:00:05. > :00:12.special, Judith Moritz looks at their continuing fight for justice.
:00:12. > :00:19.afternoon in 1989. For many, it is a disaster which has lasted for 23
:00:19. > :00:24.years. There has been a problem on the gates of the turnstiles at that
:00:24. > :00:33.end. There are too many people. football fans went to watch
:00:33. > :00:40.Liverpool i Liverpool iCup semi-final - they never came back. We drove up
:00:40. > :00:44.there that morning as a family and we drove home as a couple. Crush on
:00:44. > :00:51.the terraces, the survivors was like a vice. It was getting
:00:51. > :00:59.tighter. You felt you would pass out. The ne out. The nes
:00:59. > :01:09.been damned. The Sun caused outrage. The seeds were sown earlier.
:01:09. > :01:09.
:01:09. > :01:12.have seen it. I cannot deny that. My name was on it. Now we know
:01:12. > :01:14.senior poli senior poliruth. Some officers say they were
:01:14. > :01:24.affected, too. Marriages have fallen apart. Officers have
:01:24. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:27.attempted suicide. They're on a concoction of medication. They have
:01:27. > :01:30.had inquests, inquiries and investigations but the Hillsborough
:01:30. > :01:40.families just wanted the truth. The Hillsborough families have had
:01:40. > :01:52.
:01:52. > :02:02.enough of the law. They have had a bellyful. They have not had justice.
:02:02. > :02:02.
:02:02. > :02:07.Hillsborough Independent Panel have been provided. The resignation of
:02:07. > :02:11.one of the top police officers in this week in a historic moment in
:02:11. > :02:16.the High Court the original verdict was quashed and a new inquest was
:02:16. > :02:21.ordered and criminal charges were also being considered. Now, more
:02:21. > :02:31.than two decades since the worst ever sporting disaster, campaigners
:02:31. > :02:46.
:02:46. > :02:50.feel that the wheels of justice are moving for them. It was a glorious
:02:50. > :02:52.day. It was a big game. I went with three mates in a car, full of
:02:52. > :02:55.expectancy. It had been a comparatively stuttering season.
:02:55. > :03:05.They best way I can describe it was remembering remembering man with a big
:03:05. > :03:07.
:03:07. > :03:11.haversack of sunglasses seeing "�1 a pair to keep out the glare."
:03:11. > :03:16.Everything felt as it should. Wembley or bust. These are the best
:03:16. > :03:26.matches to win and the worst to lose. What is at stake? It is the
:03:26. > :03:33.
:03:33. > :03:35.chance of a cup and league double On the 15th of April, 1989, 24,000
:03:35. > :03:37.Liverpool fans made the journey across the Pennines to watch their
:03:37. > :03:47.team play Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's neutral
:03:47. > :03:52.Hillsborough stadium. The same two teams met at the same stage of the
:03:52. > :03:55.FA Cup competition here the year before as well. On both occasions,
:03:55. > :04:05.the Liverpool were allocated this, the Leppings Lane portion of the
:04:05. > :04:06.
:04:06. > :04:10.ground. Many were quite angry about that. Many thought it was too small
:04:10. > :04:14.for the amount of fans. The match was due to kick off at 3pm. With 30
:04:14. > :04:18.minutes to go, some of the fans in the stadium began to feel
:04:18. > :04:25.uncomfortable. It was a nice, sunny day. Everything was fine until
:04:25. > :04:32.around 2:30pm. Then we just started to think it was getting really
:04:32. > :04:42.tight. It was getting tighter and tighter. By about 25 to three,
:04:42. > :04:47.
:04:47. > :04:49.the game and were starting to get anxious. Outside the ground, things
:04:49. > :04:55.were getting worse. With just 23 turnstiles for the Liverpool fans
:04:55. > :05:02.build. It was here that the crowd of more than 5,000 fans had built
:05:02. > :05:08.up when the police decided to open a wide exit gate just after 2:50pm.
