What happened at Hillsborough? How many people died? Was anyone prosecuted for stadium tragedy?
Today Independent Office of Police Complaint investigators have revealed that 12 officers would have faced misconduct proceedings over their handling of the Hillsborough stadium disaster - had they not retired.
This has caused further anger over the tragedy, as it has taken decades for the truth to emerge - that police errors were to blame for the deaths, rather than the behaviour of “drunken hooligans” as police officers originally and unfairly portrayed the supporters.
This is what happened at Hillsborough, on a day that would send horrified shockwaves through football and eventually change the face of the game in Britain.
When did the Hillsborough disaster happen?
The Hillsborough Disaster was on April 15, 1989 during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
It happened in two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand, which were allocated to Liverpool supporters. Once it became apparent that there were issues in the stands, the match was abandoned, with the fixture played at Old Trafford the following month.
What happened in the Hillsborough disaster?
Shortly before the game was due to kick off, in an attempt to alleviate overcrowding near turnstile entrances, police match commander David Duckenfield ordered a nearby exit gate to be opened. This led to an influx of supporters entering the standing areas in which Liverpool fans were situated, which in turn caused a devastating crush.
With 97 fatalities and 766 injuries, it remains the highest death toll in British sporting history.
What has happened since the Hillsborough disaster?
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, South Yorkshire Police suggested to the press that the actions of Liverpool fans, worsened by drunkenness and hooliganism, had been a significant contributing factor in the severity of the incident.
In 1990, the Taylor Report found that the police’s failure to control the crowd had been the main cause, as well as recommending that all major stadiums convert to an all-seater model.
The first coroner’s inquests into the tragedy, completed in 1991, concluded with verdicts of ‘accidental death’ in respect of all 95 deceased. The two further victims of the disaster would pass away in 1993 and 2021. Families of those involved disputed the inquest’s findings, beginning a long campaign for the matter to be re-examined.
A second inquest into Hillsborough was held between 2014 and 2016, with the coroner’s ruling that supporters were unlawfully killed due to gross negligence from police and ambulance services, who failed to fulfil their duty of care.
The inquests also found that the design of the stadium itself contributed to the fatal crush, and that supporters were not to blame for the events leading up to the tragedy.
In 2017, six people were charged with offences relating to the tragedy. Former Chief Inspector Sir Norman Bettinson faced four counts of misconduct in public office, former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell faced a charge of breaching the Safety at Sports Ground Act 1975, and the club solicitor Peter Metcalf, former Chief Superintendent Donald Denton, and former Detective Chief Inspector Alan Foster were all charged with perverting the course of justice over allegations they altered 68 police officers' statements to "mask the failings" of the police force. Duckenfield was charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
Charges were dropped against Bettinson the following year because it was deemed there was in sufficient evidence for a chance of conviction. Mackrell was found guilty of the health and safety charge in April 2019. Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter in 2019.
In 2021 Denton, Foster and Metcalf were found not guilty and had no case to answer over perverting the course of justice by altering 68 police officers' statements - it was found that while they had made the changes, the statements were not submitted to a court case, and so the act did not pervert the course of justice.
What is ‘Justice for the 97’?
‘Justice for the 97’ is the banner under which Liverpool supporters have commonly called for those responsible to be held accountable for what happened at Hillsborough.
For many years, fans called for ‘Justice for the 96’, but following a 2021 court ruling that the passing of Andrew Devine after decades of living with irreversible injuries sustained in the tragedy also made him a victim, it was revised.