There was insufficient evidence against the police officer to charge him with the offence. On 12 September 2012, the Hillsborough Independent Panel concluded that no Liverpool fans were responsible in any way for the disaster,[122] and that its main cause was a "lack of police control". 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. [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'." 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. The T-shirt was red with white details like a Liverpool shirt, and had the number 96 on the back like a football shirt, with the text "Karma" and "What goes around comes back around", and a white rose, as associated with Yorkshire. [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. Ofcom also received 177 complaints. ", "Original 'copy' of Hillsborough story filed by White's news agency", "Hillsborough Inquests: 'Regrets' over pickpocketing claims", "Hillsborough: 20 years on, Liverpool has still not forgiven the newspaper it calls 'The Scum', "Hillsborough report: Prime Minister David Cameron's statement in full", "How the Sun's 'truth' about Hillsborough unravelled", "Hillsborough: telling the truth about the scum", "MacKenzie speaks out on Hillsborough comments", "Hillsborough: Former Sun editor apologises to Liverpool", "Liverpool Vs The Sun: How the City Rid Itself of the UK's Biggest Paper", "Liverpool's 23-year boycott of The Sun newspaper", "Sun boycott reduced Euroscepticism on Merseyside, study shows", "Hillsborough: The Sun 'profoundly sorry' over false fan conduct reports", "Newspaper review: Hillsborough 'justice' hailed, but not on Sun's front page", "News International chairman James Murdoch apologises to Liverpool over Sun's coverage of Hillsborough tragedy", "Hillsborough files: Reaction to release of government papers", "Hillsborough: Kelvin MacKenzie offers 'profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool', "Not Even The Sun Could Have Expected This Level of Anger After Hillsborough Inquest", "The Sun Relegates Hillsborough To Page 8, Outrage Ensues", "Sun and Times front pages criticised for ignoring Hillsborough verdict", "S*n and Times slammed for ignoring Hillsborough on front pages", "Hillsborough: Times admits front page 'mistake', "The Hillsborough Verdict Shows People Still Haven't Forgiven The Sun Even After 27 Years", "The S*n hides behind wall of silence after landmark Hillsborough verdicts", "Liverpool FC ban for Sun journalists over Hillsborough", "Everton join Liverpool in banning Sun journalists over coverage", "Hillsborough Inquiry: Press Release No. [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. [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. Nobody really had any comment on itthey just took one look and went away shaking their heads in wonder at the enormity of it. 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. [46]:149, The adverse comments of two doctors regarding the emergency response appeared in the media. The prosecution argued that the crush was "foreseeable" hence the defendants were "grossly negligent". . By the time the appeal closed in 1990, it had raised more than 12million. [268], On 12 September 2012, after the publication of the report exonerating the Liverpool fans, MacKenzie issued the following statement:[269]. [261] The Hillsborough Justice Campaign organised a less successful national boycott that had some impact on the paper's sales nationally. 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. [226] The ceremony was attended by survivors of the disaster, families of victims and the Liverpool team, with goalkeeper Pepe Reina leading the team and management staff onto the pitch. Blaming Liverpool fans persisted even after the Taylor Report of 1990, which found that the main cause was a failure of crowd control by SYP. Boycotts include both customers refusing to purchase it, and retailers refusing to stock it. [163] Coroner Sir John Goldring warned the jury that there was "not a shred of evidence" that any Masonic meeting actually took place, or that those named were all Freemasons,[164] advising the jury to cast aside "gossip and hearsay". [279], The journalist Edward Pearce was criticised for writing a controversial article in the aftermath of the disaster, at a time when a number of victims' funerals were taking place. After a 27-year campaign by victims' families, the behaviour of Liverpool fans was exonerated. [39][40], With an estimated 5,000 fans trying to enter through the turnstiles, and increasing safety concerns, the police, to avoid fatalities outside the ground, opened a large exit gate (Gate C) that ordinarily permitted the free flow of supporters departing the stadium. "[114] This was controversial as the subsequent response of the police and emergency services would not be scrutinised. [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. Most significantly, it would find unlawful killing. [63] Much of the money went to victims and relatives of those involved in the disaster and provided funds for a college course to improve the hospital phase of emergency care. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. I have considered the circumstances in which alterations were made to some of the self-written statements of South Yorkshire Police officers, but I do not consider that there is any occasion for any further investigation. Copy link. "[112] Therefore, evidence such as witness statements which had been altered were classed as inadmissible. "[255], In their history of The Sun, Peter Chippendale and Chris Horrie wrote:[256]. [52] In the following days more than 200,000 people visited the "shrine" inside the stadium. [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. Troubador. They see themselves whenever possible as victims, and resent their victim status; yet at the same time they wallow in it. Popper's decision regarding the cut-off time was subsequently endorsed by the Divisional Court who considered it to have been justified in the light of the medical evidence available to him. [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. Up to 10,000 Liverpool supporters have tickets to the standing terraces on their side of the pitch.. 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? Bettison had been one of a number of police officers who were accused of manipulating evidence by the Hillsborough Independent Panel. The error staring them in the face was too glaring. [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. In 2014, to mark the 25th anniversary of the disaster, the FA decided that all FA Cup, Premier League, Football League, and Football Conference matches played between 1114 April would kick-off seven minutes later than originally scheduled with a six-minute delay and a one-minute silence tribute.[218]. [222][223] The Kop, Centenary and Main Stands were opened to the public before part of the Anfield Road End was opened to supporters. The inquests hearings started on Monday 31 March 2014 at Warrington. During the episode car mechanic Minty said: "Five years out of Europe because of Heysel, because they penned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch and then what did we end up with? 