As always you can unsubscribe at any time. The following March, a Home Office meeting consideres material submitted by the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) calling for a new inquiry but advice to the attorney general says the 3.15pm cut-off had been fully justifiable. The inquest jury finds that Hillsboroughs 96 victims were unlawfully killed and that Liverpool fans were not responsible for the disaster. David Duckenfield is not a criminal, a jury has decided. Mansfield said: But this isnt what happened on this day, this wasnt fans turning up late, having got into a drunken state, was it?, Duckenfield responded: I will have to disagree., Pressed on whether he had received any information in the buildup to the match that fans turned up drunk and late, he replied: I cant recall, sir.. Yet one thing that is crucial to remember is that today's verdict does not undo, undermine or cancel out the verdicts of those historic inquests. Mr Duckenfield's wife, Ann, went over to comfort her husband in the courtroom after the verdict was read out. After reviewing 450,000 documents, the Hillsborough Independent Panel publishes a report highlighting police failings and the alleged campaign to blame Liverpool supporters for the disaster. Lord Justice Peter Taylors interim report into the tragedy puts the blame on South Yorkshire Police. Tom Davidson Assistant news editor. Crucially, the panel finds that 41 victims did not have signs of the crush injuries originally claimed by pathologists, and so may have been saved. After Duckenfield mentioned the contribution in the police control room of Bernard Murray, who was a superintendent but has since died, Menon asked him if he was seeking to blame other people. But he now admits the crush occurred after he ordered an exit gate to be opened allowing 2,000 Liverpool fans to enter the stadium in just five minutes. There will be a service at the Anglican cathedral, and a minutes silence will be observed at 3.06pm the moment the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was stopped as the scale of the disaster became apparent. The defendant's conduct must fall so far below the standard to be expected of a reasonably competent and careful person in the defendant's position, that it was something truly, exceptionally bad. Sue Hemming, the CPS director of legal services, reacts to the decision by issuing a scathing statement. "Everybody knew the truth, the fans and police knew the truth that we'd opened the gates," he said. Mackrell, who sought in his defence to blame Liverpool supporters for the dangerous congestion that developed at the turnstiles, will be sentenced on 13 May. 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A police doctor certified him as "unfit to undertake the duties of a police constable" and diagnosed him with "severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder". Sir Norman Bettison, the former police chief constable accused of blaming fans for the disaster, has all four criminal charges against him dropped. Former Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield at Preston Crown court. But was the regret he described at the disaster inquests the regret of having been dishonest, or the regret of having been found out? The inquest heard Mr Duckenfield testify he was struggling to sleep in the run-up to the 1989 Taylor Inquiry, and claimed to be drinking "half tumblers of whisky" to "find the courage" to read statements. For one teacher, it was a life well-lived. Abuse of process arguments for other defendants fails. Due to the law at the time, there can be no prosecution over the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland. He also admitted to a "terrible lie". The trial of Mr Duckenfield and Mr Mackrell starts at Preston Crown Court. But this influx caused further crushing inside the stadium, with fans at the front attempting to climb onto the pitch to safety. Meanwhile, the families of six victims appeal for a judicial review application to quash the inquest verdict. Match commander Ch Supt David Duckenfield had ordered for an exit gate at the stadium to be opened, by the Leppings Lane turnstiles. The then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) concludes that there is no new evidence as alleged by the HFSG and their legal representatives, and therefore no grounds for reopening the police investigation into the Hillsborough disaster. David Duckenfield had been appointed Chief Superintendent of the South Yorkshire Police just 19 days before the disaster. The finding undermines the decision made by the coroner in the first inquests to limit their scope to events before 3.15pm, and not consider the chaotic medical response after that point. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. In February 2000, both officers appeal to the Divisional Court but fail and the trial is held in Leeds between 6 June and 24 July 2000. But while his acquittal means he did not fail to a criminal standard, it does not mean he did not fail at all. ", "It is important to remember that criminal proceedings have a very different purpose to an inquest.". Match commander tells inquest that watching a documentary made him realise the effect the disaster had on the bereaved families. Duckenfield was a public servant who failed in his basic duties to the people he was charged with protecting. No one should have to suffer the emotional damage that comes with such a burden. The jury fails to reach a verdict on Duckenfield. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. lifts the historic stay of further prosecution on Mr Duckenfield, fails to reach a verdict on the charges against Mr Duckenfield. The city of Liverpool will today remember the 96 football fans who died at Hillsborough stadium, 30 years to the day since the disaster. He said: "He has a resilient, passive and expressionless external presentation which gives no indication of his state of mind so don't draw an adverse inference against him.". He said this as. Who has been left to carry the weight and pain of the disaster? He also rejects a prosecution application to prevent tweeting from court, sharing articles on social media or embedding video into news articles. The HFSG is granted permission for a private manslaughter prosecution against Mr Duckenfield and Mr Murray. A jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of David Duckenfield, the former South Yorkshire police chief superintendent and match commander on the day of the Hillsborough disaster. All you need to know about everything that matters. When all Hillsborough legal proceedings are concluded we should, as a society, take time to consider these matters and learn lessons. