0:00:02 > 0:00:10This programme contains some strong language and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:10 > 0:00:11POLICE RADIO CHATTER
0:00:22 > 0:00:25POLICE RADIO: '..post office at Ranmoor.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28'Could be armed robbers - repeat, could be armed, over.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39'..if you could investigate...'
0:01:25 > 0:01:27BIRDSONG
0:01:48 > 0:01:50You get up in the morning,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52you come out, you know, after sort of the winter,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55and you come out and it's lovely and sunny and just a little bit warm,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57and you go, "Ahh."
0:01:57 > 0:01:59It was a lovely day.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Me dad's life was Liverpool and so it became to me, as well.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05There was never any choice of being anybody else -
0:02:05 > 0:02:07you were always going to be a Liverpool fan.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14The FA Cup semifinal, still, at that point, meant something,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18and winning an FA Cup semifinal, being at an FA Cup semifinal
0:02:18 > 0:02:21was a very special event in any football fan's life.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Not really done anything on my own.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31I don't think I was a very... grown up 18-year-old.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38We took her to the train and put her on the train...
0:02:38 > 0:02:40and Richard was to meet her at the other end.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42We were going... going up after the game
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and we were picking Stephanie up and driving her home,
0:02:45 > 0:02:51and we were going to have a picnic on the...the, er, pass
0:02:51 > 0:02:53on the way out of Sheffield.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Trace was going to bring all the butties.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I was going to bring the goodies, as she said -
0:02:59 > 0:03:01cakes, biscuits, bottle of wine.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06James was so excited that he was going the game.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13When he got to my front door, he just turned round and looked at me
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and he said, "Mum, we're going to win today,"
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and I just shut the door,
0:03:19 > 0:03:27never knowing that'd be the last time I'd ever see my son alive.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Saturday, 15th of April 1989,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49went on duty at about half past eight in the morning.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Obviously we knew it were a semifinal match,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Liverpool and Notts Forest.
0:03:57 > 0:03:58A big game.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Obviously you've got to have police officers not just at the ground,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04you've got to cover the whole of the city,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06so it's all hands to the pump, really.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10I'd booked to go to Scotland, er, for a week,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12and they said, "You're going to have to delay it,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14"cos we need everybody to work on the Saturday,
0:04:14 > 0:04:16"and of course you can go on your leave on the Sunday."
0:04:18 > 0:04:21We got to the ground about 9.30am,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25drove there in our own cars, in uniform.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I think I parked probably half a mile away from Hillsborough
0:04:28 > 0:04:30and walked down to the ground.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47The police would come from all over South Yorkshire -
0:04:47 > 0:04:50there'd be dog handlers, police horses.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53In the calendar of South Yorkshire's year,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56this will have been the biggest thing they were doing.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59A third of the force all out on one day - massive operation,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03it needed somebody with experience and know-how and craft,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05and also somebody who knew about football.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Sheffield Wednesday Football Club
0:05:10 > 0:05:13is under the jurisdiction of Hammerton Road Police Station.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19The Chief Superintendent who has responsibility for that division
0:05:19 > 0:05:20is Brian Mole.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Brian Mole has policed Hillsborough
0:05:25 > 0:05:28and been responsible for Hillsborough stadium
0:05:28 > 0:05:30since the early '80s.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36He was one of those guys who grew into this job
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and was loyal to his officers
0:05:39 > 0:05:42but, you know, he was grounded in experience.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45He knew the job, he knew the area,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47and, actually, he knew football, as well.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54MEN STRUGGLE
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Shut your mouth, otherwise I'll blow your head off!
0:05:59 > 0:06:01MAN GRUNTS Shut it.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06An informant had told me that a young police officer,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09I think he was in his early 20s, very new to the service,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12had been lured to a post office in Ranmoor.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Move!
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Get here! Get...
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Come on! Get here!
0:06:20 > 0:06:24From there he was taken by armed robbers with balaclavas on.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26- Get him on his knees!- Get down.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Stop struggling! Get his pants down!
0:06:29 > 0:06:31They had two pistols with them...
0:06:31 > 0:06:33- HE CHOKES - Take the shot!
0:06:33 > 0:06:35..and they pointed them at his head.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37CAMERA FLASH WHINES
0:06:37 > 0:06:40It later turned out they were just officers playing a trick on him.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43THEY LAUGH Well done, my son!
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Now, none of us are going to enjoy that,
0:06:45 > 0:06:46and they certainly aren't going to enjoy it
0:06:46 > 0:06:49when you find out that it's some colleagues that's done it to you.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52- What?! - Come on, pull your trousers up.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54His humiliation must've been complete.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56HE SOBS
0:06:56 > 0:07:00He went home, told his wife, and then the next thing you know
0:07:00 > 0:07:03a complaint's made, so an investigation was started,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05which is when the leak came to me
0:07:05 > 0:07:08that, um, they'd set this poor officer up.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18At the end of it all, they decided to sack four of them
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and reduce two in rank, and fine two others.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26There was a huge amount of embarrassment,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28and Chief Superintendent Brian Mole,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32who would've had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the incident,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36erm, felt the sharp brunt of it by being transferred -
0:07:36 > 0:07:39I think I'm right in saying, for the first time ever -
0:07:39 > 0:07:41outside of Sheffield from F Division, Hammerton Road
0:07:41 > 0:07:43to Barnsley.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53It means that 21 days before the semifinal on the 15th of April 1989,
0:07:53 > 0:08:0121 days, an officer with no experience of policing Hillsborough
0:08:01 > 0:08:05is given the job that Brian Mole had.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09David Duckenfield is in a position
0:08:09 > 0:08:11where he does not have the experience
0:08:11 > 0:08:14to deal with the complexity of Hillsborough
0:08:14 > 0:08:16should anything actually go wrong.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26The first thing he said
0:08:26 > 0:08:29when he sat down was, "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,
0:08:29 > 0:08:31"to the press conference
0:08:31 > 0:08:36"ahead of the Liverpool versus Nottinghamshire..."
0:08:36 > 0:08:37and everybody looked around
0:08:37 > 0:08:40and then somebody said, "Nottingham Forest."
0:08:40 > 0:08:42"Nottingham Forest." So, I immediately thought,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44"If he doesn't know the name of the teams at this stage,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47A, that's a bit odd - maybe it was a slip of the tongue."
0:08:47 > 0:08:50But it also made me think, "Maybe he isn't a football person."
0:08:50 > 0:08:53This is an all-ticket game, er...
0:08:53 > 0:08:55A football person's likely to have a better handle
0:08:55 > 0:08:57on what the event's going to be like
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and all the different combinations that make up a football match,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04you know, in terms of, er, the passions and the tribalism.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06..signs of excess alcohol...
0:09:06 > 0:09:08He just came across as an academic,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11not somebody that was in any way, shape or form,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14er, like his predecessor.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38About ten o'clock-ish we went into the North Stand,
0:09:38 > 0:09:39the cantilever stand,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43and we had a briefing with a lot of senior officers.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46The briefing basically went the same at every match.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52You had discussions of how to react with people
0:09:52 > 0:09:57who were arrested for offences, monitoring the crowd for offences,
0:09:57 > 0:09:58disciplining the crowd -
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and not a word on crowd safety.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04This briefing just seemed to go on and on and on.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08And I always remember Mr Duckenfield, his last words were,
0:10:08 > 0:10:09"Well, ladies and gentlemen,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12I know it's been a very long and involved briefing,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16"but I do believe we've covered for every eventuality."
0:10:17 > 0:10:21And I thought... I thought at the time, I thought,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23"This guy likes the sound of his own voice."
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Hillsborough was an old stadium that had been kind of upgraded
0:10:31 > 0:10:33for the 1966 World Cup.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36There had been modifications made,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40but a perfect example of its danger was the Leppings Lane end.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43If you start out on the street,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46there is only access from Leppings Lane.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51You arrive outside of the stadium, and it was a well-known bottleneck.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54So you've got over 24,000 people
0:10:54 > 0:10:58being processed through this small number of turnstiles.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02All of the fans are converging on the one spot.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04ANNOUNCEMENT OVER TANNOY
0:11:06 > 0:11:08BAND PLAYS
0:11:14 > 0:11:16We didn't really have plans for going to the match,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18we couldn't get tickets.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22It was always impossible, almost, to get tickets for the semifinal -
0:11:22 > 0:11:24but you didn't want to miss that,
0:11:24 > 0:11:25so it was worth the drive to Sheffield
0:11:25 > 0:11:28on the off chance that you might get in the ground.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34At that end of the ground at Hillsborough,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36there is a concourse area.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39You kind of go into some outer gates
0:11:39 > 0:11:42before you go through the turnstiles,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44and we were herded into that area.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46I didn't have tickets, but I thought,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50"I'm herded in here," you know, "who knows what might happen?
0:11:50 > 0:11:54"Who knows? I might be able to give a guy a fiver on the gate."
0:11:55 > 0:11:59It got fairly...crushy there,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01and so they opened up the gates,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and everyone went through and we thought...
0:12:04 > 0:12:06"Brilliant."
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Like all of us, I tried to get behind the goal,
0:12:12 > 0:12:17and way too many of us tried to get behind the goal,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and it was about the worst experience I ever had
0:12:20 > 0:12:21at a football match.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34The match in 1981 when fans were crushed at Hillsborough,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38people could have been seriously injured or killed.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41The game proceeded, even though some fans went to hospital,
0:12:41 > 0:12:42many had bruised ribs...
0:12:44 > 0:12:48..and the police took the decision to allow them to sit quietly
0:12:48 > 0:12:50around the perimeter track.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57And the police indicated that had that not occurred,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59there could've been deaths.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04And the response from the chair of the club
0:13:04 > 0:13:07was to say that was a nonsense -
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I think he used the phrase, "Bollocks.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12"Nobody would've died."
0:13:13 > 0:13:17That, to me, is a clear indication
0:13:17 > 0:13:21of how deep institutional complacency can run.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Despite all the warning signs of 1981,
0:13:26 > 0:13:33nothing was in the operational order to prepare police officers
0:13:33 > 0:13:37for what happened on the day at Hillsborough with regards to safety.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Obviously, first thing is, there's nobody there, first off.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54I expected it to be slow, but it was extremely slow.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58It was so slow that one of the turnstile operators
0:13:58 > 0:14:01remarked to another he'd only had 74 people through,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03and he was so bored,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07he'd worked out what rate they'd got to come through at.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11We got to the ground probably at about 1.30.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Liverpool fans were arriving, there weren't that many there,
0:14:14 > 0:14:15and we just started hunting around
0:14:15 > 0:14:18to see if we could find anybody who might want to swap a ticket,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22so we sort of, you know, we managed that pretty quickly, I think.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25I was pretty pleased to get two significantly more expensive tickets
0:14:25 > 0:14:29in the stand and, erm, he swapped those for a pair of tickets
0:14:29 > 0:14:31for the Leppings Lane terrace.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43We went through that turnstile at about two o'clock,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45into that concourse behind the stand
0:14:45 > 0:14:48and then just saw the sign that said "standing"
0:14:48 > 0:14:52right in the middle of the bottom of that stand.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54There was only one place we were going,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57and, you know, that sort of thrill you get as a football fan
0:14:57 > 0:15:01when you go into the ground and you get the first glimpse of the pitch.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09"We're going to see Liverpool play in the FA Cup semifinal."
0:15:09 > 0:15:12We were in, and we were... we were right behind the goal.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15Me and my brother went by car,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18cos we'd been successful the previous year.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Hung around and went to the same pubs
0:15:21 > 0:15:23that we went the previous year.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26We managed to find a place to park.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28Like people do, we went and had two pints in the, er...
0:15:28 > 0:15:29in one of the pubs there,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31and the pub was... it was all a good atmosphere,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33there was no problems in the pub.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Everybody was singing and having a good time.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42It were like a good-natured carnival atmosphere -
0:15:42 > 0:15:43it was semifinal.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Our job was to escort the Nottingham Forest fans
0:15:50 > 0:15:52to the ground on the buses.
0:15:53 > 0:15:54Everyone's jovial, you know,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57asking if they could stop off for a pint on the way to the ground.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00I said, "No, we're going straight to the ground, we don't stop."
0:16:00 > 0:16:01The fans saying, "Well, I want to get off,"
0:16:01 > 0:16:04"Well, this bus isn't stopping," you know, that sort of thing.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07And when all the buses were empty we'd go back and get more.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10He's a nice lad, anyway, mate.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13I saw one or two fans who were obviously...
0:16:13 > 0:16:15they'd had a drink but they weren't...
0:16:15 > 0:16:16you couldn't construe them as being drunk
0:16:16 > 0:16:18for purposes of locking them up
0:16:18 > 0:16:20for drunk and disorderly or owt like that.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22And if they'd got a tinnie or owt like that,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25we made 'em either sup it up or pour it down a grate
0:16:25 > 0:16:26before they went into ground.
0:16:31 > 0:16:32We walked down towards the ground
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and there was just a few people first of all...
0:16:37 > 0:16:38..and then it just built up,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40and I was surprised at the amount of people
0:16:40 > 0:16:42that were walking towards the ground.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Didn't really see any visible police presence.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02We were checking fans who were coming through the turnstiles,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06searching, they were all decent people, good humoured, sober,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10well behaved, well mannered, very compliant.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13You know, and it was a really good, good atmosphere...
