hillsborough disaster turnstiles hillsborough disaster turnstiles

Match commander Duckenfield decided to open a gate into the stadium to alleviate pressure at the turnstiles . 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'. [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. [145] Maria Eagle confirmed her understanding that WMP actions in this respect would be the subject of IPCC scrutiny. Their views were not "the maverick view from a disaffected minority but the considered opinion of the majority of professionals present from the outset". Two further gates (A and B) were subsequently opened to relieve pressure. It made recommendations on the safety of crowds penned within fences,[21] including that "all exit gates should be manned at all times and capable of being opened immediately from the inside by anyone in an emergency".[22]. Lewis stopped the match at 3:05:30[44] as fans climbed the fence in an effort to escape the crush and went onto the track. Crowd safety was "compromised at every level" and overcrowding issues had been recorded two years earlier. "[114] However, the determination by Stuart-Smith was heavily criticised by the Justice Minister, Lord Falconer, who stated "I am absolutely sure that Sir Murray Stuart-Smith came completely to the wrong conclusion". Two sisters, three pairs of brothers, and a father and son were among those who died,[69] as were two men about to become fathers for the first time: 25-year-old Steven Brown of Wrexham[76] and 30-year-old Peter Thompson of Widnes. Kick-off was scheduled for 3:00pm on 15 April, and fans were advised to take up positions 15 minutes beforehand. 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. [62] Other fundraising activities included a Factory Records benefit concert and several fundraising football matches. 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Fans were still streaming into pens 3 and 4 from the rear entrance tunnel as the match began. 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. 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. 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. A terrible crowd crush claimed the lives of 96 innocen. 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". 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 extreme reaction to Mr Bigley's murder is fed by the fact that he was a Liverpudlian. 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 transfer was to be done with immediate effect on 27 March 1989. After the two minutes' silence, bells on civic buildings rang out throughout Merseyside. ", "Did Freemasons influence police over Hillsborough? [124] Their report was in 395 pages and delivered 153 key findings. [35], Three chartered trains transported Liverpool supporters to Sheffield for a match in 1988, but only one such train ran in 1989. [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'." [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. The ceremony ended with 96 rings of church bells across the city and a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone". The panel concluded that "up to 41" of the 96 who had died up to that date, might have survived had the emergency services' reactions and co-ordination been better. It's too little, too late. "[285], The Times was the only major UK newspaper not to give the story front-page coverage other than fellow News UK-owned Sun. 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". [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. [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. Two thousand traveling Liverpool away fans entered an already packed terrace via a . Jones stated that minutes after the disaster, Duckenfield "deceitfully and dishonestly" told senior FA officials that the supporters had forced the gate open. [4] In 2009 a Hillsborough Independent Panel was formed to review the evidence. It was a 'classic smear'. [43] Football players from both teams were ushered to their respective dressing rooms, and told that there would be a 30-minute postponement. [144] In the same 22 October House of Commons debate, Stephen Mosley MP alleged West Midlands police pressured witnessesboth police and civiliansto change their statements. A member of the Hillsborough Families Support Group responded "too little, too late". [17] From 1974, when these security standards were put in place, crushes occurred in several English stadiums. "[281], Professor Phil Scraton described Pearce's comments as amongst the "most bigoted and factually inaccurate" published in the wake of the disaster. [200] On 28November 2019, Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter. The crowd numbered more than 60,000, including around 6,000 Liverpool fans, and all the match proceeds went to the Hillsborough appeal fund. "[112] He later apologised for his remark, saying it was not intended to offend. "[314][315] There have since been calls to have Ingham stripped of his knighthood. These were formally given to the inquests at 11:00 on 26 April 2016. [4] Following the Taylor Report, the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled there was no evidence to justify prosecution of any individuals or institutions. [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. [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. 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. 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. 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". Mackrell pleaded not guilty to the charge against him. The remaining 14 victims lived in other parts of England. [271], In February 2017, Liverpool F.C. The prosecution ended on 24July 2000, when Murray was acquitted and the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of Duckenfield. [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. From 2007, an annual Hillsborough Memorial service was held at Spion Kop, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. [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. 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. Hillsborough hosted five FA Cup semi-finals in the 1980s. 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. [191], On 9 August 2017, all except Duckenfield appeared at Warrington Magistrates Court. [299], Fans of rival clubs[300] have been known to chant about the Hillsborough disaster at football matches, in order to upset Liverpool fans. [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. The Hillsborough inquest jury must answer a detailed questionnaire before delivering their verdicts. [165] During the inquests, Duckenfield confirmed that he became a Freemason in 1975 and became Worshipful Master of his local lodge in 1990, a year after the disaster; following this revelation, Freemasons were forbidden to take part in the IPCC investigation and Operation Resolve as civilian investigators to prevent any perceived bias. [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". [29] Leeds were assigned the Leppings Lane end. Other fans were pulled to safety by fans in the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace.