Hillsborough inquest verdict.

[Danthus]

Question Six.

The 96 fans were unlawfully killed.

This means that a criminal prosecution is now likely.

 

[Danthus]

Interestingly the Ambulance service has also been found to be culpable.

 

[Danthus]

Rank and file officers on that day did try to help the victims, there are pictures and videos of them doing so.

 

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The Police have acted as terribly throughout this whole affair and deserve everything that's coming to them.

Not all of them, even the families of the victims have acknowledged that some officers tried their best.

 

[Danthus]

I'm not blaming the victims I'm just saying it was a combination of many things.

You said they made mistakes, what were they?

 

[Danthus]

By pouring into an area of the stadium that was severely over-crowded?

Please, stop commenting, you are only going to embarrass yourself.

 

[Danthus]

So will anyone be prosecuted for this?

If not what was the point?

All that wasted money.

Possibly.

Can you really put a price on the truth?

 

[Danthus]

I doubt there will be any police found guilty of any wrong doing, that's not how the Police in this country work, there might be non police found guilty.

Rubbish, the inquest has just found against them.

 

[Danthus]

Ahhh so because the jury says something is true everyone must agree.. everyone is entitled to their own opinions on the matter and even the jury didn't agree on everything did they?

Unlawfully killed 7 - 2

One other count was a majority verdict.

All the other counts were unanimous.

 

[Danthus]

And now they have it, will it make things better, I doubt it, will make them happy, I doubt it.

Will it bring the relative & friends back, no.

It's time they moved on with their lives & stop living in the past. They can never change it.

This inquest has uncovered new evidence and rightly so, the CPS will assess it and go from there.

 

[Danthus]

I should listen to you, but heck I'm bored at work so I'll persist..

How am I embarrassing myself exactly?

There's a couple more mistakes made by fans which would have been a contributing factor;
Some fans had gone in the wrong entrances/turnstiles. Some fans were refused entry which I guess is because they didn't have a ticket, or had the wrong ticket. Also when they opened Gate C as far as I can make it fans used it as an entrance to further overcrowd the area. Which was a mistake.

Important note; I'm not "victim blaming" I'm merely pointing out that many, many mistakes were made by a lot of different people involved. I personally can't see how the police should be prosecuted for manslaughter (i.e. actions leading to a death) but if most people are aggrieved because SY police hid evidence etc. then they should be pushing for them to be punished for perverting the course of justice.

AHarvey is right. A common theme with this story is that a lot of people seem to take it very, very personally. I don't understand why. Disasters happen every day.

The jury found the behavior of the fans did not contribute to the disaster.

The actions of the police after the crush began delayed help getting to the fans.

 

[Danthus]

Very easy to look back at the glaring errors of the Police/Ambulance/Stadium staff after every detail is picked apart and evaluated for years.

During the event it was probably chaos with the situation changing every second. The Police officer in charge was way out of his depth and his selfish nature was to protect himself. Thankfully he has been ripped apart by the media and those investigating the events over the years.

He probably should face charges for his part in all of this too.

I was going to add something similar.

The problem is, there is a point in time where there was a considered effort to shift the blame onto the fans.

 

[Danthus]

Yet there were fans in the wrong place and they did enter through Gate C, correct?

Why did they go to gate C?

Sorry to break it to you, but a lot of disasters are avoidable and only happen because a combination of mistakes.

That was the purpose of the inquest and it duly delivered its verdict.

I always hear about this 'family' aspect and I think this is a real problem. Football fans have always been 'them against us' with regards to the police and it's this attitude that is purveyed through this whole story. Like I said, a lot of people talk as if the police went marching in there and started executing the fans.

Stop digging. Or would you like a bigger shovel?

 

[Danthus]

I don't know? Do you?

No, but the jury have spent two years listening to the evidence so I am happy to accept they do.

And that was essentially the question in my first post. To an outsider the whole story seems like the families want the police (as a whole) prosecuted for 96 murders for the whole incident, such is the vilification of the police from their side. Whereas most people know it was a terrible accident that could have been avoided if a combination of mistakes by all parties were avoided. And yes the police tried to cover their mistakes for which they should be punished.

Go and Google Trevor Hicks and then make a judgement of the families, he has been nothing other than dignified, he is more than happy to praise the officers that helped the victims.

That man lost two daughters and only sought the truth, his marriage fell apart and all he ever wanted was justice.

 

[Danthus]

I can remember watching it live, I was 12, the reality of what was going on didn't really register at the time, it was only later in the afternoon that the gravity of what occurred registered.

A neighbour across the road from me was there, how wowed never to go back to that stadium ever again, he has never spoke to me about what he witnessed.

 

[Danthus]

Those bloody gates.. I remember those things.. It felt like we were penned in animals and tbh, that's how society saw most football fans at the time. I'm glad things have changed so much for the better.

This wasn't long after Heysel.

 

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Some of the families have just called for the heads of the current heads of South Yorkshire Police and the Ambulance Service to resign.

 

[Danthus]

But so many of them did alter statements and conceal evidence. Any institution (public or private) that goes to such lengths to shift blame and hide the truth is rotten to the core. Where are the policemen who stood up and told the truth because it was the right thing to do? Who put integrity ahead of toeing the party line?

I agree the statement were altered but has it been established who changed them?

As I have said previously, many of the families are on record thanking some of the officers for the help they offered.

That should not be lost is the rightful criticism of the SYP as a body.

 

[Danthus]

34 people were injured in a very similar incident at the same ground a few years before.

They were not Liverpool fans.

 

[Danthus]

I give up. Yeah, it wasn't the police and the Liverpool fans should bear some of the blame.

Back in the real world, Duckenfield has been found criminally negligent and has admitted to a coroners court that he was fully responsible. See yers.

He has not been found criminally negligent at all.