:05:08. > :05:18.The now infamous Gate C was open for just over ten minutes. Over
:05:18. > :05:20.
:05:20. > :05:26.2000 people poured through it and then to the already full pens.
:05:26. > :05:30.Colin Moneypenny was caught in the crash. When the gate opened, he
:05:30. > :05:37.followed the crowd in and was heading down the tunnel towards the
:05:37. > :05:42.pen. The were no policeman in the whole area or of the concourse.
:05:42. > :05:47.Nobody told us after the year before, what had happened then,
:05:47. > :05:51.don't go down there. The only thing we could see was the tunnel taking
:05:51. > :06:01.you down to the terrace. There was nobody there telling us anything
:06:01. > :06:05.
:06:05. > :06:12.otherwise. We were like lemmings. We just went down the tunnel. I was
:06:12. > :06:16.lifted off my feet carried about 40 feet into the pen number three.
:06:16. > :06:26.There was a barrier there and we later found out it had collapsed. I
:06:26. > :06:30.
:06:30. > :06:35.was taken off my feet. A clear, sunny day at Hillsborough. The
:06:35. > :06:38.year's classic. The match had kicked off on time. The players and
:06:38. > :06:41.officials on the pitch not realising what was happening on the
:06:41. > :06:47.terraces. Ray Lewis was the referee. It was just a normal game. There
:06:47. > :06:53.was movement behind the goal. I thought there may be too many
:06:53. > :07:00.people in one of the areas and the police were moving them. No one
:07:00. > :07:05.took much notice that there was a problem. Beardsley. He has hit the
:07:05. > :07:09.bar. Then a policeman came onto the field of play, which is most
:07:09. > :07:16.unusual. He tapped me on the shoulders and told me there were
:07:16. > :07:19.some problems. He wanted me to take the players from the field. There
:07:19. > :07:24.is an overflow. The police inspector is on the pitch. They
:07:24. > :07:34.have come through the barriers. I can only think it is the crowd. It
:07:34. > :07:35.
:07:35. > :07:45.cannot see any misbehaviour. Peter Carney and others were on the
:07:45. > :07:45.
:07:45. > :07:48.since. They realised that, that afternoon, they were about 100
:07:48. > :07:58.crush. the crush. It was like a vice that
:07:58. > :07:59.
:07:59. > :08:04.slowly turned. It was not something at the police in front of us. They
:08:04. > :08:07."Openk us. "Open the gates." I remember making
:08:07. > :08:17.eye-contact with one of the constables. He just said "Get
:08:17. > :08:21.
:08:21. > :08:27.back." I could not get my arms up by my side. I was losing my breath.
:08:27. > :08:37.I was screaming at the coppers and they were blanking us. They were
:08:37. > :08:48.
:08:48. > :08:52.completely blank. There was no room for them to fall. It became a fatal
:08:52. > :09:02.crash and the fans started using the billboards to carry the dead
:09:02. > :09:13.
:09:13. > :09:17.so many bodies. Somebody picked There were so many bodies on the
:09:17. > :09:20.pitch, you didn't have to move 10 yards to pick someone up. We pick
:09:20. > :09:25.someone up and he was just about alive when we picked him up. We
:09:25. > :09:28.towards the Forest end. We thought the ambulances and medics would be
:09:28. > :09:33.there. By the time we got there, he was dead. The death toll rose
:09:33. > :09:40.end of that day, 95 fans had been killed with the final total later
:09:40. > :09:48.reaching 96. The match had been stopped at 3:06pm. It was later
:09:48. > :09:54.ruled that all the victims were fatalved
:09:54. > :09:57.panel proved that the coroner, Stefan Popper, was wrong to have
:09:57. > :10:06.made that assessment. For the first time, the full inadequacy of the
:10:07. > :10:12.ambulance service response has been exposed. Those were parked outside
:10:12. > :10:22.and only one made it onto the pitch. Tony Edwards was the paramedic on
:10:22. > :10:26.board. People were carrying on us. They wanted us to stop. They
:10:26. > :10:29.were carrying a body. I had no idea what we were going into. People
:10:29. > :10:32.were asking for oxygen. And at that point, we were the only South
:10:32. > :10:36.Yorkshire ambulance at the epicentre of the disaster. That is
:10:36. > :10:45.when most people died. At no other point were there ambulance crews
:10:45. > :10:55.sent on to the epicentre. They just did not go there. 15-year-old Kevin
:10:55. > :10:56.
