Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The man who caused so much pain has escaped the consequences. Start your free trial. The Hillsborough Family Support Group mounts a private prosecution of Duckenfield and his deputy, superintendentBernard Murray, for manslaughter. The matchday commander at Hillsborough was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter charges pertaining to his role in the football disaster 30 years ago. ACC Jackson was alongside Duckenfield within minutes of the match being stopped. "I would like to know who is responsible for my father's death because someone is.". This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Mr Mackrell is fined 6,500 for the offence, sparking outrage from victims relatives who called the penalty shameful. He was initially accused of telling lies about the culpability of fans and his role in the event, reports the BBC. ", To the families he added: "It has now dawned on me what it means to you, and I am dreadfully sorry. Benjamin Myers QC told the jury his client had become "the focus of blame". Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. One of the many tragedies of the Hillsborough disaster is the first explanation for what claimed the lives of those men, women and children was a suggestion it was Liverpool supporters who were responsible. Read about our approach to external linking. He described the policing outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles, where Duckenfield accepted the South Yorkshire police lost control at 2:40pm, as non-existent or shambolic at best. If things go wrong it is important that investigations explain why and ensure the situation never occurs again. There will be a service at the Anglican cathedral, and a minutes silence will be observed at 3.06pm the moment the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was stopped as the scale of the disaster became apparent. David Duckenfield can finally rest easily. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Reaction as David Duckenfield is cleared of manslaughter, argued the case against him was "deeply unfair", Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Prince Andrew offered Frogmore Cottage - reports, Beer and wine sales in Canada fall to all-time low, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US. What is wrong is that it has taken 30 years to get to this point. The ruling states that all the victims were dead by 3.15pm. But ultimately the buck stops with me., Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. It remained open for more than five minutes. Sergeant Michael Goddard, who was in the police control box, told the trial the request was not unusual, 2.30pm: Duckenfield raises the size of the crowd outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles and asks ground commander, Supt Bernard Murray, whether those fans will be in the ground for the 3pm kick-off. The High Court rejects an application for judicial review of the inquest verdicts brought by six representative families. Due to the ongoing proceedings relating to Duckenfield, and a forthcoming trial of two former South Yorkshire police officers and the forces then solicitor on charges of perverting the course of justice, the 30-year memorial ceremonies will be muted. A handwritten note apparently written by Tony Blair, asks why? All rights reserved. But he now admits the crush occurred after he ordered an exit gate to be opened allowing 2,000 Liverpool fans to enter the stadium in just five minutes. But an inquest is not a criminal court, and so it was for another jury to decide whether Mr Duckenfield's mistakes amounted to gross negligence manslaughter. Matt Hancock and the Lockdown Files: whats happening with the Covid inquiry? A police doctor certified him as "unfit to undertake the duties of a police constable" and diagnosed him with "severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder". The former police chief was barely seen or heard of in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The Crown Prosecution Service decides that following consideration of all the evidence and documentation, there is no evidence to justify any criminal proceedings against South Yorkshire Police officers, Sheffield Wednesday FC, Sheffield City Council or Eastwoods the structural engineering firm that designed the pens. And 30 years means many people, especially families, have had to constantly relive their terrible experience.". Jimmy Hennessey, a 29-year-old, had negligible medical attention and was placed in a body bag while still alive. The acquittal of Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield has caused shock and anger after a 30-year campaign for criminal accountability for the disaster. Sir Peter Openshaw, the judge, told the jury that the inquests findings which were not discussed in court were quite irrelevant. He said himself, in Warrington, he considered his words to then FA Chief Executive Graham Kelly a lie. David Duckenfield is one of six people to be charged with manslaughter over the deaths resulting from the disaster which claimed the lives of 96 fans. The inquests become controversial after Dr Stefan Popper limits their scope to events up to 3.15pm on the day of the disaster just nine minutes after the match was halted and excludes the witness evidence of two doctors inside the stadium. A police chief told a "wicked lie" by suggesting Liverpool fans forced open a gate ahead of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, the inquests heard. Sir, I am the man in overall control, he replied. Christine Burke, whose father Henry Burke was killed in the disaster, stood in the public gallery and addressed the judge after the verdict was read out. Duckenfield stood trial earlier this year but the jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict and a retrial was ordered. What happened in Sheffield was beyond horrific. "We firmly believe that we have done everything in our power to do right by our Steven