0:17:16 > 0:17:19..and then it started to get busier and busier.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23The attitude seemed to change.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26It was about twenty past two, twenty-five past two,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28myself and a colleague detained a lad
0:17:28 > 0:17:31who jumped through the turnstile without a ticket,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34detained him and took him to the police room,
0:17:34 > 0:17:35processed him through there,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and when we came back it was just mayhem.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46We got there about 20 past, and it was really busy outside.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48There was no real organisation there.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51It was just a mass of people - there was no queuing or anything.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54The more we were watching it, the less people seemed to be going in.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57There didn't seem to be anybody really going through the turnstiles.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59We thought the turnstiles must've been broken,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01and the previous year we got there at the same time,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and we just... I don't remember any problems at all,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06we just seemed to walk straight in.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13At that time, the Leppings Lane at Hillsborough
0:18:13 > 0:18:15was segregated into pens,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and the two central pens behind the goal were quite busy,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21but the ones to the side were really empty.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28'Well, you look at the Liverpool end,
0:18:28 > 0:18:29'to the right of the goal,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32'there's hardly anybody on those steps.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34'No, to the right of there - that's it.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36'Look down there.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39'Unless that's some sort of segregation
0:18:39 > 0:18:40'for what they call neutrals
0:18:40 > 0:18:43'who've got their tickets from Sheffield Wednesday -
0:18:43 > 0:18:44'that could be it, I suppose.'
0:18:46 > 0:18:49You could see all the concrete, you could see the crush barriers.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51If you could see concrete or you could see barriers,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54you knew there was a lot of spare capacity.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01But the two central pens were quite busy.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07It just kept on filling up and filling up
0:19:07 > 0:19:08and I said to Phil at one point,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10"Shall we go down the front?
0:19:10 > 0:19:13"Because it's getting uncomfortable here."
0:19:14 > 0:19:16We mulled it over for, like, five minutes -
0:19:16 > 0:19:18we were standing next to each other -
0:19:18 > 0:19:23and then by about half two, it just got more and more full,
0:19:23 > 0:19:27to the point where we couldn't have got down the front if we wanted to.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36We all know that football fans love to get behind the goal.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Soon that fills up, and what you do is you work sideways from there,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and you find your own level.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46You'd always have the sway and the push and the shove
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and all of the things we now know that are so dangerous,
0:19:49 > 0:19:50but that would be the way.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52You could go sideways if you felt that you were being crushed,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54you could move sideways.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Once pens were introduced at Hillsborough in 1985,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02you couldn't move sideways, you had to stay in that confined area.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10So that idea that fans could go down that tunnel
0:20:10 > 0:20:12into the backs of already crowded fans
0:20:12 > 0:20:16and then somehow they could find their own level is a nonsense,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18because there was nowhere to go.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32The control box is right there at the corner of Leppings Lane.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35It's above the terrace, perfect view,
0:20:35 > 0:20:36right down into the central pens,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39right across the whole of the terrace.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41It's a very small box, full of monitors,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44monitoring the crowd at all points.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47In the control box you have Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50you have his assistant Bernard Murray.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54The only place where there is relative silence
0:20:54 > 0:20:57and relative calm is in the control box.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Those officers inside the ground and outside the ground
0:21:04 > 0:21:08are dependent on the control box for instructions - this is the hub.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16You can see right beneath them, right in their eye line -
0:21:16 > 0:21:17they don't need monitors -
0:21:17 > 0:21:21you can see this incredible compression of bodies,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24so you can already see, at that point,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26prior to the disaster occurring,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29that the central pens are packed tight.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Had some lunch in the gymnasium.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54I had apple pie with custard.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57That sticks in my mind for some reason, I don't know why,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59it's bizarre.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02And then there was, like, an atmosphere started,
0:22:02 > 0:22:04and you could see police were starting looking at the door,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and you're thinking, "What's going on?"
0:22:07 > 0:22:09It just started... atmosphere started to build,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12and everyone's sort of, "Right, well, let's...I'm just going to...
0:22:12 > 0:22:15"Where's my hat? Where's my helmet? Where are my gloves?"
0:22:15 > 0:22:19You can tell people's tone of voice starts to creep up,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21and you're thinking, "That's not sounding too good,"
0:22:21 > 0:22:23I think we're getting ready to move,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26and, of course, we were deployed to Leppings Lane end.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36There was a mass of people in front of the ground.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Couldn't see any turnstiles at all.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44The crowd built up behind us,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47so much so that we were in a mass of people.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50As soon as we came round that corner,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53you could see just a press of people outside.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55"How are we going to get all these people in?"
0:22:59 > 0:23:01People were being forced in the turnstiles.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04We were literally pulling people through the turnstiles
0:23:04 > 0:23:06to get them out of the crush outside.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10It was quite normal that a message would be given
0:23:10 > 0:23:11that the kick-off was being delayed,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14and that can then be relayed to the fans outside,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17but there's no plan to delay the kick-off.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19ALL SHOUT
0:23:19 > 0:23:21MAN SCREAMS
0:23:25 > 0:23:27CROWD JEERS
0:23:28 > 0:23:34We could hear on Sergeant Jacques' radio the voices of police officers
0:23:34 > 0:23:36getting more and more frantic,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40and when I say frantic...
0:23:40 > 0:23:42I mean frantic.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44You could tell...
0:23:47 > 0:23:49..there were an element of fear in their voices.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56Some poor lad just lost it.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58I remember this on the radio, saying,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00"For fuck's sake, for fuck's sake, open these gates!
0:24:00 > 0:24:03"If you don't open these gates, people are going to die.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05"For fuck's sake, please open these gates."
0:24:05 > 0:24:07I looked at me colleague, "Someone's swearing on the radio."
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Didn't happen, you just didn't do it.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14You would hope that people would see what was happening
0:24:14 > 0:24:15outside the ground.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19CCTV would've shown what was happening outside the ground.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25There seemed to be a big gap, a big black hole,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29a big nothingness coming from police control room.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It were as if everybody... everybody had just frozen.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35You're in a situation where the pressure is so great
0:24:35 > 0:24:39that you're going to actually have injury and death outside the ground.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43The police officer in charge outside the ground,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Superintendent Marshall, realises this -
0:24:45 > 0:24:50he phones through into the ground, to Duckenfield.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53He can see what's happening outside the ground on his monitors
0:24:53 > 0:24:57and he's asked to open exit gate C,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02so that the fans who were at the back of that crush
0:25:02 > 0:25:03can be fed into exit gate C,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06therefore relieving the crush at the turnstiles,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08preventing death or injury,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11as Marshall puts it, outside of the stadium.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14RADIO CHATTER
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Duckenfield takes the decision,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20"If this is what needs to be done, so be it."
0:25:21 > 0:25:26He orders the gate to be opened, and at that point, un-stewarded,
0:25:26 > 0:25:27in come the fans.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42We just went in with the crowd.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45We were among the first 20 or 30
0:25:45 > 0:25:48to actually go through the gates that were opened.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Some had got tickets and were saying,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57"Do you want to see my ticket?"
0:25:57 > 0:25:59and I said, "No, just get in, just get in."
0:26:02 > 0:26:03The gate got opened...
0:26:06 > 0:26:09..so we then just walked at a leisurely pace through.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13I was quite surprised that it was quite free of people -
0:26:13 > 0:26:16we literally could stand quite free.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20If it had been as packed there as it had been outside,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22I don't think I'd have gone down the tunnel.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25I said to me mate, cos I was in the stands,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27so I was in the wrong area,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30so I said to him, I said, "I'll see you later," you know,
0:26:30 > 0:26:31"Yeah, fine."
0:26:31 > 0:26:33And I went one way, and he went down the tunnel.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Foolishly we just went for the tunnel, really,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37we just went straight down a tunnel.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40An open-mouthed tunnel, nobody policing it.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Previous years, that had been sealed
0:26:43 > 0:26:45when it appeared that the central pens were full,
0:26:45 > 0:26:46but not this year.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52I know that when you come through that gate, you see that tunnel.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01You certainly wouldn't think about going past the tunnel
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and into the other entrance into the West Stand.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25CROWD CHANTS
0:27:29 > 0:27:31We were in red, they were in all white,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34the pitch was as green as you've ever seen.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36If you would've taken a snapshot of football
0:27:36 > 0:27:39at its most beautiful, that was that moment.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41I just thought to myself, "This is great, this is..."
0:27:41 > 0:27:44You know, "Football doesn't get any better than this."
0:28:18 > 0:28:21- MOTSON:- 'So, on a clear, sunny day at Hillsborough,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24'the stage is set for a rerun of last year's classic,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26'Liverpool in red, Forest all in white.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30'Stuart Pearce gives away the first free kick.'
0:28:32 > 0:28:36I had no idea that the game had even started.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39We were pushed forward very quickly,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41just the momentum took us forward
0:28:41 > 0:28:42and there was a gap created behind us,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45obviously from the momentum that had come,
0:28:45 > 0:28:46and Tracey had fallen down.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50I turned round and somebody picked her up,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54didn't see sight of Richard or Tracey after that.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57By the time I stopped, I was right near the front.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03This panicked mass -
0:29:03 > 0:29:06nobody was watching the game.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09There was a bit of a surge and I got pushed onto a barrier.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11It eased off a bit, and I turned round,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13and I could see me dad behind me,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15and the last thing I said to him was, "Are you OK?"
0:29:15 > 0:29:17and he just said, "Yeah."
0:29:17 > 0:29:19Next thing, I was... I was pushed again.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25The pressure just got immensely worse.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27At the beginning I thought,
0:29:27 > 0:29:29"Oh, it's going to... it'll ease off again,"
0:29:29 > 0:29:33because it always eases off, I've done this countless times.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35But it just didn't... it didn't ease off at all,
0:29:35 > 0:29:37it just got tighter and tighter
0:29:37 > 0:29:41and then you could hear people crying, er, like they were dying.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48There was two lads on the other side of the barrier,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50I was really in their face, cos I was right over the barrier.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53I was asking them to help me but...they couldn't,
0:29:53 > 0:29:58they said, "We can't help you, we're struggling ourselves,"
0:29:58 > 0:30:01and there was this other lad who was...
0:30:01 > 0:30:03he was taking all the weight of me,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07and I seen him look at me, he never said a word,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10he just looked at me, and I...
0:30:10 > 0:30:13there was nothing I could... there was nothing I could do.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16The only recollection I have of the six minutes that was played
0:30:16 > 0:30:18was Beardsley hit the bar.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20'Beardsley.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22'Oh, he's hit the bar.'
0:30:22 > 0:30:25That was the moment it felt like the crowd sort of convulsed,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27and then something...went.
0:30:30 > 0:30:36I felt very light-headed, I felt like my vision was narrowing
0:30:36 > 0:30:38and you were hearing shouting about,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41"Hold him up, hold him up, hold him up."
0:30:41 > 0:30:42"I've got to get down.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44"If I can get down I'll be all right.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47"If it just eases off for a second, I'll get down on the floor,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49"that's what...that's what I'll do,"
0:30:49 > 0:30:52and then I'm thinking to myself, "No. I'm dying here."
0:30:57 > 0:30:59Eventually I passed out.
0:31:21 > 0:31:22Nothing was being done.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26These two or three police officers, whatever it was,
0:31:26 > 0:31:27were just looking,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30telling this guy to get off the crush barrier.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35This was unfolding within feet of where they were standing.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40I presume that these guys had policed football matches
0:31:40 > 0:31:42many, many times before...
0:31:45 > 0:31:48..which, you know, says it all
0:31:48 > 0:31:53about how the police saw football fans at that time.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56CROWD ROARS
0:31:56 > 0:31:59'And there are fans on the pitch here, in the six-yard area.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01'The referee's going to have to stop the game.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04'There's an overflow behind the goal
0:32:04 > 0:32:08'and the police inspector is on the pitch,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11'and they've come through the barriers.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13'Now, I can only think that's overcrowding,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16'it doesn't look to me to be any sort of misbehaviour.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21'More police are being called for.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24'Reinforcements are coming from the Forest end now
0:32:24 > 0:32:26'to attend to this problem.'
0:32:26 > 0:32:29As we got to the corner of the pitch,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34the centre pen looked absolutely crammed,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36and I could see there's too many people
0:32:36 > 0:32:38in those middle two pens than...
0:32:38 > 0:32:41It was obvious it was too many people.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47This is going tits up.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50It's not a pitch invasion, it's not public order,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53it is people dying and in distress,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55so I opened the pen.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Just carried on screaming, and then all of a sudden
0:33:05 > 0:33:07I just heard somebody say, "Come through here,"
0:33:07 > 0:33:10or, "Come here, love," or...
0:33:10 > 0:33:15and I was literally sort of grabbed, sort of pulled...
0:33:19 > 0:33:22..and I found myself on the pitch with a camera on my face.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31It was just a lot of fractured sort of breathing
0:33:31 > 0:33:35and people rasping and people shouting
0:33:35 > 0:33:41and a rising tide of panic and anguish and anger.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43FANS SHOUT FURIOUSLY
0:33:54 > 0:33:57I was stood at the fence looking into the ground,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59but I was looking long-sighted,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02and there was a police officer next to me,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06we're just looking round and he said, "He's a goner."