:10:56. > :11:06.Williams died at Hillsborough. He may have been saved. His family
:11:06. > :11:15.
:11:15. > :11:21.believe at 4pm. He is mother wants always
:11:21. > :11:27.always there. Three Attorney- General's have let me down. I knew
:11:27. > :11:33.I was biting the British legal system. If Kevin had got through
:11:33. > :11:37.and the gates had been open, there was so much evidence in that case.
:11:37. > :11:41.After being refused at every legal turn in the past and now with
:11:41. > :11:46.failing health, this week, she travelled to the High Court for the
:11:46. > :11:50.moment she thought they never arrive, in that historic decision,
:11:50. > :11:56.the Lord Chief Justice quashed the inquest verdict of accidental death
:11:56. > :11:59.and ordered that genuine quest to be held. It's a good feeling
:11:59. > :12:03.because it's just bouncing off the walls and we knew what we were
:12:03. > :12:09.doing. They were wearing me down but I would wear them down before
:12:09. > :12:11.they could wear me down. I actually did it. Once the new inquest gets
:12:11. > :12:19.underway, the witnesses, whose stories have never been heard in
:12:19. > :12:24.the courts, will be cold to give I don't care if you want to take
:12:24. > :12:30.let's let's investigate everything as if
:12:30. > :12:36.people have the potential to be rescued. Tony Edwards's ambulance
:12:36. > :12:46.to hospital but she was found to have died. Her mother later found
:12:46. > :12:48.
:12:48. > :12:51.out that her other teenage daughter, Sarah, had also been killed. Also,
:12:51. > :12:55.this couple's son was killed, too. He was 27. They started to feel
:12:55. > :12:59.that the fans were being set up to take the blame for what had
:12:59. > :13:05.happened. What made it more difficult for us was trying to get
:13:05. > :13:12.to the truth. We are fighting the establishment. That, to me, made it
:13:12. > :13:15.so much more difficult for us. felt they needed a common voice to
:13:15. > :13:19.represent their interests. The Hillsborough Family Support Group
:13:19. > :13:24.was born. It was the first of three formal groups to help those
:13:25. > :13:31.affected by the disaster. I was introduced to Margaret Thatcher.
:13:31. > :13:34.She gave her sympathies to myself and my wife. She asked if I had
:13:34. > :13:41.anything to say about it and I said it seemed as though there was a
:13:41. > :13:51.of the tragedy. She said in that role for us, "I can assure you
:13:51. > :13:51.
:13:51. > :14:01.there will be no cover-up." I am thereing
:14:01. > :14:18.
:14:18. > :14:21.Much later, her press secretary blamed the tragedy on the mob. The
:14:21. > :14:26.1981 riots in Brixton, Toxteth and the miners' strike in 1984 were
:14:26. > :14:35.recent history when Hillsborough happened. The police had been
:14:35. > :14:41.pitched against protesters and picketers. Football fans were known
:14:41. > :14:48.for fighting as well. Football supporters were looked at
:14:48. > :14:53.differently in the 70s and 80s. They did not have the profile that
:14:53. > :15:02.we have now. They had terribly bad reputations. The supporters were
:15:02. > :15:07.prime targets. The Hillsborough Panel has uncovered the extent to
:15:07. > :15:10.which South Yorkshire Police tried to avoid criticism. It has found a
:15:10. > :15:13.unit of five senior officers worked to build the police case. 116
:15:13. > :15:23.officer's witness statements were changed. Words like panic and
:15:23. > :15:43.
