Hillsborough - Again No Justice

Let down yet again by the Justice system, I feel for the families, after all these years fighting for justice and the latest judge has acquitted the three men accused.

The Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans on 15 April 1989. Despite Lord Justice Taylor's initial inquiry finding the primary cause of the fatalities to be the failure of police control, the initial 1991 inquests recorded a verdict of accidental death. After decades of fighting for the truth by families and survivors, the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report in 2012 led to the quashing of those verdicts and the holding of new inquests,[/b] which determined in April 2016 the 96 victims had been unlawfully killed and Liverpool supporters were in no way to blame. Criminal investigations remain ongoing and in June 2017, charges (including gross negligence manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, and misconduct in public office) were laid against six individuals.

Sky News yesterday

The trial of two retired police officers and a solicitor accused of perverting the course of justice following the Hillsborough disaster has collapsed after the judge ruled there was no case to answer.[b]

Retired South Yorkshire Police officers Donald Denton, 83, and Alan Foster, 74, and the force's former solicitor Peter Metcalf, 71, have all been acquitted.

The three men were each accused of two counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.

It was alleged they were involved in a process of amending officers' statements to minimise the blame on South Yorkshire Police following the disaster at the FA Cup semi-final on 15 April 1989, in which 96 Liverpool fans died.

The ruling was handed down at the Nightingale court at the Lowry theatre in Salford on Wednesday.
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Judge Mr Justice William Davis said the amended statements were intended for a public inquiry into safety at sports grounds led by Lord Justice Taylor, but that was not a course of public justice.

Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died at Hillsborough, said: "What a very sad day today is for the justice system in this country. 32 years the families have been fighting to get to the truth."

96 fans were unlawful killed, no case to answer, the only person has been convicted for anything related to the Hillsborough disaster: Graham Mackrell, the then Sheffield Wednesday secretary, of a safety offence, for which he was fined £6,500.

I wonder what would had happened had it been 96 police officers killed on that day

We as fans know how old bill operate at football matches, especially back then.

RIP 96 you will never be forgotten.

As I understand it this case was kicked out because the prosecution messed up. They’ve charged the wrong offence and realised it too late so they’ve called the wrong evidence at the trial. The Judge in throwing the case out was careful to say it didn’t mean that the three defendants hadn’t done anything wrong just they were not guilty of what they were charged with. Not the Judges fault he has to apply the law, it’s incompetence at the Crown Prosecution Service.

They got off on a technicality.

The question is .......was it set up to fail by the CPS ?

Old boys and funny handshakes living on ?

Quoted from KingstonMariner

They got off on a technicality.

It was indeed a technicality, if these people are never bought to justice we all know they were guilty, if at the start of this whole sorry saga someone had held their hands up and said "we intercoursed up" and explained the reasoning behind the decisions from the choice of venue to opening the gates it could have been put to bed with sorrow and regret and lessons learned, a tragic and utterly avoidable set of circumstances leading up to the events and terrrible mistakes made before, during and after the incident.
What is so unforgivable is the cover ups and shirking of responsibility from every person and organisation involved.
The fight will go on.

Totally agree Azimouth. People will make mistakes. That’s regrettable. What’s unforgivable, and criminal is the lying and the cover-ups.

Quoted from WesternMariner

As I understand it this case was kicked out because the prosecution messed up. They’ve charged the wrong offence and realised it too late so they’ve called the wrong evidence at the trial. The Judge in throwing the case out was careful to say it didn’t mean that the three defendants hadn’t done anything wrong just they were not guilty of what they were charged with. Not the Judges fault he has to apply the law, it’s incompetence at the Crown Prosecution Service.

Should have been charged with  misconduct in public office.Total member up by C.P.S.

The CPS, everyone’s favourite whipping boy, are in a no win situation. If they go for the lesser charge they get accused of going soft on the police officers and lawyer concerned.

I don’t think the descriptions I’ve read match what Western Mariner said. My reading of it is that the defendants’ statements were never intended to be used in a court situation, therefore technically they were not perverting the course of justice. So they were charged with the wrong thing not that the CPS brought the wrong evidence.

Still, what this does mean is that they can still be charged with something else as they are not being tried twice for the same thing. Hopefully it’s a case of “we go again” and there’s still a chance of justice. Hard for all concerned but if it means it’s also hanging over the heads of the defendants longer, I won’t be losing any sleep for them.

Be nice if justice is served before any more family members of the 96 die though.

No justice? You ever thought the accused now elderly men may be innocent? Mistakes were made that day by the police, no doubt. But were Liverpool fans blame free? At the time Liverpool fans in particular travelled the country and beyond and it was a badge of honour to get there by train without paying or jump the turnstiles.

Quoted from fishboyUTM

No justice? You ever thought the accused now elderly men may be innocent? Mistakes were made that day by the police, no doubt. But were Liverpool fans blame free? At the time Liverpool fans in particular travelled the country and beyond and it was a badge of honour to get there by train without paying or jump the turnstiles.

They should have thought about that when they were falsifying records.