Hillsborough

A big part of the problem is the disparity of legal representation. In the 2014-16 inquest the families had substantial financial support from the Home Office to field a full legal team that was able to really take on the defence teams employed by the official agencies. In all the other proceedings over the years they have been massively outgunned by having a single barrister versus a phalanx of defence briefs paid for from public money. Unless they can get substantial funding from somewhere they are fighting cases with both hands tied behind their backs. It's no coincidence that on the one occasion they had adequate legal representation they shredded the defence case.
Without that funding they are reliant on the CPS, who have demonstrated their incompetence too many times.

 

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.