:15:43. > :15:52.useless were removed or changed. He has always denied any wrongdoing
:15:52. > :15:54.but is now being investigated by the police watchdog. This man was a
:15:54. > :15:59.South Yorkshire Police inspector. He went to police headquarters on
:15:59. > :16:05.the afternoon of the disaster. have never have never on an
:16:05. > :16:15.afternoon. But there was a real sinister mood around the
:16:15. > :16:16.
:16:16. > :16:19.headquarters. There were officers huddled in groups, talking. Patrick
:16:19. > :16:27.says that at the time he believed his fellow senior officers were
:16:27. > :16:32.honourable. But he now feels cheated. Every one of us, our
:16:32. > :16:42.hearts bleed for the Hillsborough families. Like many other people, I
:16:42. > :16:46.
:16:46. > :16:49.pray for them. I also pray for the police families. Patrick does
:16:49. > :16:55.remember some of the junior ranks worrying about the statement
:16:55. > :16:57.amendments. There was a lot of concern amongst officers, more than
:16:57. > :17:07.one occasion a group of officers went before their chief
:17:07. > :17:14.
:17:14. > :17:17.superintendent to have a discussion about the statements. Supporters
:17:17. > :17:27.say they were also put under pressure to give statements that
:17:27. > :17:34.
:17:34. > :17:44.after the disaster, some newspapers directed heavy criticism towards
:17:44. > :17:46.
:17:46. > :17:56.the plans. The truth is we urinated on the deed. We attacked people who
:17:56. > :17:56.
:17:56. > :18:06.died. We stole from the dead. Kelly says he will never buy the
:18:06. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:27.newspaper t newspaper tgain. There was a bad perception of Liverpool fan
:18:27. > :18:29.
:18:29. > :18:39.a e was scum.
:18:39. > :18:39.
:18:39. > :18:45.scum. A British newspaper will never again print utter lies about
:18:45. > :18:52.the dying and the dead. The reason it will not is because the
:18:52. > :19:01.financial cost is ongoing. The Sun and the Murdoch empire still paying
:19:01. > :19:09.for that gross lie. The Hillsborough panel found that the
:19:09. > :19:19.sons and sentry article was written Sheffield news Bree agency. But the
:19:19. > :19:23.
:19:23. > :19:28.similar report was printed in the Sheffield Star. The sum was
:19:28. > :19:33.following what had already been reported locally. John Highfield
:19:33. > :19:43.was one of the local reporters who wrote the Sheffield Star peace.
:19:43. > :19:50.
:19:50. > :20:00.cannot deny it. I see my name on it. I reported what we were told. I put
:20:00. > :20:02.
:20:02. > :20:07.We were asking people what happened to you. We were told there was some
:20:07. > :20:14.drunkenness and rowdiness. We presented a balanced version. There
:20:14. > :20:22.were many truths in a story like truth and that is what they did
:20:22. > :20:26.balance. Despite years of legal proceedings, the feeling that
:20:26. > :20:36.justice had not been done was growing ever more intense when
:20:36. > :20:38.
