Most liked posts in thread: Hillsborough

What about the Liverpool fans themselves? Should they partly shoulder the blame?

 

What an absolute fecking disgrace this is.

Everyone knows that the South Yorkshire Police systematically altered scores of police notebooks to hide their responsibility for the deaths of 96 fans at Hillsborough. But a judge has ruled that they can't can't be found guilty of perverting the course of justice because the original inquest was not a statutory legal procedure, therefore there was no justice to be perverted. The judge also ruled that, because it wasn't a formal court of law there was no duty on the police to tell 'the whole truth'.
The Liverpool fans were completely exonerated from blame at the re-heard inquest verdict in 2016. But now their bereaved relatives get no justice whatsoever. Yet again the police have got away with murder on technicalities and the ineptitude of the CPS.
And to add insult to injury, one of the police defendants' barristers went on live radio after the recent case collapsed and repeated the lie that Liverpool supporters were to blame for the tragedy. He should be struck off.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/28/hillsborough-families-ordeal-ended-insult-96-victims?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/28/hillsborough-mayors-accuse-qc-of-repeating-lies-about-liverpool-fans?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

With or without tickets?

 

Still, still, still people apportioning some blame to Liverpool fans for being drunk, rushing the gate, turning up ticketless. All lies.

 

I never said you did.

The Sheffield Wednesday club secretary got fined. Currently (I think) the only person named and punished to any degree. I'm astonished that Duckenfield has not been punished in some way after he admitted that he lied about a gate being forced by Liverpool fans.

A lot of the major myths about the event are explained well here. Also confirmation that Liverpool fans have been cleared of ALL blame.

 

The cover up by the police was a crime against society and should have been more investigated and given much more importance,

 

Dukinfield is the scapegoat for a massive balls up he was far to inexperienced for such a big match

 

So the defence is "everyone acted that way" and a fair few were "drunk" ?

I don't know enough about events on the day to suggest who is or is not responsible, that's what the inquest was for but I do know that if I was one of the 2000 Liverpool fans who rushed through the exit gate I'd probably feel a sense of self guilt at my behaviour.

 

I was under the impression that it was the jury that made a decision and the judge determined punishment ( I could be wrong though)

 

Liverpool fans have been cleared of ALL blame.

 

From what I understand, the families wanted different and broader charges brought which would not have been so easy to have wriggled out of on technical grounds. But the CPS got their way and pursued the specific charge of perverting the course of justice, with disastrous consequences.
It sounds as though the CPS and their barristers were nowhere near as well researched and briefed as the families' barristers were at the 2014-16 inquest and have basically been given the run around by the defendants' legal team. It's a total shambles that leaves the families in the lurch, with not a single police officer held to account for the deaths or the subsequent cover up. It's appalling.

 

The whole fiasco also gives rise to a situation where witness statements have been altered by the police after they have been made, seemingly without any consequences whatsoever. That cannot be right.
I also think it can be argued that the enquiry was part of the course of public justice, and that the judge in this instance has made the wrong decision and could have let the case be put to the jury.

 

This Twitter conversation between David Allen Green, The Secret Barrister and Andy Burnham sets out the arguments quite nicely, although it gets a bit convoluted with all the replies.
I always find David Allen Green has sensible things to say about legal matters and public policy.

 

How is he a Sir though. Should never have been knighted

 

I don’t he was even there at the match he was accused of being involved in the cover up.
They will throw the book at the match commander

 

Unless the defence our successful in blocking it.