How long ago was hillsborough disaster

Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary — A young fan stands next to floral tributes laid in memory of the victims ahead of the Liverpool-Manchester City game at Anfield. Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary — The Hillsborough Justice Campaign was set up to support those affected by the disaster, including the families of the victims and the survivors.

Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary — A new inquest into the tragedy started on March 31, Donna Miller right , whose brother Paul Carlile died at Hillsborough, walks next to Mary Corrigan center , whose son Keith McGrath was also killed, as they arrive to attend the opening day.

Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary — The names of the 96 victims are listed on a memorial outside Liverpool's Anfield stadium. Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary — A poster protesting about the way in which Liverpool fans were blamed for the Hillsborough disaster is displayed outside Anfield in The club's supporters boycotted "The Sun" newspaper due to its coverage of the deaths.

In order to relieve a bottleneck of Liverpool fans trying to enter the venue before kickoff, police opened an exit gate and people rushed to get inside. More than 3, fans were funneled into a standing-room-only area with a safe capacity of just 1, The obvious crush in the stands prompted organizers to stop the game after six minutes. Police initially concluded the crush was an attempt by rowdy fans to surge onto the field, according to the Taylor Interim Report, a government investigation led by Justice Peter Taylor.

As officers approached the stands, it became apparent people were suffocating and trying to escape by climbing the fence. The Taylor Interim Report describes the scene: "The dead, the dying and the desperate became interwoven in the sump at the front of the pens, especially by the gates. Those with strength left clambered over others submerged in the human heap and tried to climb out over the fence The victims were blue A pile of dead bodies lay and grew outside gate 3.

The former Sheffield Wednesday secretary and safety officer, Graham Mackrell, was charged with safety offences. Sir Norman Bettison, a South Yorkshire police inspector at the time, who later became chief constable of Merseyside police, was charged with misconduct in a public office, but that prosecution collapsed in The facts of how the 96 were killed were, by definition, exactly the same as those the inquest jury had heard.

The families found themselves on the sidelines again, spectators to an English court and its ceremonials: wigs and gowns, the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, in red robe, the royal coat of arms , dating back to , on the wall behind him. Victims and their families in a criminal trial have no right to legal representation, and very limited participation in the process.

The family members who did regularly attend in the downstairs gloom of court No 1 at Preston — Jenni Hicks, Christine Burke, whose father, Henry, 46, was killed at Hillsborough, and Louise Brookes, who lost her older brother Andrew, 26, were regulars — sat in seats for the public, separated from the main court area by glass screens. An effort was made there to make the families comfortable, with a small room where they could sit, and have tea and biscuits.

Very quickly, families became alarmed by the way he presented the case, and the direction it took. The families had to watch as the conclusions of the inquest were ignored. On 13 February , a former South Yorkshire police officer, Insp Stephen Ellis, broke down while recalling people heading down the tunnel to the central pens after the exit gate was opened.

This meant whatever was read would stand as evidence, unchallenged by the prosecution. So a series of police officers, called by the prosecution, gave evidence that had been discredited at the inquest, and the prosecution allowed it to stand. The families, having fought 30 years against this narrative, made their views known very directly, urging Matthews to fight harder, and the atmosphere became fraught.

Stephanie Conning, a regular attender in Preston, is a survivor, having been at Hillsborough aged 18 with her older brother Rick Jones, 25, and his partner, Tracey Cox, 23, who both died in the crush. They were among those who were outside the ground at 2. The families also had concerns that Openshaw was sympathetic to Duckenfield.

The judge allowed him to sit in the court with his lawyers, rather than in the dock, where accused people routinely sit, isolated, to be studied by a jury. But such a concession to a defendant is rare. Sitting next to his solicitors, wearing his dark suit, made Duckenfield appear less like the accused, more like a victim himself. He suggested to the jury that it had not been a lie at all. It was, after everything, still a shocking experience to hear Openshaw say that.

Everybody in the courtroom — except the jury — knew that Duckenfield himself had always admitted that he lied, as far back as the Taylor inquiry, where he had apologised for it. Yet in that Preston courtroom, everybody was powerless to say anything. Journalists are prohibited, while a trial is proceeding, from commenting or writing anything other than reporting what is said in court that day.

My work on the disaster had always involved investigating the past miscarriage of justice, the first inquest, but this was a new feeling, of being trapped in a miscarriage of justice as it was happening. The families had to endure it, silently, in the public seats. I saw Jenni Hicks during a break, near the top of the dark curved steps up to ground level. After eight days considering their verdict, the jury returned to say they could not reach the required minimum majority of Matthews immediately told Openshaw he would be applying for a retrial.

The CPS say they took advice about the judge and decided not to make such an application. They told families they were making improvements to their case, and urged them to remain positive. So the retrial began on 7 October , in the same court, with the same barristers, and Openshaw still presiding. Everybody had to stand again and bow when he walked in. Some differences were made in the CPS presentation of the case, but broadly it followed the same pattern: Myers and individual police officers alleged yet again that supporters misbehaved outside the ground, Matthews barely challenging that narrative.

This time, on 28 November , the jury, having done their civic duty of assessing what was presented to them, acquitted Duckenfield. Perhaps as they left the court the jury members saw the incensed reaction of the families, finally released from their enforced silence, Jenni Hicks, Christine Burke and Louise Brookes raging in interviews under TV lights.

Only then could the previous findings be reported again, so perhaps the jury members learned for the first time about the inquest determinations, and the new legal position their verdict had established. But now, Duckenfield was not guilty of the criminal offence of gross negligence manslaughter, and the police accusations against the victims had been reinstated.

Now, due to Covid requirements, the concluding trial, of Metcalf, Denton and Foster, charged with perverting the course of public justice, started on 20 April in an actual theatre: the Lowry in Salford. The families who attended — Jenni Hicks and Christine Burke, with her daughter Cherine, were regulars — were given seats in the upper circle. The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, was up on stage in his wig and crimson robe, the coat of arms behind him.

The barristers, in wigs and gowns, were arranged in rows on the floor of the theatre, under lights. South Yorkshire coroner Dr Stefan Popper begins the inquest process into the deaths, but only considers events up until 3. Allan Green, the director of public prosecutions, finds there is insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against any individual, group or corporate body. After the longest inquest in British history, lasting 90 days, a verdict of accidental death is returned by a majority verdict of The ruling states that all the victims were dead by 3.

Duckenfield retires on medical grounds, suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. This halts disciplinary proceedings being brought by the Police Complaints Authority. Meanwhile, the families of six victims appeal for a judicial review application to quash the inquest verdict. It is rejected by Lord Justice McCowan in the divisional court. It fuels calls for a new inquiry and is later awarded a Bafta.

But despite it finding that police evidence to the Taylor inquiry had been doctored, home secretary Jack Straw rules out a new inquiry. The Hillsborough Family Support Group mounts a private prosecution of Duckenfield and his deputy, superintendent Bernard Murray, for manslaughter. In July , Murray is acquitted after a six-week trial.

Many victims were smashed against metal fences, trampled underfoot or suffocated in the crush. An initial inquest ruled the deaths an accident. A second inquest concluded in that the 96 victims were unlawfully killed as a result of failings by police, the ambulance service and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, which ran the stadium.

It found the behavior of fans did not contribute to the deaths. Several former police officers and a lawyer were charged years after the disaster with attempting to pervert the course of justice, but none has been convicted.