Scrutiny of Evidence Relating to the Hillsborough Football Stadium Disaster (Command Paper); Home Office; Sports Stadia After Hillsborough: Seminar Papers; This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 21:14. The 10th and 20th anniversaries were marked by special services to remember the victims.[214][215]. The report said "When spectators first appeared on the track, the immediate assumption in the control room was that a pitch invasion was threatened. Inquests into the deaths were opened and adjourned immediately after the disaster. Published. Liverpool supporters were allocated the North and West ends (Leppings Lane), holding 24,256 fans, reached by 23 turnstiles from a narrow concourse. How the Hillsborough disaster unfolded. This followed a legal challenge in the High Court by his family to have his treatment withdrawn, a landmark challenge which succeeded in November 1992. The Liverpool manager, Rafael Bentez, set 96 balloons free. donation was the amount the club would have received (as its share of the match income) had the semi-final gone ahead as planned. [31] The first planning meeting for the semi-final took place on 22 March and was attended by newly promoted Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, not by Mole.
Taylor Report - Wikipedia The disaster has been acknowledged on 15April every year by the community in Liverpool and football in general. 14 in the UK charts.[229]. 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. It has since fuelled persistent and unsustainable assertions about drunken fan behaviour". The inquests hearings started on Monday 31 March 2014 at Warrington. "[304], In 2013, a formal complaint was made against David Crompton, South Yorkshire's chief constable, over internal emails relating to the Hillsborough 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". 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. The transfer was to be done with immediate effect on 27 March 1989. The decision angered the families, many of whom felt the inquests were unable to consider the response of the police and other emergency services after that time. A total of 42 ambulances arrived at the stadium. The tragedy was largely attributed to mistakes made by the police. [19] Sheffield Wednesday were later criticised for neglecting safety in the stadium, especially after an incident in the semi-final of the 1981 FA Cup. This left planning for the semi-final match to Duckenfield, who had never commanded a sell-out football match before, and who had "very little, if any" training or personal experience in how to do so. [238][239], In December 2021, Liverpool City Council nominated Andrew Devine posthumously for the freedom of the city of Liverpool, a tribute given to the original 96 victims in 2016. Peter McKay in the Evening Standard wrote that the "catastrophe was caused first and foremost by violent enthusiasm for soccer and in this case the tribal passions of Liverpool supporters [who] literally killed themselves and others to be at the game"[242][243] and published a front-page headline "Police attack 'vile' fans" on 18 April 1989, in which police sources blamed the behaviour of a section of Liverpool fans for the disaster. In 2009, on the 20th anniversary of the disaster, Liverpool's request that their Champions League quarter-finals return leg, scheduled for 15 April, be played the day before was granted. Former Sheffield Wednesday F.C. I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now". 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. [270] A press conference held by families of the victims also banned all Sun reporters from entering, with a sign on the door reading "NO ENTRY TO SUN JOURNALISTS". The referee blew his whistle two minutes into the game to stop play and a minute's silence was held for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough. [37] At 2:46pm, the BBC's football commentator John Motson had already noticed the uneven distribution of people in the Leppings Lane pens. How They Buried the Truth", "Bruce Grobbelaar: I heard the crowd at Hillsborough cry 'Please help us..', "Senior police officer did not step in, Hillsborough trial hears", "Key Hillsborough Evidence Backed By TV Footage", "Ambulanceman's Struggle to Live with Decisions Made on Pitch at Hillsborough", "Hillsborough: New Probe Backs Crucial Evidence", "Ambulances Got 'Stuck' As They Tried to Enter Hillsborough Stadium, Inquests Hear", "Police to face inquiry as questions go unanaswered", "Liverpool resists pressure to make decision on FA Cup", "Soccer rivals united in grief as church bells toll", "MPs urge Hurd to introduce safety gates into 'killer cages', "Feature: It's Up For Grabs Now The 20th Anniversary Of Anfield 1989", "A random sample of letters from public, schools and clubs reflecting the nature of donations to the disaster appeal fund", "College course developed with funds from the Hillsborough Disaster Appeal Fund goes from strength to strength", "The Official Charts Company Ferry Cross The Mersey by Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson, The Christians and Stock Aitken Waterman Search", "Hillsborough: Brian Reade on the day that changed football forever", "Mum pays tribute to teenage Hillsborough victim Lee Nicol from Smollett Street Bootle", "James Milner's Hillsborough Liverpool Champions League", "A statement from the family of Andrew Devine", "Steven Brown, 25 Hillsborough 96 