Liverpool
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AnfieldEd
I am Leg End
PM quote in full: ""The new evidence that we're presented with today makes clear in my view that these families have suffered a double injustice: the injustice of the appalling events, the failure of the state to protect their loved ones, and the indefensible wait to get the truth, and then the injustice of the denigration of the deceased - that they were somehow at fault for their own deaths. So on behalf of the government, and indeed our country, I am profoundly sorry that this double injustice has been left uncorrected for so long."
AnfieldEd
I am Leg End
The independent panel says that the Police Federation met on 19th April 1989, the day the Sun article was published. The Police Federation representative apparently confirmed then that "putting our side of the story over to the press and media" had been his priority. He told the meeting that the Chief Constable Peter Wright had stated "the truth could not come from him", but that he had given the Police Federation a "free hand" and his support.
AnfieldEd
I am Leg End
At the Police Federation meeting, Chief Constable Peter Wright joined in and advised that the South Yorkshire Police case had to be pulled together. A "defence" had to be prepared, and a "rock solid story" be presented. Cheif Constable Wright believed that the Force would be "exonerated" by the Taylor inquiry, and considered that "blame" should be directed towards "drunken ticketless individuals".
AnfieldEd
I am Leg End
Labour leader Ed Miliband: "The tragedy was not caused by fans but by an unsafe ground and terrible mistakes and negligence in policing. There was a systematic attempt by some in the police to cover this up after the event, and disgracefully to spread the blame to the fans. They were aided and abetted by parts of the media, and finally it is clear that the original inquest was hopelessly inadequate, declaring the so-called 3.15 cut off, assuming that all those who had died had sustained fatal injuries by that time when in fact the post mortem records show that not to be the case, and tragically show some of the victims could have been saved."
AnfieldEd
I am Leg End
Looking at some of the documents here is one that shocked and disgusted me to my core.
Memo to news editor. London standard re – allegations over behaviour of liverpool fans at the hillsborough semi final. Story filed to you on april 18th.
The original storyfiled by us on the morning of april 18th led on angry police hitting out at liverpool fans who they said had hampered rescue attempts at the semi-final (our story catchlined ‘slam’).
During the afternoon of the 18th we received further information which was filed to you as the day progressed (catchlined pocket and patnick) adding allegations of fans stealing propert of the dead and later quotes from a leading mp backing up many of the police claims.
All the allegations in the stories we filed were made unsolicited by ranking officers in the south yorkshire force to three different experienced senior journalists who are partners in this agency. All four officers involved had been on duty at Hillsborough.
The first claims of bad behaviour came on the night of Saturday april 15th a few hours after the tragedy when one repporter met by chance a senior police officer he has known for many years.
Without (prompting?) the officer told him he had been punched and urinated on as he tried to save a dying victim at Hillsborough. The following day there was another chance meeting with a second officer who again without prompting said he had seen some fans behaving badly including attacking police and urinating on officers.
At this stage we felt it was not enough confirmation to send a story making such serious claims.
However, on Monday 17th another reporter met a third officer who volunteered information and re-iterated similar stories saying he seen police attacked and had been told of fans urinating down the terraces as police pulled away the dead and injured.
At that stage we felt we should tell the story and sent it out the following morning (Tue april 18th).
Later the same day a third reporter met a fourth officer he has known for many years who reported the allegations and added that liverpool supporters had been stealing from the dead. Though he had not seen it personally he said despite fingertip searches of the terracing alot of personal property belonging to the dead was missing and other officers had told him of pilfering.
We sent out the additional details plus a report by south yorkshire’s chief ambulance officer that one of his men was injured when attacked as he treated a fan on the pitch.
Further quotes were sent in a later story after we spoke to the tory mp for sheffield hallam irvine patnick. He said he had spoken to police officers on Saturday night who said they had been attacked and urinated on. He had not volunteered the information previously because he felt it would inflame a very sensitive situation.
We also added quotes from south yorkshire police federation secretary who said he had heard ‘terrible’ accounts of the behaviour of some fans.
In some respects we ‘watered down’ the allegations which included a report to us that liverpool fans seeing the uncovered breasts of a dead girl shouted ‘ pass her over here and we’ll f...her”
We felt we did as much as we could to check the authenticity of the story in the time available and reported faithfully what we were told.
Memo to news editor. London standard re – allegations over behaviour of liverpool fans at the hillsborough semi final. Story filed to you on april 18th.
The original storyfiled by us on the morning of april 18th led on angry police hitting out at liverpool fans who they said had hampered rescue attempts at the semi-final (our story catchlined ‘slam’).
During the afternoon of the 18th we received further information which was filed to you as the day progressed (catchlined pocket and patnick) adding allegations of fans stealing propert of the dead and later quotes from a leading mp backing up many of the police claims.
All the allegations in the stories we filed were made unsolicited by ranking officers in the south yorkshire force to three different experienced senior journalists who are partners in this agency. All four officers involved had been on duty at Hillsborough.
The first claims of bad behaviour came on the night of Saturday april 15th a few hours after the tragedy when one repporter met by chance a senior police officer he has known for many years.
Without (prompting?) the officer told him he had been punched and urinated on as he tried to save a dying victim at Hillsborough. The following day there was another chance meeting with a second officer who again without prompting said he had seen some fans behaving badly including attacking police and urinating on officers.
At this stage we felt it was not enough confirmation to send a story making such serious claims.
However, on Monday 17th another reporter met a third officer who volunteered information and re-iterated similar stories saying he seen police attacked and had been told of fans urinating down the terraces as police pulled away the dead and injured.
At that stage we felt we should tell the story and sent it out the following morning (Tue april 18th).
Later the same day a third reporter met a fourth officer he has known for many years who reported the allegations and added that liverpool supporters had been stealing from the dead. Though he had not seen it personally he said despite fingertip searches of the terracing alot of personal property belonging to the dead was missing and other officers had told him of pilfering.
We sent out the additional details plus a report by south yorkshire’s chief ambulance officer that one of his men was injured when attacked as he treated a fan on the pitch.
Further quotes were sent in a later story after we spoke to the tory mp for sheffield hallam irvine patnick. He said he had spoken to police officers on Saturday night who said they had been attacked and urinated on. He had not volunteered the information previously because he felt it would inflame a very sensitive situation.
We also added quotes from south yorkshire police federation secretary who said he had heard ‘terrible’ accounts of the behaviour of some fans.
In some respects we ‘watered down’ the allegations which included a report to us that liverpool fans seeing the uncovered breasts of a dead girl shouted ‘ pass her over here and we’ll f...her”
We felt we did as much as we could to check the authenticity of the story in the time available and reported faithfully what we were told.
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XaviMessiGirl
New member
Finally getting around to taking a look at some of the documents. On the one hand I'm glad the victims' families got some of the answers they've been searching for so long. Then I feel damn disgusted that A) it took 23 years to begin with (so basically my entire lifetime, I was 4 months old when this happened); and B) just how much was covered up, the police who made shit up and tried to blame the victims for their own deaths, and the fact that so many lives could have been saved that day but that was lied about too.
This past April I went to Anfield for the first time and saw the memorial. Though I didn't personally know any of the dead it was still heartbreaking to see the list of names up close, all the flowers, scarves and other various things left there by those grieving or wanting to pay tribute to these people. I just cannot imagine what it was like.
R.I.P. the 96
This past April I went to Anfield for the first time and saw the memorial. Though I didn't personally know any of the dead it was still heartbreaking to see the list of names up close, all the flowers, scarves and other various things left there by those grieving or wanting to pay tribute to these people. I just cannot imagine what it was like.
R.I.P. the 96
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