0:34:06 > 0:34:10And he pointed in front of him, and I...
0:34:10 > 0:34:13to my shock, about three foot in front of me...
0:34:14 > 0:34:16..was this lad.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30It was like looking at fish in a trawler net.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35People were so crushed...
0:34:36 > 0:34:39..that you...you couldn't see a full person, if you like.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43And that were just something that will haunt me forever, really.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47All I could see was his shoulders and his face...
0:34:49 > 0:34:51..and his face was deep purple.
0:34:59 > 0:35:00He wasn't breathing.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03I don't think he was.
0:35:03 > 0:35:04And I thought, "It's...
0:35:04 > 0:35:07"Oh, my God, you know, this is... This is..."
0:35:07 > 0:35:09I just... And then it suddenly...
0:35:09 > 0:35:11This isn't happening.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14And I noticed there was just bodies everywhere,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17a sea at the front of bodies.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24It was seeing that, you know, broken, crumpled, er...
0:35:26 > 0:35:29..pile of people, and then you just thought,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32"Jesus", you know,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34"this isn't one or two, this is...
0:35:36 > 0:35:37"This is a lot of people."
0:35:40 > 0:35:44I saw one particular lad who was caught up to his waist in bodies.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48So I grabbed hold of his hands and I thought,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50"I'll pull him out, no problem."
0:35:50 > 0:35:52No chance, absolutely no chance.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55He was just... He might as well have had his legs in vices.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58I could not move him. Could not move him.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01As I leant over, my radio fell out my pocket.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08There he is, in all this...carnage,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10all this terror,
0:36:10 > 0:36:15and, to my amazement, he picks me radio up and hands it back to me.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24I was a small, skinny kid in glasses and this bloke said to me,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28"Go on, lad, up you go," and, like, lifted me up.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30These guys were leaning right over.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32you just looked up and they were just, you know,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34making eye contact with you and just saying, you know,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36"You get up here."
0:36:37 > 0:36:41I was lifted up and this guy leant over the barriers
0:36:41 > 0:36:43and put his arms out and pulled me up
0:36:43 > 0:36:46and then he slapped me around the face a couple of times.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48He looked in my eyes and said, "Are you all right?"
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Then just said, "Get up the back."
0:36:51 > 0:36:53I went up to the back of the stand, right at the back of the stand,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55and I just sat there sort of feeling numb
0:36:55 > 0:36:57and watched this thing unfold.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04I looked over my left shoulder and I thought,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07"I'm not doing anything good here."
0:37:07 > 0:37:09I could see that nobody could get in through the gates
0:37:09 > 0:37:12that were in front of those two pens,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14but when I looked across to my right,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17I could see Sergeant Green, who was one of my sergeants at the time,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19was stood at a gate.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23So I thought, "If I go in there,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27"I can just run along and get into the other pen."
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I got in and I couldn't understand why
0:37:30 > 0:37:33these people weren't moving towards me.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35There's actually a six-foot-high spike railing fences
0:37:35 > 0:37:37between the pens.
0:37:37 > 0:37:38No wonder people can't move.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45And I thought, "What a stupid thing, having a spiked fence."
0:37:45 > 0:37:49But I thought, "I've got to get over that fence," so I jumped in.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55It was like spaghetti, they were tangled up.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58It was just a case of trying to rescue people, get them out.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00You'd see the same socks on.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Well, that's going be somebody's legs,
0:38:02 > 0:38:04so you try and pull them out.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05But you can't pull them out,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08because their arms are wrapped round somebody else's leg.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10You'd feel for a pulse,
0:38:10 > 0:38:12but their tongues were so black and swollen,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16I thought, "You're struggling, really, to get any air in there."
0:38:16 > 0:38:17Lips were blue, eyes were glazed.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20By this time, you could see people were starting to be
0:38:20 > 0:38:21taken onto the pitch.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I thought, "They're starting to get their act together
0:38:24 > 0:38:25"and starting to treat people outside,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27"so get them over as fast as you can,"
0:38:27 > 0:38:30and we were just pulling people out.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34When I come to, it had all eased off around me quite a bit.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36I remember some fella saying,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38"Don't go down there, get up off the floor."
0:38:38 > 0:38:42So I said... So I got up. As...as I turned round,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45I could see people getting hoisted up into the stand.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47And I... I didn't know...
0:38:47 > 0:38:49All I thought was,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51"Just get out of here. I've just got to get out of here."
0:38:51 > 0:38:54So I put me hand up, and me right arm wouldn't work,
0:38:54 > 0:38:55I'd crushed me right arm.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58I got pulled up, but just by me left arm.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03I could see people pulling at the barriers,
0:39:03 > 0:39:05and there's police and people on the pitch,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07I could see all sorts going on.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10I've gotta find me dad, because he's going be worrying for me.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12You know, I've... "Where...? How...how is he?"
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Worrying about how he was, but I thought,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15"He's going be worrying where I am.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17"If I'm up here, he's going be looking everywhere for me."
0:39:17 > 0:39:21There was this big chap that was being helped out.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23He was, erm...
0:39:23 > 0:39:25unconscious at least.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29I really was the only officer there, so I lifted his T-shirt up.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33I put my ear to his chest, couldn't hear anything.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36I think a St John Ambulance chap came up and looked in his eyes,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and he said, "He's dead."
0:39:39 > 0:39:41And so I just lifted his T-shirt over his face.
0:39:52 > 0:39:53Erm...
0:40:05 > 0:40:07There was a big guy.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10He had a red shirt on and they pulled it over his head.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13And at that point you realised, "Jesus, he's dead."
0:40:13 > 0:40:15And everyone around me was like,
0:40:15 > 0:40:17"No, he's... No-one's dead, no-one..."
0:40:17 > 0:40:19You know, cos no-one wanted to...to believe,
0:40:19 > 0:40:21everyone was in denial.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23I'd done some CPR training.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27I thought, "Well, I'll go round and see whether I can help."
0:40:27 > 0:40:30I made me way out. I was just totally on me own,
0:40:30 > 0:40:32cos obviously everybody else was focused
0:40:32 > 0:40:34on what was going on down below.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38As I walked down the steps, just as I got to the bottom of the steps,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40I could see me dad lying on the floor.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Me dad was outside the ground, on, like, a concourse area.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48There must've been another ten bodies that were just...
0:40:48 > 0:40:49all just lying there.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52They were all covered over but he had a tattoo on his arm
0:40:52 > 0:40:54and I recognised him straightaway.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59The next thing I know there was a big crowd of police all round me.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02It was surreal.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06A line of police, I don't know, 40, 60,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and then there was people lying on the floor,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10and that's when I realised they were dead.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18But the police were just standing there.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22I mean, why would you just stand there?
0:41:22 > 0:41:26So I went up to one of the police. I said, "What's going on?"
0:41:26 > 0:41:28I said, "Why aren't you doing something?"
0:41:28 > 0:41:30They just sort of looked straight ahead of me.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33I said, "How many? How many?" And he started sobbing.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42I did... I just, like, really panicked badly.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45And ran away as fast as I could from the ground.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Rose shouted to me in the kitchen,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00"Marg!" she said, "There's trouble at Hillsborough."
0:42:01 > 0:42:04And I just carried on doing the sandwiches and I thought,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06"Where's Hillsborough?"
0:42:07 > 0:42:09So I said, "Where's Hillsborough, Rose?"
0:42:09 > 0:42:13She said, "Isn't that where our Jimmy is, James?"
0:42:13 > 0:42:16I said, "No, they've gone to Sheffield."
0:42:16 > 0:42:20So she said, "Marg, this is where the trouble is, Sheffield."
0:42:20 > 0:42:23I said, "You've just told me Hillsborough."
0:42:23 > 0:42:24She said, "That's the ground."
0:42:30 > 0:42:33- MOTSON:- 'Now, one has to say
0:42:33 > 0:42:35'that that is a segregated part of the ground,
0:42:35 > 0:42:37'the Leppings Lane Terrace.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39'Liverpool supporters occupying it,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43'and I can only assume that there was overcrowding,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47'and as they tried to come out from behind the barriers,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49'people at the front were crushed.'
0:42:50 > 0:42:53I was really upset...
0:42:54 > 0:42:56..cos I knew my three were in there.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59'There are an enormous number of police there
0:42:59 > 0:43:02'but they clearly haven't sorted out the number of people
0:43:02 > 0:43:05'who can't seem to find any space.'
0:43:05 > 0:43:08I immediately rang Les, who was in work.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10I asked him had he been watching
0:43:10 > 0:43:14what was going on in Sheffield on the television, he said yes.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17I wasn't to worry, because Richard would never take the girls
0:43:17 > 0:43:19down the front.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21'It's such a sensitive time...'
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Just watching the screen and I saw these people...
0:43:27 > 0:43:29..getting laid... people laid on the pitch,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31and I thought I'd saw James.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37I waited at home, I switched everything off
0:43:37 > 0:43:41and the minute Les was home, we were leaving for Sheffield.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50People were getting pulled out and put on the pitch.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56And I literally just stood there and just cried.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59I didn't know what to do, didn't know what to think.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04In the back of my mind, I was always worried about Tracey,
0:44:04 > 0:44:06cos she'd fallen down and I thought,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09"She's smaller, she's more petite,"
0:44:09 > 0:44:12but Richard was stocky, he was tall.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14He was a big lad and I never once thought
0:44:14 > 0:44:16that anything would be wrong with him.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20I thought that I've got out, he would get out,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22but I was concerned about Tracey.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28It's pretty clear that there is no order coming from the control box.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31Intuitively, it should've been obvious
0:44:31 > 0:44:34that what was happening was crushing and a safety problem
0:44:34 > 0:44:36and trying to get people out.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45What happens then, the control box is visited by Graham Kelly
0:44:45 > 0:44:48from the Football Association, along with his assistant.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53And for whatever reason, in the heat of the moment...
0:44:54 > 0:44:58..David Duckenfield tells him that there has been an inrush
0:44:58 > 0:45:03of Liverpool fans forcing entry through an exit gate
0:45:03 > 0:45:06into the stadium and down the tunnel.
0:45:07 > 0:45:13At that moment, the person who is ultimately responsible
0:45:13 > 0:45:16for the hiring of the stadium is told, unequivocally,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19that Liverpool fans have caused the disaster
0:45:19 > 0:45:22by violent access to the ground.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25That's the message that, within minutes,
0:45:25 > 0:45:31even before the bodies are pulled out of pen three,
0:45:31 > 0:45:37the world knows that the responsibility for Hillsborough
0:45:37 > 0:45:42lies in the actions of Liverpool fans.
0:45:49 > 0:45:50'Yeah, I've got...
0:45:50 > 0:45:52'I've got an explanation of what's happened here.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54'I'm going to give you a line.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57'And the story emerges that one of the outside gates
0:45:57 > 0:46:00'leading into that terrace was broken.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04'People without tickets got in, were therefore overcrowding
0:46:04 > 0:46:07'the people with tickets, and that's why the crush occurred.'
0:46:09 > 0:46:12The lie that this is,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15when Duckenfield knows that he ordered,
0:46:15 > 0:46:19agreed to, the opening of gate C,
0:46:19 > 0:46:23the lie becomes defining.
0:46:23 > 0:46:29It becomes the defining moment of the first phase
0:46:29 > 0:46:33of building a case against Liverpool fans,
0:46:33 > 0:46:38who, from this moment onwards, are discredited in their actions
0:46:38 > 0:46:42as coming to the ground without tickets, forcing entry,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45being violent, being drunk.
0:46:49 > 0:46:54That whole process then feeds the myth.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56The myth begins with the lie.
0:46:58 > 0:47:04All emergency planning procedures have a core element,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06which is the declaration of emergency.
0:47:07 > 0:47:13It is clear that no emergency plan is put into operation.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Everything that happens from there on is ad hoc.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19If you don't have an emergency response plan,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22that's when you have an ambulance coming on the pitch,
0:47:22 > 0:47:23another ambulance coming on the pitch.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27Ambulances arriving outside, backing up, right up Penistone Road.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29They can't get past each other.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31You have ambulance officers leaving their vehicles,
0:47:31 > 0:47:34but not leaving their keys so you've got them boxed in.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38At the same time, you've not got people coming with stretchers,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41or people coming with defibrillators or any other...
0:47:41 > 0:47:44any other of the standard processes that we would operate
0:47:44 > 0:47:46in terms of an emergency.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53The fact that no emergency is declared, in a situation
0:47:53 > 0:47:57where people have only got a limited time to be saved...
0:47:58 > 0:48:01..is an important element of the whole process.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10Don't be looking at them.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12You want to look at the fucking police who are doing fuck-all!