and we walk away from this case with our dignity and our heads held high.". On 28 November, the remaining jurors acquit Mr Duckenfield of gross negligence manslaughter, as the investigating police officer says the delay between the disaster and the trial should not have been allowed to happen. The following March, a Home Office meeting consideres material submitted by the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) calling for a new inquiry but advice to the attorney general says the 3.15pm cut-off had been fully justifiable. He was asked whether he thought over the last 26 years about the bereaved families, who according to their barrister, Rajiv Menon QC waged a courageous and unrelenting campaign that culminated in 2012 with the quashing of the first inquests. Evelyn Newman Duckenfield, center, died at age 81 of covid-19 on Jan 25. Lord Justice McCowan says he can see no fault in the coroner for cutting off the scope of the inquests at 3.15pm because he relied on medical evidence, and refuses to quash the verdicts. The jury at Mr Duckenfield's original trial earlier this year failed to agree a verdict. At a press conference Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: I am ashamed of the system in this country that is not holding anyone responsible for the deaths of 96 people.. Mr Duckenfield said he felt the diagnosis was a "sign of weakness" and tried to "conceal" his conditions from family and colleagues but the publication of the report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012 and a TV programme he had seen about the disaster's effect on the families prompted him to finally tell the truth. He said: "He has a resilient, passive and expressionless external presentation which gives no indication of his state of mind so don't draw an adverse inference against him.". The jury found match commander - former Ch Supt David. "It is right that an impartial and thorough investigation was carried out, and it is right that a jury was asked to make a judgement of the facts. It is true the same stadium exit gate he ordered to be opened at 2.52pm opened minutes earlier without his instruction. The Week is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. He said this as Dolores Steele, Barry Devonside and Trevor Hicks - all of whom lost children, all of whom gave evidence in these trials - were desperately hoping their teenagers would survive. The CPS announces that all charges against Sir Norman Bettison are being dropped because there is insufficient evidence for a realistic chance of a conviction, which is the test for all prosecutions. Turnips vs. tomatoes: should salad crisis force UK shoppers back to their roots? David Duckenfield was in charge of policing the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, The people who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster, The crush developed in the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough stadium, David Duckenfield pictured in 1989, a month after the Hillsborough disaster, Ninety-six people were fatally injured in the 1989 disaster. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Visit our corporate site www.futureplc.com Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. That should never have happened, and we will continue to learn the . The jury fails to reach a verdict on Duckenfield. But was the regret he described at the disaster inquests the regret of having been dishonest, or the regret of having been found out? He vomited inside the bag before he died. Your IP: Mr Duckenfield, of Ferndown, Dorset, was cleared after a seven-week retrial at Preston Crown Court. Due to the law at the time, there can be no prosecution over the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland. After delivering the verdict the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw thanked the jury before they were dismissed. Former Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield, arriving at Preston Crown court for the start of his retrial for the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 Liverpool supporters at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. Asked by Mansfield why he had chosen to remain silent for 26 years, Duckenfield said that he had been prompted to finally tell the whole truth after the publication of the report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012 and a television programme he had seen about the disasters effect on the families. The passage of 30 years has presented challenges for everyone involved in the legal process, prosecution and defence. David Conn. The Hillsborough match commander was cleared of gross negligence manslaughter. He didn't breach his duty, he did what he was expected to do in difficult circumstances.". After reviewing 450,000 documents, the Hillsborough Independent Panel publishes a report highlighting police failings and the alleged campaign to blame Liverpool supporters for the disaster. It is rejected by Lord Justice McCowan in the divisional court. A judge lifts the historic stay of further prosecution on Mr Duckenfield, allowing new proceedings to go ahead. Prosecutors allege Duckenfield should have taken action to close the tunnel that led to those pens, a tactic his lawyer said he and other experienced officers were unaware of, but which the court heard had been used at Hillsborough before. The inquest heard Mr Duckenfield testify he was struggling to sleep in the run-up to the 1989 Taylor Inquiry, and claimed to be drinking "half tumblers of whisky" to "find the courage" to read statements. Judith Moritz, BBC North of England correspondent. 