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. [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. Ninety-six people died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster There were not enough turnstiles for fans entering the terraces on the day of the Hillsborough disaster, a stadium safety expert. [88] The views of both were dismissed by the Taylor report. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong". 96 people died as a result of the disaster at Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989 due to crushing in the central pens of the Leppings Lane Terrace, following the admission of a large number. [193], It was announced in December 2017 that a police officer and a farrier would not be prosecuted over allegations that they fabricated a story about a police horse being burned with cigarettes at Hillsborough. 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. Lord Justice Taylor, Interim Report (Cm 765), The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, 15 April 1989: Inquiry by the Rt. [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. Sadly I must report that for the most part the quality of their evidence was in inverse proportion to their rank". This article was presumably published before there were any reports that people had been killed. I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster. They always believed in us. It was brought by police officers on duty against the chief constable who was said to have been vicariously liable for the disaster. This is our response", "Hillsborough inquest verdict: the front pages", "As disgusting as it is unsurprising. [39] Those still trapped in the pens were packed so tightly that many victims died of compressive asphyxia while standing. . . The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from salewhich we will be doing. 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. [62] Other fundraising activities included a Factory Records benefit concert and several fundraising football matches. In memory of 96 people, that have lost their lives.song: ''Denez Prigdent & Lisa Gerrard - Gortoz A Ran'' Former Chief Inspector Sir Norman Bettinson faced four counts of misconduct in public office. He faced no charge in respect of the death of Tony Bland, who died four years after the disaster. [244], In Liverpool local journalist John Williams of the Liverpool Daily Post wrote in an article titled "I Blame the Yobs"[245] that "The gatecrashers wreaked their fatal havoc Their uncontrolled fanaticism and mass hysteria literally squeezed the life out of men, women and children yobbism at its most base Scouse killed Scouse for no better reason than 22 men were kicking a ball". 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. 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. [4], Police disciplinary charges were abandoned when Duckenfield retired on health grounds and, because Murray was unavailable, it was decided not to proceed with disciplinary charges against him. Speaking after the disaster, Kelly backed all-seater stadiums, saying "We must move fans away from the ritual of standing on terraces". This was unlikely at the beginning of a match. Peter Caton 2012. With 97 deaths and 766 injuries, it has the highest death toll in British sporting history. After the last verdict was read out, I decided to jot down a few thoughts. However, MacKenzie did not accept any personal responsibility for the story. This memorial is inscribed with the words: "Hillsborough Disaster we will remember them", and displays the names of the 96 victims who died. It was performed by Lord Justice Stuart-Smith. Consequently, a course of public justice could not have been perverted. [1] This resulted in overcrowding of those pens and the crush. Other fans were pulled to safety by fans in the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace. It is believed that an exit gate was opened to relieve crowds outside the turnstiles, which allowed over . 'stelling them to ban FHM. [90], Ashton and Phillips were not the only doctors present at the disaster not to be called to give evidence to the Popper inquests. [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". Labour MP Steve Rotheram, commented: "How insensitive does somebody have to be to write that load of drivel? The safety certificate was never renewed and the stated capacity of the stadium was never changed. 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". 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. There were cases of alcoholism, drug abuse, and collapsed marriages involving people who had witnessed the events. In the email, which came to light as the result of a Freedom of Information request, Crompton had said that the families' "version of certain events has become 'the truth' even though it isn't". Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool's manager at the time of the disaster, read a passage from the Bible, "Lamentations of Jeremiah". No formal pleas were taken from the other four defendants. [70] On 19 April, the death toll reached 95 when 14-year-old Lee Nicol died in hospital after being taken off life support. Now they are customers to be wooed and cosseted", "Deaths and Injuries at Major Accidents at British Football Stadiums", "Hillsborough families call for Sheffield Wednesday manslaughter inquiry", "How Bradford fire neglect left Hillsborough doomed to disaster", "Safety failings that contributed to death of 96 Liverpool fans were foreseeable", "Sheffield licensing officer from time of Hillsborough disaster still works for council", "Sky Blues fans recall Hillsborough choas", "Hillsborough warning signs were there in 1987", "David Bernstein makes unreserved apology for Hillsborough disaster", "Witness statement of Chief Superintendent Brian Mole, South Yorkshire Police", "Hillsborough inquest hears of police commander's transfer before match", "Hillsborough police officer in command 'had little training' for 1989 FA Cup", "4 Death on the Terraces: The Contexts and Injustices of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster", "BBC Panorama 2013: Hillsborough Disaster. Of those who died, 79 were aged under 30, 38 of whom were under 20, and all but three of the victims were aged under 50. "[38], Outside the stadium, a bottleneck developed with more fans arriving than could be safely filtered through the turnstiles before 3:00pm. After the crush in 1981, Hillsborough was not chosen to host an FA Cup semi-final for six years until 1987. 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. [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. Of those statements, 116 were amended to remove or change negative comments about South Yorkshire Police. A Liverpool fan who suffered life-changing injuries in the Hillsborough disaster has died. The only one called was the Sheffield Wednesday club doctor. [219] A candle was lit for each of the 96 victims.