0:48:14 > 0:48:17I remember going into ground.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19No sooner had we rushed in ground
0:48:19 > 0:48:22than we'd got pulled straight back out again.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24I just remember, like, there being carnage.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29We had to go to help get ambulances in.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36Police officers' immediate response
0:48:36 > 0:48:37is to do as they're told.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Their instruction is to place a cordon across the pitch
0:48:44 > 0:48:46so that Nottingham Forest fans,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49who might interpret what's happening as hooliganism,
0:48:49 > 0:48:51don't come on to the pitch.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56That gives the appearance that the police officers
0:48:56 > 0:48:59are caught in the headlights, that they're doing nothing,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02but that's their order, that's what they are doing.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Some police officers, who are not in that cordon,
0:49:07 > 0:49:09who actually had responsibility for that end of the ground,
0:49:09 > 0:49:11they are actually trying to rescue.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14But the majority of people who are involved in the rescue
0:49:14 > 0:49:17are the fans who've managed to escape the pens,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20who then realise there are no stretchers,
0:49:20 > 0:49:21there's no emergency procedure -
0:49:21 > 0:49:25they become the emergency helpers, along with some police officers.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28I came out on to the pitch.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30A bloke came up to me and pointed to somebody on the ground.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34I thought, "I'm going to make him live, he's going to stay alive."
0:49:34 > 0:49:37I think an ambulanceman came across to me, and we said,
0:49:37 > 0:49:38"I think we can get this one."
0:49:38 > 0:49:42So we just grabbed him, put him in the back of the ambulance.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48I do remember we picked up a police motorbike escort
0:49:48 > 0:49:52and we just hared it to the Northern General Hospital.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04We got to Northern General, the staff were already waiting.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06They'd got the gurneys out, lined up.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Doctor looked for pulse, eye tests, things like that, and said,
0:50:15 > 0:50:18"I'm afraid this gentleman's not made it."
0:50:18 > 0:50:20So...
0:50:20 > 0:50:22That devastated me, cos I've never had somebody die
0:50:22 > 0:50:25literally in my arms before.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28So I had to take him to the plaster room.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30There was certainly four people there.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32But what hit me the most was a young lad,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35who couldn't have been more than 14, 15, with a Liverpool shirt,
0:50:35 > 0:50:37and he was at the very end.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42I just thought, "Christ, he's only 14, 15, and he's dead."
0:50:43 > 0:50:44I cried.
0:50:47 > 0:50:48Yeah.
0:51:07 > 0:51:08I went round to gymnasium.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14There were just these lines...
0:51:17 > 0:51:21..and lines of dead people...
0:51:24 > 0:51:25..young people.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32They were using gymnasium as a temporary mortuary.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39I... I'd seen some sights in me life, you know,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41but I'd not seen anything like that ever.
0:51:50 > 0:51:51PHONE RINGS
0:51:56 > 0:52:01I do remember getting a call from Teri, my mother-in-law,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05pointing out to us that, you know, something was going on in Sheffield
0:52:05 > 0:52:09and she was very distressed, because Andrew had gone over there.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15You'd put the phone down, ring it again,
0:52:15 > 0:52:17ring back right again, right...
0:52:17 > 0:52:20I just couldn't get through on the emergency number.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25It became obvious, the longer it went on,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28that the only way we were going to get any information at all
0:52:28 > 0:52:30was to actually go over there.
0:52:41 > 0:52:46We headed off on the Snake Pass, and it was never-ending.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53At first, you were talking all the time,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57but then all the conversation just petered out,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00and you just couldn't wait to get there.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05It was a horrendous drive up there, it was...
0:53:05 > 0:53:09And Doreen was going on in the background, of course, you know,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11"What do you think?" and all this.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20I was absolutely convinced by this time
0:53:20 > 0:53:24that there was no way he would've left Stephanie on her own
0:53:24 > 0:53:27unless there was something seriously happened
0:53:27 > 0:53:30and I was hoping he was going be in hospital,
0:53:30 > 0:53:31that was my best hope for him.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37But I was already assuming he was dead.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40And I was driving through wondering how the hell
0:53:40 > 0:53:42we were going to get through this, you know.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08We were told to stand down and sit in the North Stand...
0:54:10 > 0:54:14..looking at this scene of carnage at Leppings Lane,
0:54:14 > 0:54:16which is just a few feet away.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25Then we heard that there were, er, confirmed 80-plus dead.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36You're a police officer, you're supposed to, er...
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Your primary duty is to protect life.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44Not catch villains, your primary duty is to protect life,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46and there were all these dead people there.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Totally out of my depth.
0:54:54 > 0:54:55Totally out of my depth,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57as most bobbies were, I would imagine.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59Totally out of their depth.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01The last thing you expect.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05The last thing you expect is people not going home
0:55:05 > 0:55:07after a football match...
0:55:10 > 0:55:11..especially that many.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17This Chief Inspector came walking past,
0:55:17 > 0:55:19and one of the lads from our serial said,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21"Sir, what shall we put in our pocket books?"
0:55:21 > 0:55:24And this Chief Inspector turned round and he says...
0:55:25 > 0:55:28.."Oh, you don't need to put anything in your pocket books,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31"it'll all be covered in the disaster log."
0:55:34 > 0:55:36And then he walked off.
0:55:42 > 0:55:43It's hard to, er...
0:55:46 > 0:55:47..articulate...
0:55:49 > 0:55:50..er...
0:55:51 > 0:55:53..the enormity of a statement...
0:55:55 > 0:55:57..if you're not in police family.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59The enormity of a statement like that
0:55:59 > 0:56:00if you're not in police family,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03or if you weren't in police family back in them days.
0:56:03 > 0:56:04Your pocket book was sacred.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08If you saw Billy Smith, a local burglar,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11walking down the street at 9.30 in the morning,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13you'd put it in your pocket book,
0:56:13 > 0:56:15"Saw Billy Smith walking down the street 9.30",
0:56:15 > 0:56:18because there might have been a burglary round corner
0:56:18 > 0:56:20at that time, and you've got evidence there to show
0:56:20 > 0:56:22that you were in that area.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27Well, we already knew by then that there were 80-odd people dead,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29and some Chief Inspector's saying,
0:56:29 > 0:56:33"Don't bother putting anything in your pocket book"?
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Once he moved off, Dave Jacques, like, had a look round.
0:56:36 > 0:56:42I also remember... Dave Jacques were proper, first-class...
0:56:44 > 0:56:47..Sheffield Police Sergeant.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51What he didn't know about coppering weren't worth knowing.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53His exact words were,
0:56:53 > 0:56:54"Fuck him.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59"There's been scores of people killed here.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02"You're going to put everything in your pocket books,
0:57:02 > 0:57:04"from what time you arrived at the nick this morning
0:57:04 > 0:57:05"to whatever time you get off,
0:57:05 > 0:57:07"you even put in what time you went for a piss."
0:57:16 > 0:57:17RADIO STATIC BETWEEN STATIONS
0:57:17 > 0:57:20'Chaos broke out five minutes after the game started
0:57:20 > 0:57:23'when the force of people in the Leppings Lane end of the ground
0:57:23 > 0:57:25'forced fans to climb the barriers onto the pitch
0:57:25 > 0:57:27'to escape being crushed.
0:57:27 > 0:57:28'The match was halted...'
0:57:28 > 0:57:31That journey home was just a nightmare.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34'I saw a man having his chest pumped to try to save his life.'
0:57:34 > 0:57:38As you were going along, the numbers just kept going up and up.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41You know, so every time it went up, everyone would just groan.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44'..the doctors and off-duty policemen to get to the ground.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47'The unofficial death toll here is 74.'
0:57:49 > 0:57:50You just couldn't get home fast enough.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52By the time we got back to Liverpool,
0:57:52 > 0:57:54we were just in a state of real shock.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58The main story this evening,
0:57:58 > 0:58:0274 football supporters are reported to have been crushed to death
0:58:02 > 0:58:06at the FA Cup Final at Hillsborough in Sheffield this afternoon.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Hundreds more were injured.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10Fans rushed through a broken turnstile,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13crushing Liverpool supporters against the front of the stand.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16So me and me father ducked under the turnstile...
0:58:16 > 0:58:19ducked under, like, the barrier to get sort of some fresh air,
0:58:19 > 0:58:22a bit of breathing, because he was in real trouble.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24The next thing the police opened these big blue gates,
0:58:24 > 0:58:26the exit gates. And, like, everybody, including me,
0:58:26 > 0:58:28just went for these gates, just to get in the ground.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31We weren't going to get in the ground otherwise.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34Well, that was it, really. My dad died in the crush.
0:58:34 > 0:58:36That's it. That's all I've got to say, really.
0:58:36 > 0:58:38Can I ask your name?
0:58:38 > 0:58:39Brian Anderson.
0:58:48 > 0:58:53In the chaos of Hillsborough, coroner Stefan Popper is called.
0:58:53 > 0:58:59And he decides he's going to attend the stadium
0:58:59 > 0:59:03where he knows the majority of bodies are being held.
0:59:03 > 0:59:05He meets up with Professor Alan Usher,
0:59:05 > 0:59:08one of the country's leading pathologists
0:59:08 > 0:59:10who happens to be based in Sheffield.
0:59:12 > 0:59:17The coroner is hearing, as is the pathologist,
0:59:17 > 0:59:22the stories of the lie.
0:59:22 > 0:59:24You know, they...they can't be impervious to that,
0:59:24 > 0:59:26it's on the news by now.
0:59:26 > 0:59:28And part of that story is drunkenness.
0:59:29 > 0:59:32According to the coroner,
0:59:32 > 0:59:35he makes a decision at that moment
0:59:35 > 0:59:38that he's going to take the blood alcohol levels
0:59:38 > 0:59:40of all who died, including the children.
0:59:40 > 0:59:43Because, he says, he assumed...
0:59:44 > 0:59:47..that this would be an important factor.
0:59:51 > 0:59:53This is the first time it's ever happened in a disaster.
0:59:53 > 0:59:55Yes, you would take blood alcohol levels
0:59:55 > 0:59:59of a pilot in a plane crash, or a train driver in a train crash,
0:59:59 > 1:00:02or even people driving cars.
1:00:02 > 1:00:06But the idea that you take the blood alcohol levels of all people
1:00:06 > 1:00:09is absolutely unprecedented.
1:00:09 > 1:00:12The pathologist agrees to this,
1:00:12 > 1:00:18and that is the first establishment of the notion
1:00:18 > 1:00:21that alcohol played a significant part in Hillsborough.
1:00:24 > 1:00:30We all went down to Lime Street Station to get James.
1:00:30 > 1:00:32You're standing there and you're waiting
1:00:32 > 1:00:33and you see the coaches coming in,
1:00:33 > 1:00:37and you just can't wait to get hold of your son.
1:00:37 > 1:00:39The first coach come in.
1:00:40 > 1:00:44Poor people were getting off, they were in a terrible mess.
1:00:44 > 1:00:46And I thought, "He's not on that one."
1:00:46 > 1:00:48So I said to the driver, "How many more coaches?"
1:00:48 > 1:00:50He said, "Oh, there's a few more to come in."
1:00:50 > 1:00:52Next one come in.
1:00:54 > 1:00:56No James.
1:00:59 > 1:01:02We waited till the very last one.
1:01:05 > 1:01:07I thought, "He's got to be on this one.
1:01:07 > 1:01:09"He's got to be on this one." I'd...
1:01:09 > 1:01:11I was just ready to hug him.
1:01:11 > 1:01:15I was desperate to hug him... and love him.
1:01:18 > 1:01:21But all the passengers got off and I thought, "Where is he?"
1:01:34 > 1:01:40Teri, Colin and myself were shown to a hut.
1:01:42 > 1:01:48It was the most... tangible form of suffering
1:01:48 > 1:01:52of human beings that I could imagine.
1:01:55 > 1:01:58The atmosphere in that boys' club was...
1:02:00 > 1:02:02..appalling.
1:02:02 > 1:02:05Everybody in there was looking for somebody.
1:02:08 > 1:02:09There was wailing.
1:02:11 > 1:02:13Short of gnashing of teeth,
1:02:13 > 1:02:17it was a picture of Dante's Inferno.
1:02:19 > 1:02:22The level of suffering in that hut...
1:02:22 > 1:02:24This is just when we were waiting to find out -
1:02:24 > 1:02:26what do we do next, where do we go?
1:02:29 > 1:02:31I was basically thinking,
1:02:31 > 1:02:33"They're going to take me to a hospital
1:02:33 > 1:02:37"and I'm going to find out that Rick's injured
1:02:37 > 1:02:40"and I'll be able to sit with him."
1:02:40 > 1:02:42It must've been getting near midnight,
1:02:42 > 1:02:49and the room was slowly filling up with priests and vicars.
1:02:49 > 1:02:50There was more...
1:02:52 > 1:02:55..dog collars than there was people.
1:02:59 > 1:03:03It must've been half one, quarter to two in the morning.
1:03:05 > 1:03:08A policeman come in and he stood on a chair.
1:03:08 > 1:03:12He said that we were going to be taken back to the football ground...
1:03:14 > 1:03:16..and we were going to look at photographs.
1:03:21 > 1:03:24We all got on a double-decker bus.
1:03:25 > 1:03:27It was freezing cold as well.
1:03:27 > 1:03:29It had been so nice, but it was so cold.
1:03:36 > 1:03:39I was pushing and pulling Leslie and asking him,
1:03:39 > 1:03:41"Why? Why are we going to the football ground?
1:03:41 > 1:03:43"Why aren't we going to the hospital?"
