On April 15, 1989, a horrible tragedy occurred at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, when some 54,000 football fans went to watch a FA Cup semi-final football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
In what was described by the British media as a “human crush” at that football match, 96 people died and 766 others were seriously injured. The crush occurred in pens (enclosed spaces) in the Leppings Lane stand, allocated to the Liverpool fans.
According to an interim report of an inquiry into the disaster by Lord Justice Taylor, the main cause of the disaster was “the failure of police control by South Yorkshire Police”. The Taylor report blamed police mismanagement of the event and rebuked the South Yorkshire police for putting the blame on the Liverpool supporters instead of accepting responsibility.
Unfortunately, on Aug 30, 1990, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was “insufficient evidence” to justify criminal proceedings against anybody for any offence arising out of the deaths.
The Taylor Inquiry sat for 31 days and published two reports — an interim report, which laid out the events of the day and made immediate conclusions, and a final report, which outlined further recommendations on football ground safety. Lord Taylor concluded that “policing on April 15 broke down”, and although there were other causes for the disaster, “the main reason was the failure of police control”.
On Nov 19, 1990, when the first inquest began in Sheffield, South Yorkshire police maintained their stand that drunk supporters who arrived late and without tickets were to be blamed for the disaster.
On March 28, 1991, the inquest jury returned a majority verdict of “accidental death”.
Three years later, on Nov 5, 1993, an application by the families of the victims for judicial review to quash the accidental death verdict was rejected by the Divisional Court.
Justice McCowan ruled that the inquest was properly conducted. Despite this initial setback, the families of the victims continued to campaign for justice.
In April 2009 (20 years after the disaster), the government called for the police and all other public agencies to release documents that had not been made available to the inquiry led by Lord Taylor. This decision to disclose these documents led to the formation of the Hillsborough Independent Panel in December 2009.
Three years later, on Sept 12, 2012, the panel concluded (after reviewing 450,000 documents disclosed to it) that the Liverpool fans were not responsible for the deaths and that attempts had been made by the authorities to conceal the truth as to what had actually happened.
The panel also concluded that “multiple failures” by emergency services and public bodies had contributed to the death toll.
Home Secretary Theresa May accepted the report and ordered a new criminal inquiry into the disaster, called “Operation Resolve”.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) then launched an investigation into alleged malpractice by the police, including their actions in misleading Parliament and the media.
On Dec 19, 2012, the “accidental death” verdict in the first inquest (March 1991) was quashed by Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge, who found that the inquest was not properly conducted.
On March 31, 2014, new inquests began in Birchwood, Warrington. Finally, on April 26, 2016, the inquest jury delivered its verdict. It concluded, inter alia, that:
THE 96 people who died in the Hillsborough stadium were “unlawfully killed” due to gross negligence by police and ambulance services; this verdict overturned the accidental death verdict of the earlier inquest; and,
NO behaviour on the part of Liverpool fans contributed to the dangerous situation at the Leppings Lane turnstiles; this conclusion effectively exonerated the supporters who were earlier blamed for causing the disaster.
The jury was asked to give its answer to 14 questions.
One of the questions the jury was asked was: “Are you satisfied… that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?”
To give a “Yes” answer to this question, the nine jurors must be sure of four things:
FIRST, Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield owed a duty of care to the 96 who died;
SECOND, he was in breach of that duty of care;
THIRD, the breach of Duckenfield’s duty of care caused the deaths; and,
THE jury must be sure that the breach which caused the deaths amounted to gross negligence.
By a majority of seven to two, the jurors said “Yes”. Following this final verdict, there were calls for action regarding the police cover-up identified by the Hillsborough Independent Panel.
Subsequently, South Yorkshire Police chief Constable David Crompton was suspended and a civil suit was commenced by the families of the deceased victims against two police forces.
The IPCC had started its biggest investigation in its history. The officer leading the police inquiry, Assistant Commissioner Jon Stoddart, recently said: “Today is a day for the families. They have fought hard for many years for these new inquests. Now that the inquests have concluded, my sole focus is on completing the criminal investigation, which I expect will be finished by the turn of the year.
It will then be for the Crown Prosecution Service to consider the evidence and decide whether any individual or organisation should face criminal prosecution.”
Looking back, it had taken the families of the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy 27 years to reach this point in their quest for the truth and justice.
The dead have finally been exonerated, and the police had been found grossly negligent.
They now look forward for the Crown Prosecution Service to commence criminal prosecutions.
On their part, they must continue with their suit to seek reparations against those responsible for this worst disaster in English sports.
Salleh Buang formerly served the Attorney-General’s Chambers before he left for private practice, the corporate sector and academia