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Her adult life has been dominated by the quest to find the truth about her father and gain justice for him. At the hearings he accepted he should have taken steps to close the tunnel to the central pens after ordering the opening of the exit gate. There were gasps in court as the seven women and three men on the jury returned the verdict, following 13 hours and 43 minutes of discussions. The families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, the survivors who managed to get out of the overcrowded pens at the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesdays ground, and the campaigners who have fought relentlessly for justice for decades were expecting the verdict. "I think it's fair to say that it is arguably one of the biggest regrets of my life, that I did not foresee where fans would go when they came in through the gates," he said. Now the Crown Prosecution Service could consider a prosecution against the former chief superintendent from South Yorkshire police after a jury decided his actions amounted to "manslaughter by gross negligence" due to a breach of his duty of care to fans. A jury found the former South. It is right that an impartial and thorough investigation was carried out, and it is right that a jury was asked to make a judgement of the facts. David Duckenfield had been appointed Chief Superintendent of the South Yorkshire Police just 19 days before the disaster. Meanwhile, the families of six victims appeal for a judicial review application to quash the inquest verdict. The Crown Prosecution Service has said it will seek a retrial, which Duckenfield is expected to oppose, at a hearing scheduled for 24 June. The 96 Liverpool supporters unlawfully killed at Hillsborough. Following the broadcast of a television dramatisation of the Hillsborough disaster, the Home Offices Operational Policing Policy Unit writes to Michael Howard, then home secretary, saying it raises the suggestion that some of the victims were still alive at 3.30pm. Sheffield Wednesday FC is also criticised for an inadequate number of turnstiles at the Leppings Lane entrance and the poor quality of crush barriers on the terraces, some of which collapsed during the disaster. Gate C, leading to the Leppings Lane terraces, is opened. It was even more dispiriting to hear the defence barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, recycle all the rancid myths that grew out of Duckenfields dissembling: that fans turned up late, alcohol was a factor and supporters ignored police instructions. Inquests open in Sheffield, heard by the local coroner, and South Yorkshire Police renews its argument that drunk supporters who arrived late and without tickets contributed to the disaster. 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Mr Duckenfield did not dispute that he ordered the opening of a gate at Hillsborough to let fans in, or that he failed to close the tunnel to the terraces which were already full. The scrutiny goes ahead but in February 1998, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith rejects grounds for quashing the accidental death verdicts or bringing prosecutions. Ninety-six men, women and children died following the crush on the terrace but, under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the death of the 96th victim Tony Bland as he died more than a year and a day after the disaster. And despite the words of regret expressed in 2015, this included the resurrection of shameless claims about ticketless and late supporters. He said this as schoolboys, sisters, a dad and his son were among those crushed inside pens created because they were treated like thugs rather than humans. It was David Duckenfield, Preston Crown Court heard, who told FA chiefs fans had gained entry through a "forced" stadium gate before the crush on the terraces beyond. Supporters were not responsible for what happened. Answering questions from Mansfield, Duckenfield said, however, that he did believe Liverpool fans turned up late and drunk to the match, and that Merseyside police failed to tell the South Yorkshire force that Liverpool fans were in the habit of doing that. Click to reveal He also admitted to a "terrible lie". Who has been left to carry the weight and pain of the disaster? He said footage of a mother having to cuddle her dead child on the dirty floor of the Hillsborough gymnasium was the most moving thing he had ever seen, and that it had shown him "what it means to a mother to lose a loved one". He said he had post traumatic stress disorder, and hid myself away and could not bear the word Hillsborough after the report was published, but then said he had begun to face the truth two years ago, with the help of doctors. As fans were dying he suggested they were responsible for the crush that was a consequence of his decision. He had no experience managing soccer matches, let alone an FA Cup semi-final. Tom Davidson Assistant news editor. He said this minutes after he - the man tasked with keeping those people safe - had ordered for exit gates to be opened. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. I did my very best on the day.". Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield has been found not guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans in the 1989 disaster. Former Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield at Preston Crown court. But while his acquittal means he did not fail to a criminal standard, it does not mean he did not fail at all. David Duckenfield was police match commander at the Hillsborough disaster He went on trial for gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths of fans Following a retrial, he was cleared today . And it is not his fault those who deserved to face the same scrutiny he did will never be held accountable for the deaths of the 96. This was to be a fatal decision as thousands of Liverpool. He also rejects a prosecution application to prevent tweeting from court, sharing articles on social media or embedding video into news articles. All this had been comprehensively dismissed at the inquests. Tony Bland a criminal standard, it does not mean he did what he was initially accused of telling about... Years means many people, especially families, have had to constantly relive their terrible.! 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