1:03:44 > 1:03:46Of course Leslie knew.
1:03:54 > 1:03:57We were taken into another room...
1:03:58 > 1:04:00..and told to stand there...
1:04:01 > 1:04:04..and we would be called in.
1:04:05 > 1:04:08They wanted to just take me dad through, I think,
1:04:08 > 1:04:10but me mum said she had to go with him.
1:04:11 > 1:04:14They told me that I couldn't come,
1:04:14 > 1:04:16so I stayed with the social worker outside
1:04:16 > 1:04:19while they went in to view the photographs.
1:04:19 > 1:04:23And there was loads of them.
1:04:25 > 1:04:27Photographs were in Polaroids -
1:04:27 > 1:04:31small, very hard to see.
1:04:31 > 1:04:36Not split in any race or colour
1:04:36 > 1:04:39or sex or age, nothing.
1:04:41 > 1:04:43And I said, "Are they all dead?"
1:04:46 > 1:04:48And somebody nodded their head.
1:04:49 > 1:04:53And we went down and down and down, down these photographs.
1:04:54 > 1:04:57And fairly soon into that process,
1:04:57 > 1:05:01I thought what I saw in front of me was a picture of Andrew.
1:05:02 > 1:05:04I collapsed.
1:05:06 > 1:05:08To be honest, I didn't even recognise Tracey
1:05:08 > 1:05:09from the photographs
1:05:09 > 1:05:13because her face was so black and bruised.
1:05:13 > 1:05:16I didn't even recognise her, but I recognised Richard.
1:05:24 > 1:05:26Without another word being said,
1:05:26 > 1:05:30two trolleys were brought in, and, um...
1:05:32 > 1:05:34..there was body bags on the trolleys.
1:05:39 > 1:05:41Leslie nodded his head.
1:05:45 > 1:05:47They wheeled his body up on a trolley.
1:05:48 > 1:05:50He was a mess.
1:05:54 > 1:05:56And I touched his face.
1:06:09 > 1:06:13I went to bend down to cuddle him.
1:06:16 > 1:06:18(Give me a minute.)
1:06:26 > 1:06:29I wasn't allowed to, er...
1:06:29 > 1:06:32They said he was the property of the coroner.
1:06:36 > 1:06:41I brought him into the world, I needed to see him out.
1:06:44 > 1:06:45I wanted to cuddle him.
1:06:45 > 1:06:48I didn't say goodbye, I needed to...
1:06:48 > 1:06:52I needed that, that was me that needed that.
1:06:54 > 1:06:57I don't think they were gone that long, really, and they came back.
1:06:57 > 1:06:59I mean I knew from their face.
1:06:59 > 1:07:02I just said, "Both of them?" They said, "Yeah."
1:07:02 > 1:07:04That was that.
1:07:11 > 1:07:15Me mum was...a wreck.
1:07:16 > 1:07:20After the initial, "Both of them?"
1:07:20 > 1:07:23I don't know whether I went quite calm, really, to be honest,
1:07:23 > 1:07:27when the police officer said that we had to give a statement...
1:07:27 > 1:07:30So, you and your brother went the pub, you say?
1:07:32 > 1:07:35A lot of the questions were about drink.
1:07:35 > 1:07:40Had me mum and dad had a drink on the way to Sheffield to come to me?
1:07:40 > 1:07:43Had I had a drink before we went to the game?
1:07:43 > 1:07:46Had we had a drink the night before?
1:07:46 > 1:07:48And I was going, "Well, yeah.
1:07:48 > 1:07:52"Yeah, I had a half a cider in the pub today.
1:07:52 > 1:07:54"We had a couple of ciders last night,"
1:07:54 > 1:07:57and I'm thinking, "Why am I saying this?"
1:07:57 > 1:08:00And all the time he was tap, tap, tap with his pen.
1:08:02 > 1:08:05When Teri was asked did he smoke, she said no.
1:08:05 > 1:08:08Did he drink? She said no.
1:08:08 > 1:08:11The next comment from the police actually was,
1:08:11 > 1:08:13"You'll be telling us he was a virgin next."
1:08:15 > 1:08:22And this unflappable woman that was my mother-in-law
1:08:22 > 1:08:25was flummoxed, she could not respond to that.
1:08:25 > 1:08:28When I was giving me statement and they were asking me about drink,
1:08:28 > 1:08:30I said, "You opened the gates, you know," I said,
1:08:30 > 1:08:32"It was down to you," I was making sure they knew that.
1:08:32 > 1:08:36But they weren't really interested in that when I was telling them.
1:08:36 > 1:08:37Why are they attacking me?
1:08:38 > 1:08:41Why are they attacking my family?
1:08:41 > 1:08:43None of the family have done anything wrong.
1:08:43 > 1:08:46It was quite calculating.
1:08:46 > 1:08:49Everybody was going through the same thing,
1:08:49 > 1:08:50and it was just a process,
1:08:50 > 1:08:52"Let's get this done as quickly as possible,
1:08:52 > 1:08:55"done and dusted with these statements
1:08:55 > 1:08:59"and then we've had it, we can say what it's all about tomorrow.
1:08:59 > 1:09:01"It's all about the drink."
1:09:04 > 1:09:07The vicar took us back to where our car was
1:09:07 > 1:09:09and to Richard and Tracey's flat.
1:09:11 > 1:09:13All the butties were there for the picnic.
1:09:19 > 1:09:22It was just so sad.
1:09:26 > 1:09:31And from there we got in the car and Leslie drove home.
1:10:05 > 1:10:07The day after the disaster,
1:10:07 > 1:10:11Margaret Thatcher arrived in Sheffield.
1:10:11 > 1:10:13One of her roles was to go and visit people in the hospital,
1:10:13 > 1:10:16the other was to go to the stadium.
1:10:17 > 1:10:20Standing there with David Duckenfield,
1:10:20 > 1:10:21Peter Wright the Chief Constable,
1:10:21 > 1:10:23Douglas Hurd the Home Secretary,
1:10:23 > 1:10:28Conservative MP Irvine Patnick, and Bernard Ingham her Press Secretary.
1:10:33 > 1:10:37And it's at this moment that the lie really consolidates
1:10:37 > 1:10:39in the minds of the politicians.
1:10:40 > 1:10:42How do we know that?
1:10:42 > 1:10:47Bernard Ingham writes when questioned...
1:10:48 > 1:10:50"..What we learned on the spot...
1:10:53 > 1:10:57"..that a tanked-up mob had actually caused the disaster."
1:10:57 > 1:10:58CHATTER
1:11:04 > 1:11:05In the immediate aftermath,
1:11:05 > 1:11:10we see the police pulling together at significant meetings,
1:11:10 > 1:11:14and those meetings are absolutely crucial.
1:11:17 > 1:11:20They knew that the West Midlands Police would be arriving.
1:11:20 > 1:11:23They knew that the Director of Public Prosecutions
1:11:23 > 1:11:26would be looking for the potential criminal investigation,
1:11:26 > 1:11:28and they knew there'd be a coroner's inquiry, an inquest,
1:11:28 > 1:11:31and the West Midlands Police would feed into that.
1:11:31 > 1:11:33There is no question that
1:11:33 > 1:11:35the significance of the meetings that were held
1:11:35 > 1:11:37within South Yorkshire in the immediate aftermath
1:11:37 > 1:11:39are about getting their house in order,
1:11:39 > 1:11:44about actually preparing for the evidential collection,
1:11:44 > 1:11:49preparing for actually developing their side of the whole story.
1:12:04 > 1:12:06It was clear that he was under immense pressure
1:12:06 > 1:12:11to have an initial report out which gave some indication
1:12:11 > 1:12:14of what had happened at Hillsborough.
1:12:22 > 1:12:25I welcome the inquiry which is about to take place,
1:12:25 > 1:12:29and which will undoubtedly reveal the true nature and cause
1:12:29 > 1:12:31of this terrible tragedy.
1:12:31 > 1:12:34I believe that when it's completed,
1:12:34 > 1:12:36the actions of the South Yorkshire Police
1:12:36 > 1:12:38will be seen in a very different light.
1:12:43 > 1:12:45After the Hillsborough tragedy,
1:12:45 > 1:12:47we hear in many of today's newspapers
1:12:47 > 1:12:52that the police have criticised the behaviour of Liverpool fans.
1:12:54 > 1:12:57Police have claimed that drunken Liverpool football fans
1:12:57 > 1:12:59attacked them as they tried to help victims
1:12:59 > 1:13:01of the Hillsborough disaster.
1:13:01 > 1:13:04They say they were kicked, punched and urinated on.
1:13:06 > 1:13:09A lot of the fans - many, many hundreds of them
1:13:09 > 1:13:12outside that gate - had been drinking very heavily.
1:13:12 > 1:13:14People were... I use the expression drunk,
1:13:14 > 1:13:18they used a better descriptive word about it.
1:13:18 > 1:13:20They arrived very late,
1:13:20 > 1:13:23only a few minutes before the game was due to start,
1:13:23 > 1:13:26500-plus were there without any tickets,
1:13:26 > 1:13:28and they were pushing and crushing
1:13:28 > 1:13:30and very, very strong.
1:13:30 > 1:13:33The police officers there were virtually overwhelmed.
1:13:33 > 1:13:36People were actually lifting the police horse...
1:13:36 > 1:13:38And they're diving under the bellies of police horses...
1:13:38 > 1:13:40Between its legs.
1:13:40 > 1:13:43Now anybody who does that, I don't care what other people say,
1:13:43 > 1:13:45they're either mental or they're drunk.
1:13:45 > 1:13:47He said that they were urinated on by people
1:13:47 > 1:13:49who were in the balconies above them.
1:13:49 > 1:13:50He said they were kicked
1:13:50 > 1:13:53whilst they were giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
1:13:53 > 1:13:57And all I've said to you is honestly what was reported to me
1:13:57 > 1:14:00by the officers on the ground that night.
1:14:00 > 1:14:03Now that happened to me on Saturday.
1:14:03 > 1:14:06Since then, the story...
1:14:06 > 1:14:08other people have added to it, but it is a fact.
1:14:08 > 1:14:12So I have to accept that what they were telling me was the truth.
1:14:16 > 1:14:18It's a question I've always asked people
1:14:18 > 1:14:21when they've asked me about the stealing from the dead,
1:14:21 > 1:14:23the urinating on the police and all that.
1:14:23 > 1:14:25I would say to them, "Would you do it?"
1:14:25 > 1:14:27No-one's ever said "Yeah." They all go, "No."
1:14:27 > 1:14:30I said, "Why would you believe I did it?!"
1:14:30 > 1:14:31Why?!
1:14:31 > 1:14:33And if you're a journalist, why?
1:14:33 > 1:14:36That's the first question you've gotta ask.
1:14:36 > 1:14:38"Would I do it? Um, no."
1:14:40 > 1:14:43I'm really glad that my name never appeared on a story
1:14:43 > 1:14:45suggesting that happened for two reasons -
1:14:45 > 1:14:47one, it didn't happen,
1:14:47 > 1:14:51and two, can anybody ever really think
1:14:51 > 1:14:55that when somebody's giving CPR to somebody on a football field,
1:14:55 > 1:14:59that somebody would go and urinate on the back of a policeman?
1:14:59 > 1:15:02It's just... I remember at the time thinking, "That's nuts."
1:15:02 > 1:15:06In fairness to those people who wrote that story,
1:15:06 > 1:15:09and I'm sure they really wished they didn't now,
1:15:09 > 1:15:12that came from one or two sources.
1:15:12 > 1:15:16Journalists will frequently write a story
1:15:16 > 1:15:18if they trust the source that gave them.
1:15:18 > 1:15:20They can't prove it themselves,
1:15:20 > 1:15:22but, you know, they'll say to their editor,
1:15:22 > 1:15:26"This guy I've known for 20 years, he's never let me down,
1:15:26 > 1:15:29"he says it's definite," and in those days we'd say
1:15:29 > 1:15:30"Right, let's go with it."
1:15:33 > 1:15:35You'll, er... You've got a fight ahead of you.
1:15:35 > 1:15:38I think the families realised that more or less from...
1:15:39 > 1:15:41..straightaway.
1:15:42 > 1:15:45They were drunken hooligans that came through the gate
1:15:45 > 1:15:47and killed their own.
1:15:48 > 1:15:52Really, that was like a red rag to a bull to me,
1:15:52 > 1:15:55because my son loved life.
1:15:56 > 1:16:00He didn't drink a lot, he was well-educated.
1:16:02 > 1:16:04He was no drunken hooligan.
1:16:06 > 1:16:08People do think that.
1:16:08 > 1:16:12They think that the people who came in through that open gate...
1:16:13 > 1:16:14..killed the people at the front.
1:16:16 > 1:16:20But that's not true, three of us came in, and only I came home.
1:16:30 > 1:16:32LIGHTS CLINK ON
1:16:36 > 1:16:38We were asked to do an officer's report first.
1:16:38 > 1:16:40That is, "What do you remember of the day?"
1:16:48 > 1:16:51A lot of people put whatever they want in it.
1:16:51 > 1:16:54They're trying to express what they were feeling at the time,
1:16:54 > 1:16:56what other people's moods were, things like that.