Hillsborough Remembered", "Peter Thompson, 30 Hillsborough 96 Hillsborough Remembered", "Steven Gerrard says death of his cousin at Hillsborough was biggest inspiration", "Hillsborough's '97th victim' remembered", "Hillsborough: how stories of disaster police were altered", "Timeline of a 27 year fight for the truth after the Hillsborough disaster", "Judgement of Divisional Court, 5 November 1993 application to quash the Inquest verdicts of six of the Hillsborough victims", "European court blow for mother of Hillsborough victim", "Two doctors who criticised Hillsborough ambulance response speak of "vindication" after inquests", "The two doctors who criticised the Hillsborough ambulance response", "Football: Long haul to implement Taylor Report", "The Architects Journal:Building Study (September 1993)", "The Stuart Smith Scrutiny Hillsborough Football Disaster", "Scrutiny of Evidence Relating to the Hillsborough Football Stadium Disaster", "Hillsborough inquiry by Blair government criticised", "Hillsborough Independent Panel: Disclosed Material and Report | Home page", "Organisations and people whose material has been reviewed", "Hillsborough panel set to publish report on 1989 disaster", "Who are the members of the Hillsborough Independent Panel? [148] The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing in respect of all 96 victims (by majority verdict of 72). Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline. 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". On 8September 2012, just four days before the Hillsborough Independent Panel Report was published, Crompton had emailed the force's assistant chief constable Andy Holt and head of media Mark Thompson. A further 20 were from counties adjacent to Merseyside. 26 April 2016. [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.
Hillsborough inquests jury rules 96 victims were unlawfully killed When he presented his report in February 1998, he concluded that there was insufficient evidence for a new inquiry into the disaster. [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. By 22 October 2012, the names of at least 1,444 serving and former police officers had been referred to the IPCC investigation. [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". [272], The coverage was widely condemned on social media, with Twitter users saying that this reflected "Murdoch's view on Hillsborough", which was a "smear", which "now daren't speak its name". .
Hillsborough disaster: Questions and answers of the inquest - Yahoo! [103], Regarding the decision to allocate Liverpool spectators to the West and North Ends, Taylor stated "I do not consider choice of ends was causative of the disaster. To which the plain answer is that a good and sufficient minority of you behave like animals. 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. [119] An archive of all relevant documentation would be created and a report produced within two years explaining the work of the panel and its conclusions. His actions were disowned by Chelsea Football Club and he no longer works as a broadcaster. The Memorial bench remains at Spion Kop Lodge. [84] Relatives later failed to have the inquests reopened to allow more scrutiny of police actions and closer examination of the circumstances of individual cases. Other fans were pulled to safety by fans in the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace. I too was totally misled. 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. [43] Football players from both teams were ushered to their respective dressing rooms, and told that there would be a 30-minute postponement. It was a 'classic smear'. The publication was finally discontinued in 2016, for unrelated reasons. He was suspended from the club for a fortnight and many fans felt he should not play for the club again. Deborah Glass, deputy chair of the IPCC said, "We know the people who have contacted us are the tip of the iceberg." The equipment was no use on the ambulance vehicle when critical early resuscitation was taking place some distance away on the pitch, behind the Leppings Lane end and in the gymnasium. 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. [283], On 27 April 2016, Times staffers in the sports department expressed their outrage over the paper's decision to cover 26 April inquest, which ruled that the 96 dead were unlawfully killed, only on an inside spread and the sports pages, with some in the newspaper claiming there was a "mutiny" in the sports department. [258][265] In 2012, under the headline "The Real Truth", The Sun made a front page apology, saying "we are profoundly sorry for false reports". Directed by Daniel Gordon and co-produced with the BBC, the two-hour film chronicles the disaster, the investigations, and their lingering effects; it also includes interviews with survivors, victims' relatives, police officers and investigators. It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have been far more accurate had I written the headline The Lies rather than The Truth. [257] In 1993, he told a House of Commons committee, "I regret Hillsborough. Consequently, a course of public justice could not have been perverted. [26][27] The terrace was divided into five pens when the club was promoted to the First Division in 1984, and a crush barrier near the access tunnel was removed in 1986 to improve the flow of fans entering and exiting the central enclosure. Two further gates (A and B) were subsequently opened to relieve pressure. [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. An FA spokesperson said: "We supported Aleksander Ceferin's re-election as president of Uefa based on his track record in the role over a number of years, which included dealing with the . Share page. 