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Hillsborough: Searching For The Truth

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« A Message from Paul McKeever (Police Fed Chairman)

I’m sorry for Hillsborough

September 13, 2012 by inspectorgadget
I once heard a Townsend-Thoresen employee apologise for the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. He wasn’t on board but felt tainted by the mistakes. I now know what he meant.
I know nothing about Hillsborough except what I have read and seen over the last few days.
Knowing nothing about it, and being surprised at the widely reported allegation that senior police officers changed or amended statements made by junior staff, all be it on legal advice from solicitors, I can only watch with interest as the story unfolds.
As a junior police officer, that is to say not part of the local or national Senior Management Team or Command Team, but subject to their whims on a daily basis, I would like a forensic examination of every senior police officer who ordered anything illegal or immoral on that day, and during any subsequent cover-up.
Many of these senior officers are now even more senior, and are currently squatting in local police forces around the country.
I have no idea if we have one at Ruralshire Constabulary.
As a serving police officer, despite never having served in South Yorkshire Police, I am sorry for what happened. Not sorry because I was there or even know anyone who was there, but sorry for being part of an organisation with such a horrible history in that regard. If it is of any use to victims families at all, I am confident that these days, junior staff on the frontline (From PC to Inspector) know far more about how to save lives, and we do so here on my patch on a regular basis, all be it on a smaller scale.
My experience of Ruralshire Ambulance Service junior staff is that they are also totally dedicated to saving lives and behaving properly in all circumstances.
I can also totally assure you that if anyone ever tried to amend a statement of mine, and I heard about it, I would take immediate action via PSD, the IPCC, HMIC, HM Coroner, a Magistrate or wherever I had to go to do so. I know that the people I work with would say the same.
Gadget Note: I respectfully ask that any comments reflect the serious nature of any future investigation and the fact that many people died. Please do not feed the trolls. Thank you.
 
Do you remember that televised match when 'Justice for the 96' was chanted non-stop for the first six minutes, and John Motson - even though he'd been at the ground that day back in 89 - was basically dismissing it as an irritating distraction? I don't know why, but it keeps coming into my mind. I suppose it epitomises the attitude of many who should have known better throughout all those years. I just hope they feel some contrition today.
 
tombrown said:
I thought I had shed my last tears on this years ago, but here I am a sad 47 year old at 4am in Oregon cryign buckets onto my PC keyboard. I'm on a trip & got a text from my wife late yesterday telling me about the apology - I was stunned, elated & sad simultaneously. I've tried to read up on it (in here & other sites), but really can't.

Soemone said the other day (in a separate discussion) that the traumatic lonely trip home from Hilsborough that day is what sticks in his mind, and its the key memory of that day I have as well. I lucklily climbed out of the central pen about 20 minutes before 3pm ... and I can only thank that spur of the moment decision for being safe.

I am really not sure what to think now - so happy that people in authority are finally admitting to the truth, that the families are vindicated, but also so angry that it has taken this long and that the truth, that has been onbvious to all of us for 23 year,s is only admitted when it is totally irrefutable.

I hope Thatcher goes to her deathbed with a conscience that cannot be assuaged - she is the epitome of evil in all this
Click to expand...

As I've said to others who were there Tom, I'm glad you're still around to share your story. You're feelings are completely understandable mate. I wasn't even there as I had to work that day bit I've been in bits in the last day or so. It's OK to be emotional about it especially if you were there. It's OK to be emotional if you weren't there. It's upset me that some of our OOT fans feel they don't feel they have the right to be upset. Of course they do ! It's called empathy.


We've been lambasted as supporters for years due to Heysel and Hillsborough. For the former, we have to admit that some of our supporters contributed to the deaths of other fans as do the other sides fans and other bodies involved. It's a shame we rightly have to live with involved or not. Hillsborough is a shame we do not carry though, never.
 
gkmacca said:
Do you remember that televised match when 'Justice for the 96' was chanted non-stop for the first six minutes, and John Motson - even though he'd been at the ground that day back in 89 - was basically dismissing it as an irritating distraction? I don't know why, but it keeps coming into my mind. I suppose it epitomises the attitude of many who should have known better throughout all those years. I just hope they feel some contrition today.
Click to expand...

I dont remember if it was Motson or Lawrenson who said "Now let us get on with the football shall we" or something to that effect
 
gkmacca said:
Do you remember that televised match when 'Justice for the 96' was chanted non-stop for the first six minutes, and John Motson - even though he'd been at the ground that day back in 89 - was basically dismissing it as an irritating distraction? I don't know why, but it keeps coming into my mind. I suppose it epitomises the attitude of many who should have known better throughout all those years. I just hope they feel some contrition today.
Click to expand...
John Motson. Enough said.
 