1:16:59 > 1:17:04I said what I did, and I put in what I thought was relevant -
1:17:04 > 1:17:06the lack of radios, the lack of command structure,
1:17:06 > 1:17:09the fact that we seemed to be seriously undermanned
1:17:09 > 1:17:12for the job we were expected to do -
1:17:12 > 1:17:16signed it, submitted it and that was it.
1:17:17 > 1:17:19That was the end of it for me.
1:17:48 > 1:17:51My position was as a senior scientific officer
1:17:51 > 1:17:54within the mechanical engineering department.
1:17:54 > 1:17:58We were called in to look at various aspects,
1:17:58 > 1:18:00including the turnstiles -
1:18:00 > 1:18:02how they operated, how accurate they were
1:18:02 > 1:18:07and what turnstiles were allocated to different parts of the ground.
1:18:13 > 1:18:15We were just looking at the numbers.
1:18:15 > 1:18:18We weren't looking at how people behaved.
1:18:20 > 1:18:24What we found was that the fans from Liverpool had to go through
1:18:24 > 1:18:28a far fewer number of turnstiles.
1:18:48 > 1:18:50In my report,
1:18:50 > 1:18:52there is a graph which shows that from about ten past two
1:18:52 > 1:18:56they were coming at a fairly constant rate.
1:18:56 > 1:18:59Having seen the number of turnstiles,
1:18:59 > 1:19:02it was fairly obvious that crowds would build up
1:19:02 > 1:19:06and they wouldn't all get in the ground on time.
1:19:16 > 1:19:21We looked at the influx of spectators through Gate C.
1:19:21 > 1:19:27The figure we came up with was at 1,800.
1:19:27 > 1:19:31The main conclusion was there weren't thousands of ticketless fans
1:19:31 > 1:19:35because our total count through Gate C and the turnstiles
1:19:35 > 1:19:40was not dissimilar from the capacity of the western terraces.
1:19:55 > 1:19:59I was on patrol going through a suburb called Beighton.
1:20:01 > 1:20:04And in Beighton is this railway level crossing barrier.
1:20:05 > 1:20:07And just as I approached it,
1:20:07 > 1:20:10the barriers came down for a train to go through.
1:20:10 > 1:20:11LEVEL CROSSING BELL RINGS
1:20:16 > 1:20:20In the intervening three weeks, I was feeling really ropey.
1:20:22 > 1:20:25Off my food, couldn't sleep at night,
1:20:25 > 1:20:27asking myself, "Could I have done more?"
1:20:33 > 1:20:35And I just had this...
1:20:35 > 1:20:37this weird feeling, and I put my hands up to my face...
1:20:40 > 1:20:42..and I realised I was crying.
1:20:43 > 1:20:46I was crying without even knowing it.
1:20:47 > 1:20:51And then I... I felt wet down my crotch.
1:20:52 > 1:20:55And I looked down and, er...
1:20:56 > 1:21:00I'd... I'd pissed in my pants.
1:21:00 > 1:21:02RUEFUL LAUGH
1:21:04 > 1:21:08A big roughy, toughy ex-Para, Sheffield copper, er...
1:21:10 > 1:21:11..I...
1:21:12 > 1:21:14I pissed in my pants and I was crying.
1:21:17 > 1:21:21So I got on the radio, I said, "I don't know what's happening,
1:21:21 > 1:21:24"there's something wrong with me, can you send somebody down
1:21:24 > 1:21:26"to me, I'm down at Beighton."
1:21:26 > 1:21:27And, er...
1:21:28 > 1:21:31They thought... "Are you all right, Mac?"
1:21:31 > 1:21:34They thought I were in trouble with some toerag or something.
1:21:34 > 1:21:36I said, "No, there's something wrong with ME."
1:21:41 > 1:21:45A sergeant and a PC mate come out and saw the state I were in,
1:21:45 > 1:21:47and they took me straight to me doctor's.
1:21:49 > 1:21:50And...
1:21:52 > 1:21:56..he put me on valium. It were a mental breakdown.
1:22:17 > 1:22:20- NEWSREADER:- Lord Justice Taylor today presented his interim report
1:22:20 > 1:22:23just three months after starting his inquiry.
1:22:24 > 1:22:25The actions of the police
1:22:25 > 1:22:26are severely criticised
1:22:26 > 1:22:27in the report.
1:22:27 > 1:22:29In fact, it says,
1:22:29 > 1:22:31"The main reason for the disaster
1:22:31 > 1:22:32"was failure of police control."
1:22:35 > 1:22:38On an individual basis, the actions of most police officers
1:22:38 > 1:22:42inside the ground is praised as heroic in ghastly circumstances.
1:22:44 > 1:22:46The harshest words in the report are reserved
1:22:46 > 1:22:48for Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield,
1:22:48 > 1:22:52the senior officer present, who's been suspended on full pay.
1:22:53 > 1:22:56It talks of his failure to take effective control
1:22:56 > 1:22:58of the disaster situation. He froze.
1:22:59 > 1:23:01The thing is about David Duckenfield,
1:23:01 > 1:23:03he wouldn't wanted to have frozen.
1:23:03 > 1:23:06He froze because it was a human reaction, the trouble is,
1:23:06 > 1:23:09if you're paid to be a chief superintendent,
1:23:09 > 1:23:11then you're not paid to freeze,
1:23:11 > 1:23:15you've got to immediately act decisively to save lives.
1:23:15 > 1:23:17He didn't.
1:23:17 > 1:23:20So, was he the right man for the job? Clearly not.
1:23:26 > 1:23:29The report says the officers lacked leadership,
1:23:29 > 1:23:31and as it examines the disaster stage by stage,
1:23:31 > 1:23:34it finds faults with the decisions - or lack of decisions -
1:23:34 > 1:23:36taken by South Yorkshire Police.
1:23:36 > 1:23:39In fact, sections of the report are titled...
1:23:50 > 1:23:55To me, that was Taylor seeing through the way
1:23:55 > 1:24:00in which the South Yorkshire Police had tried to manipulate the story.
1:24:02 > 1:24:05Taylor said the fans weren't to blame.
1:24:05 > 1:24:07Drink played no part in that disaster.
1:24:10 > 1:24:12You know, I think families felt,
1:24:12 > 1:24:15"Somebody's got to be held responsible for this."
1:24:15 > 1:24:17Didn't happen.
1:24:17 > 1:24:18Didn't happen, did it?
1:24:50 > 1:24:53The Coroner has absolute independence,
1:24:53 > 1:24:56nobody tells the Coroner what the Coroner should do.
1:24:56 > 1:25:01And it's decided by the Coroner that he's going to introduce
1:25:01 > 1:25:04a cut-off of 3.15 on all evidence.
1:25:05 > 1:25:08What that meant was anybody who died after 3.15,
1:25:08 > 1:25:10if there are any other factors that might've
1:25:10 > 1:25:12influenced their death,
1:25:12 > 1:25:14they wouldn't be taken into consideration.
1:25:14 > 1:25:17There was no absolute science about that at all.
1:25:17 > 1:25:20There was a lot of taking advice from different sources,
1:25:20 > 1:25:24making his mind up on the hoof, being influenced by...
1:25:24 > 1:25:27senior police officers who were carrying out the investigation,
1:25:27 > 1:25:29West Midlands police officers.
1:25:29 > 1:25:32It's clear that there is somebody here struggling.
1:25:39 > 1:25:41One of the concerns has also been
1:25:41 > 1:25:43the amount of alcohol
1:25:43 > 1:25:46that has been, erm, consumed prior to the match.
1:25:47 > 1:25:50The indications are there wasn't a lot taken into the ground,
1:25:50 > 1:25:54albeit we did find 300 cans, I think we counted on the concourse,
1:25:54 > 1:25:57- on the inside of the turnstile.- Yes.
1:25:57 > 1:25:59But we've had a lot of evidence that there was
1:25:59 > 1:26:03a lot of drinking taking place prior to arriving at the ground.
1:26:03 > 1:26:06And indeed, we've been plotting that in terms of the pubs
1:26:06 > 1:26:08and off-licences and supermarkets.
1:26:18 > 1:26:22There were some families who hardly missed a day,
1:26:22 > 1:26:27we're talking here about literally months of inquests,
1:26:27 > 1:26:30travelling from Liverpool to Sheffield and back.
1:26:30 > 1:26:33Going up by train, day by day by day, erm...
1:26:35 > 1:26:37And the toll that took on you,
1:26:37 > 1:26:39you know, you...
1:26:39 > 1:26:41At the end of it,
1:26:41 > 1:26:42you were on your knees, really.
1:26:44 > 1:26:50Before a jury, he heard evidence relating to each of the 95 who died,
1:26:50 > 1:26:52one after the other.
1:26:52 > 1:26:55The pathologist would come in and give evidence.
1:26:55 > 1:26:58How long it took to die, what abrasions...
1:27:01 > 1:27:05When the pathological evidence was given, the blood alcohol level
1:27:05 > 1:27:08of that individual was read out in court.
1:27:08 > 1:27:10It was all about drink.
1:27:10 > 1:27:13We hardly heard our children's names mentioned.
1:27:16 > 1:27:21I will never forget seeing the blood alcohol levels of each
1:27:21 > 1:27:25of those people, including children, were published in the newspaper.
1:27:26 > 1:27:31The issue of blood alcohol levels, the issue of drunkenness,
1:27:31 > 1:27:33the issue of crowd-related violence,
1:27:33 > 1:27:38despite being discounted by Taylor, now rears its head again.
1:27:39 > 1:27:43And it re-emerges because it had been Stefan Popper's decision
1:27:43 > 1:27:44to take blood alcohol levels.
1:27:46 > 1:27:48People are asking the wrong question.
1:27:48 > 1:27:50"Oh, yeah, well, why were football fans drunk?"
1:27:51 > 1:27:53Football fans got drunk at every game,
1:27:53 > 1:27:56people like me had six pints at every game they went to.
1:27:56 > 1:27:59They should be asking, "What was different that day?
1:27:59 > 1:28:00"What changed things?"
1:28:00 > 1:28:02Because they kept going on about drink
1:28:02 > 1:28:05and cos I'd had a couple of pints, I, erm...
1:28:05 > 1:28:07I always blamed myself, I was convinced
1:28:07 > 1:28:10that we were to blame because we'd been drinking.
1:28:10 > 1:28:11I'd got convinced about drink.
1:28:17 > 1:28:23So the Coroner, having taken a lot of advice, came to his summing up,
1:28:23 > 1:28:27and very clearly was moving in a different direction
1:28:27 > 1:28:29to Lord Justice Taylor.
1:28:33 > 1:28:37I remember Popper saying, "Now, what we'll do,
1:28:37 > 1:28:42"we will read each individual name with the verdicts."
1:28:49 > 1:28:53"John Alfred Anderson - accident."
1:28:57 > 1:29:00And every name - "Accident, accident."
1:29:04 > 1:29:09Just to see the reversal of Taylor, the reversal of everything
1:29:09 > 1:29:13they believed to be true and knew to be true.
1:29:19 > 1:29:22Stupid, I'm looking back and I'm thinking,
1:29:22 > 1:29:26"How could you be so naive? How could you be like that?"
1:29:26 > 1:29:27But I was absolutely devastated.
1:29:29 > 1:29:32I thought there was nowhere else for me to go.
1:29:33 > 1:29:36I came home and I think I sat in a corner.
1:29:38 > 1:29:41And I felt like somebody had beat me with a big stick.
1:29:44 > 1:29:47They left feeling betrayed, they left feeling that the system
1:29:47 > 1:29:53had completely let them down... and that this was the end.
1:29:53 > 1:29:54It makes one wonder whether
1:29:54 > 1:29:56it's justice that they do want.
1:29:56 > 1:29:57You see, they've had justice,
1:29:57 > 1:29:58it's been through
1:29:58 > 1:30:00the full judicial process,
1:30:00 > 1:30:03but because it hasn't come out the way they would like,
1:30:03 > 1:30:05then they don't feel they've had justice.
1:30:05 > 1:30:08And really I think, er,
1:30:08 > 1:30:11I think most people will take that for what it is.
1:30:23 > 1:30:26I'm driving home from university one evening,
1:30:26 > 1:30:28having taught an evening class.
1:30:32 > 1:30:33'We all got dragged...'
1:30:33 > 1:30:35Very tired, poured myself a cup of tea.
1:30:38 > 1:30:41And there, in my face, is a guy with long blond hair
1:30:41 > 1:30:43telling a story about a disaster.
1:30:44 > 1:30:47'..they want us to change statements.'
1:30:47 > 1:30:51I immediately realised that, A, he was a former police officer,
1:30:51 > 1:30:52and, B, he'd been at Hillsborough.
1:30:52 > 1:30:55'When my statement come back...'
1:30:55 > 1:31:00And as he told the story of trying to rescue people and what he'd done
1:31:00 > 1:31:04to rescue people, it was clear that he had suffered greatly himself.
1:31:07 > 1:31:12Having gone through the process of trying to save life and trying
1:31:12 > 1:31:14to intervene appropriately, he'd been put under
1:31:14 > 1:31:18an awful lot of pressure to basically not tell the truth
1:31:18 > 1:31:20as he'd witnessed it.
