplication means that a police force may handle a complaint in whatever way it thinks fit, including not dealing with it under complaints legislation. In July, the Independent Police Complaints Commission decided not to formally investigate the force for its alleged assaults on striking miners picketing the Orgreave coking plant in June 1984, and alleged perjury and perverting the course of justice in prosecutions of 95 miners which collapsed a year later.