:20:39. > :20:44.three years ago, it seems to anniversary memorial service. The
:20:44. > :20:49.crowd demanded justice for the 96, wanting its message to reach the
:20:49. > :20:54.government. I sat with them and agonised about what I would say and
:20:54. > :20:59.the words I the words Ie. Andy Burnham chose to speak at the service
:20:59. > :21:05.snowing emotions were running high. After the passion of chanting, he
:21:05. > :21:08.pledged that all information would be released. It was essential we
:21:08. > :21:12.had a process independent of government and the police and other
:21:12. > :21:15.public authorities to oversee the disclosure of all documents to the
:21:15. > :21:21.full truth could be told and people could have confidence and that
:21:21. > :21:24.truth, because the story of Hillsborough has been collusion
:21:25. > :21:29.between the public authorities, the establishment and parts of the
:21:29. > :21:36.media to tell a certain version of events that has not proven to be
:21:36. > :21:42.true. That is what is so wrong and people here shouted at me when I
:21:42. > :21:45.stood up th stood up thnt minister. I have always said if I
:21:45. > :21:51.was not the government minister, I would have been up there shouting
:21:51. > :21:54.at the minister. Into 2010, the Hillsborough independent panel was
:21:54. > :22:00.created, this professor is an established expert on a disaster.
:22:00. > :22:05.He served on the plan will and the research, he wrote parts of the
:22:05. > :22:12.report at his kitchen table in Belfast. We established something
:22:12. > :22:20.once and for all, is that you can reach full access to Seriously
:22:20. > :22:30.detailed documents and associated Material and come to very strong
:22:30. > :22:32.
:22:33. > :22:36.accountability and therefore that September, the panel presented its
:22:36. > :22:41.report, first to the bereaved families and then to the public. It
:22:41. > :22:47.made an immediate and enormous impact. I realised something had
:22:47. > :22:50.happened here that was beyond Hillsborough. That this was a
:22:51. > :22:56.moment in which institutional deceit and denial over a long
:22:56. > :23:00.period time was being exposed. The real workings of constitutions work
:23:01. > :23:05.together to protect their own interests. The panel report
:23:05. > :23:09.contained enough new evidence to form the basis of a whole raft of
:23:09. > :23:13.new investigations and legal proceedings. Criminal charges and
:23:13. > :23:17.disciplinary action are now a possibility and a new police
:23:17. > :23:23.investigation was launched this week. The former Justice Secretary
:23:23. > :23:33.is now acting as legal adviser to some of the bereaved families.
:23:33. > :23:35.
:23:35. > :23:40.burst in a way that I did not think for families expected. It has had
:23:40. > :23:45.the most transforming effect on the landscape. For the first time,
:23:45. > :23:51.maybe half or more of the families are now and only now discovering
:23:51. > :23:55.the precise circumstances in which those they loved died. This is an
:23:55. > :24:00.indication of the scale, not just of the failure of the legal
:24:00. > :24:04.institutions previously, but to -- the extent to which there was a
:24:04. > :24:10.driven and vigorous cover-up. There could his decision to be made on
:24:10. > :24:12.the back of the panel port is this week's High Court ruling.
:24:12. > :24:16.Hillsborough families and supporters could not have known
:24:16. > :24:21.when the panels report was published in September that within
:24:21. > :24:24.three months they would be having the day in court, seeing the
:24:24. > :24:31.inquest verdict quashed here was both a victory and a vindication
:24:31. > :24:39.for them. On the day the Hillsborough report was published,
:24:39. > :24:44.Liverpool city centre to stand in solidarity with the families. The
:24:44. > :24:48.feeling was one of relief and emotion as emotion as st of the
:24:48. > :24:54.country believes what they have been saying for years. It has been
:24:54. > :24:59.a long struggle for 23 years. There has been a very difficult journey.
:24:59. > :25:04.Very tiring Very tiringhave wanted to give up. But the strength
:25:04. > :25:10.you get from all these people, keeps you going. They keep you
:25:10. > :25:20.guying and look where we have got. We have a little more up hill to go.
:25:20. > :25:23.
:25:23. > :25:30.Remember, when these people died, 96 people died, the South Yorkshire
:25:30. > :25:36.said to themselves, they are scum. They are the families of scum. They
:25:36. > :25:42.will not kick up a fuss for a while. They will soon go away. 24 years
:25:42. > :25:48.later, they have not gone away. They are still bat wing. Every
:25:48. > :25:55.minute that passes is a demonstration of naff. Every person