1:31:20 > 1:31:22And he used the word "sanitised".
1:31:23 > 1:31:25'..tried to tell exactly what...'
1:31:25 > 1:31:27And I was determined to find him.
1:31:34 > 1:31:36I heard nothing.
1:31:36 > 1:31:40After months I thought, "Nothing's going to come of this."
1:31:40 > 1:31:46And I just went about my business. And then...I had a phone call.
1:31:48 > 1:31:49And we arranged to meet.
1:31:52 > 1:31:54WIND HOWLS
1:31:54 > 1:31:59We met in Hathersage, above Sheffield, in the Pennines.
1:31:59 > 1:32:02A place I knew really well from climbing and walking.
1:32:03 > 1:32:04He told me his story.
1:32:07 > 1:32:11He said, you know, "People weren't angels,
1:32:11 > 1:32:14"Liverpool fans weren't angels."
1:32:14 > 1:32:17But he was very clear that what came next,
1:32:17 > 1:32:22in terms of the way the police had been treated,
1:32:22 > 1:32:25was about creating or producing a new kind of story.
1:32:28 > 1:32:30HUSHED CONVERSATION
1:32:31 > 1:32:36We met two more times after that, and on the third occasion...
1:32:38 > 1:32:40..we were about to say goodbye,
1:32:40 > 1:32:43and he said, "I'm just going out for a minute."
1:32:49 > 1:32:53And he came back with an A4 box file, and he said,
1:32:53 > 1:32:55"Have a look at that."
1:32:59 > 1:33:03There, on the top, was his statement.
1:33:06 > 1:33:09I kind of... didn't believe what I was seeing.
1:33:13 > 1:33:16Over 50 lines had been taken out, other words added.
1:33:18 > 1:33:22Phrases like, "Not a good statement for the South Yorkshire Police."
1:33:22 > 1:33:25And a covering letter from
1:33:25 > 1:33:29the South Yorkshire Police Head of Management Services.
1:33:29 > 1:33:34This covering letter used the words "review" and "alteration",
1:33:34 > 1:33:37and therefore cemented those words into the process.
1:33:50 > 1:33:54That scrutiny of evidence was to actually look at evidence that
1:33:54 > 1:33:58could be brought that hadn't been heard before by any of the inquiries
1:33:58 > 1:34:02or investigations, but also to revisit the evidence as existed.
1:34:07 > 1:34:11By the time Stuart-Smith comes to Liverpool to meet families,
1:34:11 > 1:34:14and I go with the families,
1:34:14 > 1:34:17they don't know that I have knowledge
1:34:17 > 1:34:20of review and alteration of statements. But I held back.
1:34:25 > 1:34:27No, there's quite a few here.
1:34:29 > 1:34:31No, no.
1:34:33 > 1:34:35Lord Justice Stuart-Smith,
1:34:35 > 1:34:38the ultimate in a figure of the establishment,
1:34:38 > 1:34:41who makes a crass comment.
1:34:41 > 1:34:43We should've walked away right there and then.
1:34:43 > 1:34:47We didn't, because there was still a fight in us.
1:34:47 > 1:34:50Little did he know we were upstairs, and I'd been there
1:34:50 > 1:34:55an hour before with me husband, waiting upstairs for him to arrive.
1:34:57 > 1:34:59I found him quite patronising.
1:35:01 > 1:35:04"Have you got new evidence?"
1:35:04 > 1:35:06Well, wait a minute, how can we get...?
1:35:06 > 1:35:08You've got all what we've got,
1:35:08 > 1:35:11how can we...? They're not releasing it to us.
1:35:11 > 1:35:15How can we get new evidence? They're not releasing it to us.
1:35:15 > 1:35:18And, "Oh, you will need new evidence for this, but don't worry,
1:35:18 > 1:35:21"I will...I will look into your question."
1:35:21 > 1:35:23Quite patronising, and...
1:35:23 > 1:35:24SHE GROANS ANGRILY
1:35:24 > 1:35:26You're walking out and you think,
1:35:26 > 1:35:28"This is going to get us nowhere."
1:35:31 > 1:35:34Very soon after meeting him with the families,
1:35:34 > 1:35:38I took the police officer to meet with Lord Justice Stuart-Smith.
1:35:38 > 1:35:42Stuart-Smith was quite astonished that this police officer
1:35:42 > 1:35:43was producing this evidence.
1:35:45 > 1:35:48I felt he was hostile towards the police officer,
1:35:48 > 1:35:52and I made it very clear to him I thought he was hostile,
1:35:52 > 1:35:54and he didn't take kindly to that criticism.
1:35:57 > 1:36:00In the new year, in February, the report came out.
1:36:03 > 1:36:07With permission, Madam Speaker, I would like to make a statement
1:36:07 > 1:36:10about the Hillsborough Stadium disaster.
1:36:10 > 1:36:12The overall conclusion which
1:36:12 > 1:36:14Lord Justice Stuart-Smith reaches
1:36:14 > 1:36:16is that there is no basis on which
1:36:16 > 1:36:19there should be a further public inquiry.
1:36:19 > 1:36:22He concludes that none of the evidence which he was asked
1:36:22 > 1:36:25to consider added anything significant to the evidence
1:36:25 > 1:36:30which was available to Lord Taylor's inquiry or to the inquests.
1:36:30 > 1:36:33The entire country is united in sympathy with those
1:36:33 > 1:36:36who lost loved ones at Hillsborough.
1:36:36 > 1:36:39But we cannot take the pain from them.
1:36:39 > 1:36:41However, I hope that the families
1:36:41 > 1:36:44will recognise that this report represents,
1:36:44 > 1:36:50as I promised, a most independent, thorough and detailed scrutiny
1:36:50 > 1:36:53to examine all the evidence which was brought before it.
1:36:59 > 1:37:03I'm now determined to access other statements.
1:37:05 > 1:37:11I gain access to all of the police statements.
1:37:13 > 1:37:18Following the realisation that they were being held
1:37:18 > 1:37:20in the House of Lords Reading Room.
1:37:25 > 1:37:27It is such a formal place.
1:37:29 > 1:37:36Neat, tidy, leatherbound books, oak-panelled, big trencher tables,
1:37:36 > 1:37:39a librarian who was timeless.
1:37:39 > 1:37:41The woman very politely looked and said,
1:37:41 > 1:37:45"Oh, Professor Scraton, I think your boxes are over there."
1:37:48 > 1:37:52There in the corner, battered, torn, ripped,
1:37:52 > 1:37:54stacked one on top of each other.
1:37:55 > 1:37:57Not the filing system I'd expected.
1:38:00 > 1:38:06They were just statements thrown in upside down, back to front,
1:38:06 > 1:38:10pages missing, pages in other places, photocopies.
1:38:10 > 1:38:12But in no order.
1:38:13 > 1:38:16I started to put them together as full statements
1:38:16 > 1:38:22and then started to put each officer's three statements together.
1:38:27 > 1:38:31And I went through them, and it was exactly the same
1:38:31 > 1:38:35as the police officer's statement that I'd already seen.
1:38:35 > 1:38:37There was a handwritten version,
1:38:37 > 1:38:41there was a typed version - which then had all the alterations on it -
1:38:41 > 1:38:47and then a final statement signed off...that was pristine.
1:38:49 > 1:38:52You could see, visibly, clearly,
1:38:52 > 1:38:56the review and alteration process there before you.
1:39:01 > 1:39:03Here I am...
1:39:03 > 1:39:07nearly ten years on from the disaster,
1:39:07 > 1:39:10and we are finding that the statements made
1:39:10 > 1:39:14by all police officers after Hillsborough
1:39:14 > 1:39:17have gone through a vetting process,
1:39:17 > 1:39:21a review process, an alteration process.
1:39:23 > 1:39:28Let's be clear what happened - they were given paper on which
1:39:28 > 1:39:31to handwrite their accounts, warts and all.
1:39:31 > 1:39:34They then went through an editorial process involving
1:39:34 > 1:39:38a team of six officers, established by the South Yorkshire Police,
1:39:38 > 1:39:42as the West Midlands Police investigators were coming in.
1:39:43 > 1:39:45Those statements were then transferred
1:39:45 > 1:39:47into clean evidential statements
1:39:47 > 1:39:50which were given to the West Midlands police officers,
1:39:50 > 1:39:54who knew...that they were inheriting a process
1:39:54 > 1:39:59that, at best, was evidentially ambiguous,
1:39:59 > 1:40:02and, at worst, was a corruption of evidence.
1:40:05 > 1:40:09And that was the final act for Hillsborough: The Truth.
1:40:11 > 1:40:13I'd almost completed the book.
1:40:13 > 1:40:15I'd written it in 12 weeks,
1:40:15 > 1:40:18and now I had this new chapter.
1:40:18 > 1:40:20I called it "Sanitising Hillsborough".
1:40:22 > 1:40:28The Sunday Mirror ran a two-page headline, stating clearly
1:40:28 > 1:40:30that statements had been reviewed and altered.
1:40:33 > 1:40:35And it led to nothing.
1:40:37 > 1:40:43Then what unfolded immediately after was the private prosecution
1:40:43 > 1:40:45of Duckenfield and Murray.
1:40:45 > 1:40:48- NEWSREADER:- '11 years ago, David Duckenfield was
1:40:48 > 1:40:50'a South Yorkshire Police chief superintendent
1:40:50 > 1:40:52'in charge of crowd control at Hillsborough.
1:40:52 > 1:40:55'His deputy was Bernard Murray, then a superintendent.
1:40:55 > 1:40:58'Today, both deny two charges of manslaughter
1:40:58 > 1:41:03'and one of wilfully neglecting to ensure the safety of supporters.
1:41:03 > 1:41:05'The Hillsborough Family Support Group,
1:41:05 > 1:41:07'comprising those who lost relatives that day,
1:41:07 > 1:41:10'have brought and paid for this prosecution.'
1:41:10 > 1:41:13The private prosecution started, and you were up and down
1:41:13 > 1:41:16to Leeds every day, families travelling on a coach,
1:41:16 > 1:41:19we were travelling on a coach backwards and for...
1:41:19 > 1:41:21STRAINED: ..backwards and forwards.
1:41:21 > 1:41:26When the jury returned, they acquitted Murray,
1:41:26 > 1:41:30and they were a hung jury on Duckenfield.
1:41:36 > 1:41:39We get on the coach to come home.
1:41:39 > 1:41:43Nobody was talking, it was just this atmosphere.
1:41:43 > 1:41:48We've been knocked down before, and we've come back up from it,
1:41:48 > 1:41:52but I thought, "There's no coming back from this now.
1:41:52 > 1:41:55"That's it, it's finished for me, I can't do any more."
1:41:58 > 1:42:01You had to find a way to live the rest of your life
1:42:01 > 1:42:05without Hillsborough dominating every breath.
1:42:06 > 1:42:09Julie and I had nowhere else to go with it.
1:42:11 > 1:42:15We'd been looking for justice from day one.
1:42:15 > 1:42:17We'd been denied it at every turn.
1:42:19 > 1:42:23I think that was the final moment of realisation that,
1:42:23 > 1:42:27for the time being, they'd been defeated.
1:42:39 > 1:42:42After Lord Justice Taylor's report, they had high hopes
1:42:42 > 1:42:43that justice would be served.
1:42:45 > 1:42:46And that didn't happen.
1:42:50 > 1:42:54What they found was a system that could not
1:42:54 > 1:42:57respond appropriately or fully.
1:43:00 > 1:43:04What actually was happening was that they weren't believed,
1:43:04 > 1:43:07and all the time it was "self-pity city",
1:43:07 > 1:43:11all the time it was, "What more do they want?
1:43:11 > 1:43:13"When are they going to get over it?"
1:43:16 > 1:43:19I've always called this the endless pressure, and what I witnessed
1:43:19 > 1:43:27was the distress and depression associated with injustice...
1:43:29 > 1:43:31..that exacerbated bereavement.
1:43:33 > 1:43:39Deep, hurtful, painful suffering over a long period of time.
1:43:39 > 1:43:41People taking their own lives.
1:43:43 > 1:43:45People dying prematurely.
1:43:46 > 1:43:51People broken by the struggle for justice.
1:43:54 > 1:43:56The price of Hillsborough is not...
1:44:00 > 1:44:04..reducible to 96 people dying.
1:44:04 > 1:44:05The price of Hillsborough is
1:44:05 > 1:44:08the price of institutionalised injustice,
1:44:08 > 1:44:13the appalling treatment by some of the media
1:44:13 > 1:44:17of the good reputations of innocent people,
1:44:17 > 1:44:24the cavalier way in which wonderful people were vilified.
1:44:27 > 1:44:29That's the price of Hillsborough.
1:44:39 > 1:44:43When I was organising that 20th anniversary, I always thought,
1:44:43 > 1:44:46"We've let them down, there won't be many people there now
1:44:46 > 1:44:50"because we've let them down with that private prosecution."
1:44:56 > 1:44:58The 20th anniversary was one of those moments where,
1:44:58 > 1:45:02I for one, thought, "We will never get justice,
1:45:02 > 1:45:05"the truth will never come out."