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. "[87], Popper had excluded the witness evidence of two qualified Merseyside doctors (Drs Ashton and Phillips) who had been inside the stadium on the day and who had been critical of the chaotic emergency response. [298], On 28 June 2010, following England's departure from the 2010 FIFA World Cup competition in South Africa, the UK's Culture and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt praised the England fans for their behaviour during the competition, saying "I mean, not a single arrest for a football-related offence, and the terrible problems that we had in Heysel and Hillsborough in the 1980s seem now to be behind us." 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. ", "Did Freemasons influence police over Hillsborough? 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. [241] The Sheffield Star published similar allegations to The Sun, running the headline "Fans in Drunken Attacks on Police". [194], On 21 August 2018, it was announced that all charges against Bettison were being dropped as the CPS felt that there was insufficient evidence to have a realistic chance of a conviction. He faced no charge in respect of the death of Tony Bland, who died four years after the disaster. [325] After the inquest verdict, the BBC aired the documentary on 8May 2016, with additional footage from the inquest, as well as its final verdict. "[255], In their history of The Sun, Peter Chippendale and Chris Horrie wrote:[256]. After an initial rush, thousands of supporters entered the stadium "steadily at a fast walk". The Gymnasium", "Hillsborough Drama Shown Again on ITV Tonight at 10:20pm", "ESPN's Hillsborough documentary can't be aired in the United Kingdom thanks to British laws", "Anne review Maxine Peake exudes raw horror in extraordinary Hillsborough drama", "The investigation of the Hillsborough Disaster by the Health and Safety Executive", The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, 15 April 1989: Inquiry by the Rt. . The occasion was the first in which the two teams had met since the 1985 Bradford City stadium fire that had claimed 56 lives at Valley Parade.
FA backed Aleksander Ceferin for Uefa re-election weeks after Paris [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. This prompted 380 complaints and the BBC apologised, saying that the character was simply reminding another character, former football hooligan Jase Dyer, that the actions of hooligans led to the fencing-in of football fans. [138] The Home Secretary called for investigations into law-breaking and promised resources to investigate individual or systematic issues. [43], The match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest began as scheduled at 3:00pm. Margaret Aspinall, chairperson of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, asked for a face to face meeting with Hunt before deciding if she would[needs update] accept the apology. [290] Although the original apology was not printed in the magazine as it was not considered "serious enough",[291] its Australian editor, Geoff Campbell, released a statement: "We deeply regret the photograph captions published in the November issue of the Australian edition of FHM, accompanying an article about the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. The disaster was a fatal human crush at the match held at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. This Harrowing report, describes how a beautiful spring day turned into a day of tragedy and disaster. [104], Taylor concluded his criticism of South Yorkshire Police by describing senior officers in command as "defensive and evasive witnesses" who refused to accept any responsibility for error: "In all some 65 police officers gave oral evidence at the Inquiry. The Liverpool Echo condemned the apology as "cynical and shameless". Meanwhile, on the pitch, police, stewards and members of the St John Ambulance service were overwhelmed. [13] Public anger over the actions of their force during the second inquests led to the suspension of the SYP chief constable, David Crompton, following the verdict. Williams was portrayed by Maxine Peake, whose performance was described in The Guardian as "almost unwatchably intense".[327]. [221], The event was remembered with a ceremony at Anfield attended by over 28,000 people. [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. calling for his resignation, but he apologised on discovering hooliganism was not the cause. [60][61], A disaster appeal fund was set up with donations of 500,000 from the UK Government, 100,000 from Liverpool F.C. Liverpool is a handsome city with a tribal sense of community. [146] Sir John Goldring was appointed as Assistant Coroner for South Yorkshire (East) and West Yorkshire (West) to conduct those inquests.
Hillsborough disaster: Witnesses give their accounts of the events that 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. Flames were added either side of the Liverpool F.C. [94] Further stating: "South Yorkshire Police were not prepared to concede they were in any respect at fault in what occurred.