Portly said:
Boris Johnson didn't actually write the article, but he took the rap as the editor of the "Spectator" who had failed to stop it from getting into print. At the time he was rather neglecting his editorial responsibilities in pursuance of his political career.
Click to expand...

If only Kelvin Mackenzie had as much bollocks.
 
FoxForceFive said:
View attachment 20

I've waited for this shit rag to print something like this for a very long time.

Regardless, it actually changes nothing. They've known about 'inaccuracies' that disprove those allegations since a week after they printed them, yet only after the prime minister admits in parliament they lied & names the paper explicitly do they manage to do it.

Fuck them.

Two other papers ran similar stories (came from the same mp) but they used the words 'claims' & 'allegations' & quite quickly printed an apology.

It's too late. Hopefully many others will see that rag for what it really is in light of this.
Click to expand...
Just saw the Irish version. They left out the "We are profoundly sorry for false reports" part. Wankers.
 
gkmacca said:
I'm pretty sure that Spectator article was by Simon Heffer, not Boris Johnson. It was an anonymous leader for which Johnson, as editor, took responsibility without authorship. While I've not much time for Johnson, it irks that Heffer - a really foul piece of work - never gets identified for it.
Click to expand...

Correct on all counts, particularly the very last. Quite why Heffer is still employed by anyone is beyond me.
 
Sunny said:
As I've said to others who were there Tom, I'm glad you're still around to share your story. You're feelings are completely understandable mate. I wasn't even there as I had to work that day bit I've been in bits in the last day or so. It's OK to be emotional about it especially if you were there. It's OK to be emotional if you weren't there. It's upset me that some of our OOT fans feel they don't feel they have the right to be upset. Of course they do ! It's called empathy.


We've been lambasted as supporters for years due to Heysel and Hillsborough. For the former, we have to admit that some of our supporters contributed to the deaths of other fans as do the other sides fans and other bodies involved. It's a shame we rightly have to live with involved or not. Hillsborough is a shame we do not carry though, never.
Click to expand...

Thank you!

Noone has a monopoy or an enhanced right to emotion, empathy & sadness. It makes me glad that my 12 year old son, who has grown up in Ireland, knows about Hillsborough, knows unqestioningly that he shoudl never buy The Lying Rag and why, and can & does explain it to his school friends . I am proud that my mate's son, who was born weeks after Hillsborough now bears a tatoo in memory of the 96 and is passionate in his support for the campaign for justice.

All of us, whether there or not, whether born or not at the time, are part of this
 
HILLSBOROUGH; 1981 SPURS DISASTER NARROWLY AVOIDED.

Most people know that in 1989, 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives in a terrible human crush at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during an F.A. Cup semi-final match versus Nottingham Forest. You can read more about the 1989 disaster here.
What many people don’t know however is that disaster nearly struck eight years earlier, at the same ground, in the same round, of the same cup competition. That year it was Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers who travelled to the Hillsborough stadium, and it was the Spurs fans who were allocated the smaller, problematic Leppings lane end of the ground. There were broken limbs and other injuries sustained that day in 1981, but thankfully no fatalities largely due to the fact that the police opened up pitch-side gates as the crushing became apparent. If only they had done that in 1989.
As a part of the filming of my Hillsborough Disaster documentary, I met with a Spurs fan who was at Hillsborough that day in 1981, and he told me his story, You can also see the video he put together here which shows the Spurs fans spilling onto the pitch as play continues.
Here is a short clip taken from my longer interview with Neil Irving that will appear in the documentary:
Had the South Yorkshire Police not opened the perimeter gates that day, and let over 500 Spurs fans escape onto the pitch (click to watch video) then there could well have been a Hillsborough disaster eight years before the one in 1989.
I am due to meet with other fans from other teams who also had a terrible experience of the Leppings Lane terracing, and more details on that will follow.
So why was it OK to open the gates in 1981, but not in 1989?
 
Tony Searle says:
April 15, 2012 at 10:50 am
Four of us drove up to that match. We were told that there would be tickets waiting at the ticket office for us (organised by a friend of a friend). I was highly sceptical (I won’t name the friend of a friend publicly, but he was a very well-known player/personality) but went along anyway.
Inevitably, there were no tickets for us and we joined the other (very many) ticketless Spurs fans at the Spurs fans’ end to see if there were any being touted.
It was heaving and we were on the verge of going home when remarkably somebody decided to just open the gates and let everybody in to avoid a crush (ironic). I seem to remember it was in the corner of the ground. Obviously, this sudden influx had a massive effect on those already inside with the consequences already documented – crowds spilling onto the pitch because the gates had been opened.
When the disaster happened with the Liverpool fans I remember saying to everybody how this very thing had happened to us. But for the sanity of somebody opening the gates or fencing onto the pitch, it would have been carnage.
If I’m honest, I think that the instructions to open the entrance gates probably came from the many mounted police outside the ground, they seemed to becalling the shots. From their point of view, it was probably the most sensible thing…to clear the crushing outside. I guess they hadn’t considered the knock-on effect. There can have been no malice in their decision, just carelessness. I hope.
 