1:45:12 > 1:45:16I didn't expect the 30,000-odd people,
1:45:16 > 1:45:19nobody in their right mind would've expected that.
1:45:19 > 1:45:21APPLAUSE
1:45:37 > 1:45:42I'd just like now to introduce the Right Honourable Andy Burnham,
1:45:42 > 1:45:46the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
1:45:49 > 1:45:51APPLAUSE
1:45:54 > 1:45:59Until that time, no politician had been allowed to stand
1:45:59 > 1:46:03and deliver any kind of a statement,
1:46:03 > 1:46:06because it is a service of remembrance,
1:46:06 > 1:46:08it is not a political rally.
1:46:09 > 1:46:12Hillsborough left deep wounds that will never heal.
1:46:12 > 1:46:15Its horror is not diminished by the passage of time.
1:46:17 > 1:46:21But today, as the Prime Minister has asked me to convey,
1:46:21 > 1:46:24we can at least pledge that 96 fellow football supporters
1:46:24 > 1:46:27who died will never be forgotten.
1:46:27 > 1:46:32The crowd were offended by, not him personally,
1:46:32 > 1:46:37but a politician making what they assumed would be an empty promise.
1:46:39 > 1:46:41And he asks us to think at this time...
1:46:41 > 1:46:42FANS SHOUT OUT
1:46:44 > 1:46:48All the fans who'd supported us for years started
1:46:48 > 1:46:54a chant of "justice for the 96" and we couldn't stop them.
1:46:54 > 1:46:56# Justice for the 96
1:46:56 > 1:46:59# Justice for the 96
1:46:59 > 1:47:01# Justice for the 96
1:47:01 > 1:47:04# Justice for the 96
1:47:04 > 1:47:07# Justice for the 96
1:47:07 > 1:47:10# Justice for the 96
1:47:10 > 1:47:12# Justice for the 96
1:47:12 > 1:47:15# Justice for the 96
1:47:15 > 1:47:18# Justice for the 96
1:47:18 > 1:47:21# Justice for the 96... #
1:47:21 > 1:47:24At that point, reflection bubbled over into anger.
1:47:25 > 1:47:29I think that righteous anger was...
1:47:29 > 1:47:31was overdue.
1:47:31 > 1:47:33# Justice for the 96
1:47:33 > 1:47:35# Justice for the 96
1:47:35 > 1:47:37# Justice for the 96
1:47:37 > 1:47:40# Justice for the 96... #
1:47:48 > 1:47:53From that moment on, and I will say it was from that moment on...
1:47:53 > 1:47:57that we got a lot more than we've ever had.
1:48:00 > 1:48:06It convinced Andy Burnham that he had to push this
1:48:06 > 1:48:11personally along and set up the Hillsborough Independent Panel.
1:48:42 > 1:48:44When the panel was first in session and we met
1:48:44 > 1:48:45with the South Yorkshire Police,
1:48:45 > 1:48:48one of the things that became very clear,
1:48:48 > 1:48:50and in fact the phrase was used,
1:48:50 > 1:48:53"The panel, in its work, would not find a smoking gun."
1:48:55 > 1:49:00It could not have been a more flawed assumption.
1:49:16 > 1:49:17People started to arrive.
1:49:22 > 1:49:28I went and met so many people that I'd worked with for 20 years.
1:49:30 > 1:49:32I also thought about...
1:49:36 > 1:49:40I also thought about the people who weren't there,
1:49:40 > 1:49:44people whose funerals I'd read the lesson at.
1:49:44 > 1:49:49People who'd died recently, people who I'd had respect for,
1:49:49 > 1:49:52all of them, even people who I'd argued with.
1:49:56 > 1:49:59And even at that moment, I felt I couldn't tell them.
1:50:01 > 1:50:03Because they were fearful.
1:50:04 > 1:50:06HE EXHALES
1:50:09 > 1:50:12They were fearful that they were going to be let down again.
1:50:14 > 1:50:19When the Bishop got up, and the Bishop said,
1:50:19 > 1:50:23"I know what you're all waiting to find out.
1:50:25 > 1:50:28"Have we found anything new?
1:50:33 > 1:50:36"Three words I will say to you all.
1:50:38 > 1:50:40"Yes, we have."
1:51:05 > 1:51:08One of the big issues that had always been a problem
1:51:08 > 1:51:11for the families was the medical evidence.
1:51:11 > 1:51:15We now know, having revisited the pathology on those that died,
1:51:15 > 1:51:19that over 40 people could've been saved had they had
1:51:19 > 1:51:22appropriate intervention the minute they came out of those pens.
1:51:24 > 1:51:28Now, I don't know whether James is one of them 41.
1:51:28 > 1:51:34Quite frankly, it doesn't matter. 96 people should've been saved.
1:51:37 > 1:51:42Having worked on Hillsborough for so many years, I felt that
1:51:42 > 1:51:45nothing would surprise me, but I'll never forget the day
1:51:45 > 1:51:48while the panel was in session
1:51:48 > 1:51:52that we came across a document which demonstrated
1:51:52 > 1:51:57that every single person who had a recorded blood alcohol level
1:51:57 > 1:52:02had had a criminal records check run on them by the police.
1:52:03 > 1:52:08Their name, their address, their details, the alcohol level
1:52:08 > 1:52:11and what they'd been previously convicted of.
1:52:11 > 1:52:16That, to me, was the clear indication that from the outset,
1:52:16 > 1:52:20the police were determined to criminalise those who died,
1:52:20 > 1:52:22to damage their reputation.
1:52:49 > 1:52:52I got to work and two of the guys at work said,
1:52:52 > 1:52:54"Hey, you're all over the internet.
1:52:55 > 1:52:58"I think you ought to take a look at this."
1:52:58 > 1:53:03And he showed me the statement I'd made, my Hillsborough statement.
1:53:05 > 1:53:07Well, there were two.
1:53:09 > 1:53:12There was the one I made...
1:53:13 > 1:53:17..and then there was a second one with my name on it.
1:53:19 > 1:53:25The one I made had got big lines crossing things out,
1:53:25 > 1:53:30entire paragraphs, altering sentences, altering phrases.
1:53:32 > 1:53:37Everything that had been removed from my statement was things
1:53:37 > 1:53:42where I'd been critical of, er, police command at Hillsborough.
1:53:44 > 1:53:48And the statement that...
1:53:50 > 1:53:53..had been submitted under my name...
1:53:56 > 1:54:01..had been completely sanitised. But it'd got my name on it.
1:54:03 > 1:54:06- That's... - HE SIGHS
1:54:06 > 1:54:09..when I found out that I weren't the only one.
1:54:14 > 1:54:16I just shivered down me back,
1:54:16 > 1:54:18I just wanted to shout and scream there and then.
1:54:18 > 1:54:21JOURNALIST: Do you have anything to say about what's happened today
1:54:21 > 1:54:23- and how you feel about it? - Er, got the bastards.
1:54:23 > 1:54:27The weight of what had been discovered and how far
1:54:27 > 1:54:32it'd gone and how far-reaching it was, it was like,
1:54:32 > 1:54:34"Yes, this IS the truth,
1:54:34 > 1:54:37"and people have got to listen now, no matter what."
1:54:46 > 1:54:50It had been said that they wanted the truth, warts and all.
1:54:51 > 1:54:53And I was able to say, there are no warts.
1:54:56 > 1:54:58There is just the truth.
1:55:04 > 1:55:07..special courtroom here in Warrington for them,
1:55:07 > 1:55:10the hearings will last for around a year...
1:55:10 > 1:55:15I mean, obviously, we're keen to be getting going at last, and, er...
1:55:15 > 1:55:18you know, as we say, we think the truth will be out this time.
1:55:24 > 1:55:28The process has been difficult and it's been lengthy.
1:55:34 > 1:55:36It was in session for two years,
1:55:36 > 1:55:39there has never been an inquest of this length.
1:55:40 > 1:55:44The jury became exhausted.
1:55:44 > 1:55:46The families certainly were exhausted,
1:55:46 > 1:55:48travelling every day to Warrington.
1:55:48 > 1:55:50The survivors, too.
1:55:51 > 1:55:56And I have to say that because those institutions
1:55:56 > 1:56:00that the Hillsborough Panel had actually named
1:56:00 > 1:56:03were so determined to challenge the findings
1:56:03 > 1:56:08of the Independent Panel's Report, it was dragged out.
1:56:09 > 1:56:13Another attempt to deny the justice that was already there
1:56:13 > 1:56:16at the heart of the panel's work.
1:56:19 > 1:56:23The jury in the Hillsborough Inquest returns to court today
1:56:23 > 1:56:27to deliver its conclusions into the deaths of 96 fans.
1:56:28 > 1:56:32We're live at Warrington as many of the victims' relatives
1:56:32 > 1:56:36wait to hear whether their loved ones were unlawfully killed.
1:56:38 > 1:56:41One of the questions in the questionnaire that the jury
1:56:41 > 1:56:47had to answer was question seven, relating directly to whether or not
1:56:47 > 1:56:51the fans had contributed in any way to the disaster.
1:56:51 > 1:56:55We could have an unlawfully killed verdict with the fans
1:56:55 > 1:56:58having made a contribution to that unlawful killing.
1:56:58 > 1:57:00That was the worst-case scenario.
1:57:13 > 1:57:16I was really nervous.
1:57:16 > 1:57:19We found ourselves a seat with friends.
1:57:19 > 1:57:23Eventually, he came in, and he was shaking, really.
1:57:25 > 1:57:28When the jury come in, they didn't look at us at all,
1:57:28 > 1:57:29and I was saying to myself,
1:57:29 > 1:57:32"Oh, that's a bad sign, they're not looking.
1:57:32 > 1:57:35"They don't want to look at us because it's not good."
1:57:36 > 1:57:41We knew he'd have to go through the questions as they went,
1:57:41 > 1:57:45and he went, "Question one", and her voice wavered a bit
1:57:45 > 1:57:46when she said the answer.
1:57:46 > 1:57:49And he said, "Yes."
1:57:49 > 1:57:52Question two, and then three.
1:57:52 > 1:57:55By the time three come and went, I started to cry.
1:57:56 > 1:58:00Slowly but surely, I thought, "We're going to get this."
1:58:00 > 1:58:03She was simply saying, "Yes, yes."
1:58:03 > 1:58:06Just one after the other - bang, bang, bang. I felt, erm...
1:58:06 > 1:58:09And then, obviously, getting to question six.
1:58:11 > 1:58:14CLOCK TICKS
1:58:28 > 1:58:31It was just totally amazing, the whole room erupted.
1:58:31 > 1:58:33When he said it, "Unlawfully killed", everybody cheered,
1:58:33 > 1:58:36and it was just a... It was just a great moment, really.
1:58:36 > 1:58:42Question seven - had the fans contributed in any way?
1:58:45 > 1:58:47I sat still for a bit and I thought,
1:58:47 > 1:58:49"I couldn't have written that better."
1:58:49 > 1:58:52I hardly even heard the other questions after that.
1:58:52 > 1:58:56I think that was the bubble, it burst, and then you realised
1:58:56 > 1:58:59what all this is about.
1:58:59 > 1:59:02It's not about the court, it's not about that.
1:59:02 > 1:59:06It was about the fight and about the injustice of it all,
1:59:06 > 1:59:10and I think...then you just cried for them, really.
1:59:13 > 1:59:14It was nice to get exonerated.
1:59:14 > 1:59:20Fans' behaviour played no part, no part in the disaster.
1:59:27 > 1:59:29Yes, justice!
1:59:32 > 1:59:36The verdict demonstrates absolutely
1:59:36 > 1:59:39just what the level of culpability was.
1:59:41 > 1:59:42And yes to question eight,
1:59:42 > 1:59:45which was defects in the Hillsborough Stadium.
1:59:45 > 1:59:48Yes, that there were errors and omissions.
1:59:48 > 1:59:51What we got was just and it was the right decision.
1:59:51 > 1:59:53It's one of those moments which will
1:59:53 > 1:59:56reverberate around the country and around the world.
1:59:58 > 2:00:0325 criticisms directed against those in positions of power.
2:00:06 > 2:00:1016 of policing, before, during and after.
2:00:10 > 2:00:14They were prepared to live with them lies and still sell them
2:00:14 > 2:00:18in the courts. That, to me, is another tragedy.
2:00:19 > 2:00:23It just seems... It can't accept the full responsibility.
2:00:23 > 2:00:26Today was for as the 96,
2:00:26 > 2:00:29tomorrow is for the, you know, accountability.
2:00:29 > 2:00:33Hopefully no-one will ever ask me again to admit
2:00:33 > 2:00:37that I was drunk, admit that I was part of breaking down the gates,
2:00:37 > 2:00:41admit that it was all down to people like me. Cos it wasn't.
2:00:42 > 2:00:45That narrative verdict will stand for all time.
2:00:47 > 2:00:50All of that could have been done 27 years ago.
2:00:50 > 2:00:53This could have been done and dusted.
2:00:53 > 2:00:57A lot of our families would have seen the truth and justice out.
2:00:57 > 2:01:00Justice delayed is justice denied.
2:01:03 > 2:01:06I knew it was going to be a cover-up, and it was.
2:01:06 > 2:01:08We've proved it.