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. The matchday commander at Hillsborough was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter charges pertaining to his role in the football disaster 30. David Duckenfield, a Police Chief Superintendent, who has been accused of the death of 96 people in the tragic incident of the Hillsborough disaster, was found not guilty in charge of manslaughter. The 96 Liverpool supporters unlawfully killed at Hillsborough. "We have immense admiration for the Hillsborough families, survivors and campaigners for what they have achieved and our thoughts remain with them and those 96 Liverpool supporters who went to watch their team and never came home.". "Over this period, I have had to come to terms with reality, and that is why, over the period, you might say I dug my head in the sand, didn't admit things to myself, but I am now very much older, very much wiser, and very much more understanding of the events of the day and have decided to tell the whole truth. This is because he died more than a year and a day after his injuries were caused. The inquest blames police decisions and the layout of the stadium for the deaths. Judge Sir Peter Openshaw rejects a defence application to ban reporting on the Hillsborough trial until the jury delivers its verdict. Something went wrong, please try again later. Assistant Commissioner Rob Beckley, who was in overall command of Operation Resolve - the criminal inquiry into the disaster, acknowledged the jury "had a difficult and challenging task". Duckenfields acquittal underlines that no one has been held responsible for Hillsborough. "We firmly believe that we have done everything in our power to do right by our Steven and we walk away from this case with our dignity and our heads held high.". ", To the families he added: "It has now dawned on me what it means to you, and I am dreadfully sorry. The prosecution alleged Mr Duckenfield had a "personal responsibility" for what happened at the match. He agreed with Michael Mansfield QC, representing 75 families whose relatives were killed in the lethal crush, that he was practising and persisted in a far-reaching deceit on the day, by lying to Football Association and football club officials about his actions. The Independent Police Complaints Commission launches an investigation into an alleged cover-up by officers in the aftermath of the disaster. Duckenfield retires on medical grounds, suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He had originally been accused of the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 Liverpool fans, but denied all the charges. Those systems failed on 15 April, 1989, and no one will ever take responsibility for that failure. The jury found match commander - former Ch Supt David Duckenfield - "responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence" due to a breach of his duty of care. The report says a pitch invasion was unlikely at the beginning of a match and there was no effective leadership to organise rescue efforts or relieve pressure from behind the pens where the crush happened. Despite having a greater following than Nottingham Forest, Liverpools supporters were allocated the smaller end of the stadium, Leppings Lane, so that their route would not bring them into contact with Forest fans arriving from the south. 2.52pm: After a third request to open the gates from Supt Marshall - who this time says there is a risk of injury or death if it is not done - Duckenfield orders them to be opened. 30 years means evidence has been corroded and some people and organisations cannot answer for their actions because they are no longer with us. Sir, it is now that I have thought very seriously about the families, Duckenfield said, explaining that the video was the most moving thing he had ever seen, and that it had shown him what it means to a mother to lose a loved one. Even while the dead and dying were lying on the pitch, barely attended to by the emergency services, Duckenfield was throwing the blame and trying to avoid the responsibility for a decision that caused the carnage. Duckenfields ordeal ended at Preston crown court on Thursday. Sheffield Wednesday FC is also criticised for an inadequate number of turnstiles at the Leppings Lane entrance and the poor quality of crush barriers on the terraces, some of which collapsed during the disaster. He said this minutes after he - the man tasked with keeping those people safe - had ordered for exit gates to be opened. He said he had post traumatic stress disorder, and hid myself away and could not bear the word Hillsborough after the report was published, but then said he had begun to face the truth two years ago, with the help of doctors. What is wrong is that it has taken 30 years to get to this point. The collapse of the latest Hillsborough trial comes after 30 years of legal battles over responsibility for the disaster, which claimed 96 lives on 15 April 1989. [1] This resulted in overcrowding of those pens and the crush. He told the court: "We say David Duckenfield did do what he was expected to do as match commander. He said footage of a mother having to cuddle her dead child on the dirty floor of the Hillsborough gymnasium was the most moving thing he had ever seen, and that it had shown him "what it means to a mother to lose a loved one". Start your free trial. But the Hillsborough families and survivors will find the outcome hard to take and will ask hard questions about the 65m spent on a criminal investigation which has ended with no one convicted for so many lives lost. Men, women and children were crushed on the Leppings Lane terrace. because Duckenfield was acquitted in 2019 of a charge of gross negligence manslaughter, . 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