Herr Onceared said:
I hope. I REALLY fucking hope that the people of this country are understanding the importance of what has happened here.
This isnt about just Liverpool, or the 96. This is about abuses of power. Its about a massive cover up run by those who run the country over the working class everyman. Its sickening. And every single person in this country owes a debt to the families of the 96 for their doggedness and their insistence that the truth come out.

This is how our government and the press work. Dont pretend its in the past. Dont pretend its a Liverpool thing. Its a disgrace.
Click to expand...

This is the bigger point, Oncy. This is about abuse of power. This is about a massive cover up by the powerful at the expense of the rest of the us. And, it is about the abuse and cover up being exposed - 23 years too late, but exposed.

Credit to all that kept up the fight, because the benefit for the truth being out goes well beyond the families of the 96 or the Liverpool community.
 
Do you know what?

Today I'm angry. Angry at all the media types and politicians behaving with decorum and showing respect. Why? Because the tag line to all of this for many of them is that yesterday, we, the Liverpool fans got exonerated of blame for the deaths of 96 of us.

We didn't get exonerated yesterday. We were exonerated by The Taylor Report when it was written in 1990.

Yesterday we found out the real extent (and yes we all suspected it was the case) at which sections of the Establishment covered up the real people to blame. A smear campaign of the worst kind.

Mackenzie's apology isn't an apology for his headline, it seeks to blame someone else. He is sorry he was so misled. That's not sorry, that's apportioning the blame on someone else. Plus he also said previously he had nothing to say sorry for. So why is he attempting to say sorry now? A futile attempt to limit damage.

Bettison? Quiet as a mouse.

Patnick? Quiet as a mouse.

Duckinfield? Quiet as a mouse.

Lord Justice Stuart-Smith - yeah you remember, the one who made the snidey comment at the judicial review in 97 about members of the families being late, just like their friends in 89.

Damages to Hillsborough families was limited to £3000. Yet several police officers got hundreds of thousands of pounds for PTSD. So, the same people who were part of the cover up, got fucking paid due to the stress of it.

Yesterday was the very start of it. Heads must roll because of this and I'm going to start with Bettison. This cunt is widely accepted as being one of the prime movers behind the smear campaign. Yet he rises to Chief Constable and then is foisted upon Merseyside as their Chief Constable? What a piss take! Then he gets a knighthood? For services to corruption?

Angry? I haven't even started yet. Bring me the heads of Bettison, Patnick and Mackenzie - for fucking starters.
 
Sunny said:
Tony Searle says:
April 15, 2012 at 10:50 am
Four of us drove up to that match. We were told that there would be tickets waiting at the ticket office for us (organised by a friend of a friend). I was highly sceptical (I won’t name the friend of a friend publicly, but he was a very well-known player/personality) but went along anyway.
Inevitably, there were no tickets for us and we joined the other (very many) ticketless Spurs fans at the Spurs fans’ end to see if there were any being touted.
It was heaving and we were on the verge of going home when remarkably somebody decided to just open the gates and let everybody in to avoid a crush (ironic). I seem to remember it was in the corner of the ground. Obviously, this sudden influx had a massive effect on those already inside with the consequences already documented – crowds spilling onto the pitch because the gates had been opened.
When the disaster happened with the Liverpool fans I remember saying to everybody how this very thing had happened to us. But for the sanity of somebody opening the gates or fencing onto the pitch, it would have been carnage.
If I’m honest, I think that the instructions to open the entrance gates probably came from the many mounted police outside the ground, they seemed to becalling the shots. From their point of view, it was probably the most sensible thing…to clear the crushing outside. I guess they hadn’t considered the knock-on effect. There can have been no malice in their decision, just carelessness. I hope.
Click to expand...

He raises a good point about the knock-on effect of the crowds from the outside going into the ground. Surely that's an obvious thing, that if there's too many people outside the stadium, that it's going to be even worse on the inside?
 
FreshRed said:
This is the bigger point, Oncy. This is about abuse of power. This is about a massive cover up by the powerful at the expense of the rest of the us. And, it is about the abuse and cover up being exposed - 23 years too late, but exposed.

Credit to all that kept up the fight, because the benefit for the truth being out goes well beyond the families of the 96 or the Liverpool community.
Click to expand...

Yes! Don't get blinded by the media and their tagline of yesterday being about exonerating us. Yesterday was about showing what a corrupt bunch of cunts run society and the levels they are prepared to go to get the result they think is needed. An fuck off anyone else who gets in the way.
 
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A2q8xHaCcAAorrX.jpg
A2q8xHaCcAAorrX.jpg
 
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