Hillsborough commander to face manslaughter charges

[jacomo]

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Given that we have possibly the most intrusive media in the world, I think questions have to be asked as to what the tabloids were covering up about Saville & Co. As far as the Sun's treatment of Liverpool fans at Hillsborough goes, Kelvin McKenzie should have been held personally accountable for the lies that were spread in the same way that the Match commander is belatedly being held accountable.

Saville in particular, given his very close relationships with the media.

[superfurryhibby]

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Saville in particular, given his very close relationships with the media.

He was also very well connected to our royal family and leading Tory politicians of that era. Now that couldn’t have been a factor surely?

[Greentinted]

The common denominator concerning the travesties of Hillsborough, Orgreave and Savile is she who referred to football fans and miners as ‘The Enemy Within’. Margaret Thatcher: she who badgered the honours committee into submission to bestow a knighthood on Jimmy Savile.
She has sadly escaped justice so hopefully Duckenfield will feel the full weight of the consequences of his reprehensible actions on that day in April ‘89.

[Hiber-nation]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50592077

Duckenfield cleared of manslaughter....

[The 90+2]

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50592077

Duckenfield cleared of manslaughter....

Piss poor decision really.

[ben johnson]

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50592077

Duckenfield cleared of manslaughter....

Willing to take a bumper salary and fat pension but not the responsibility

[Green Man]

Horrible news. The man is a disgrace and I was hoping to see him rot in jail.

[Scottie]

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50592077

Duckenfield cleared of manslaughter....

Shocking decision. No justice for the 96 , their families or the British justice system. Absolute white wash of the highest calibre. May they rest in peace.

[green day]

"Mr Duckenfield did not dispute that he ordered the opening of a gate at Hillsborough to let fans in, or that he failed to close the tunnel to the terraces which were already full. In 2015 at the Hillsborough Inquests he accepted that this was the direct cause of the 96 deaths.


But an inquest is not a criminal court, and so it was for another jury to decide whether Mr Duckenfield's mistakes amounted to gross negligence manslaughter.


The crown's case was that the Chief Superintendent's failings were so extraordinary that they met that test.


But the jury accepted the defence case that the 75 year old was a target of blame who was unfairly singled out for prosecution.


He will now be able to resume his life in retirement on the south coast. But the Hillsborough families and survivors will find the outcome hard to take… and will ask hard questions about the £65m spent on a criminal investigation which has ended with no one convicted for so many lives lost."

The bit in bold.........................I hope he cant sleep at night

[Killiehibbie]

The bit that gets me was the inaction of the police commander when it was clear to anybody watching the events unfold that people were getting crushed. He made the decision to line his officers along the halfway line instead of trying to save peoples lives. He must've been aware of the problems caused by overcrowding in there before but let it happen again with tragic consequences that were avoidable with a bit of planning.

[McIntosh]

No doubt that he was guilty of gross incompetence but manslaughter, no. It will be a hard painful decision for the families to takes and they have all my sympathies but it is the right decision. I saw Heysel and Hillsborough unfold in front of my very eyes, it seems a completely different time but both disasters had a few things in common - contempt of fans and amateurish organisation. The football culture of the time was poisonous, Liverpool and this will be hard for the fans of the club to accept had a damaged reputation, however this is no excuse for what happened but indicative of the odious culture which surrounded football at the time.

[blackpoolhibs]

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No doubt that he was guilty of gross incompetence but manslaughter, no. It will be a hard painful decision for the families to takes and they have all my sympathies but it is the right decision. I saw Heysel and Hillsborough unfold in front of my very eyes, it seems a completely different time but both disasters had a few things in common - contempt of fans and amateurish organisation. The football culture of the time was poisonous, Liverpool and this will be hard for the fans of the club to accept had a damaged reputation, however this is no excuse for what happened but indicative of the odious culture which surrounded football at the time.

That is how i see it too, times have changed and things would and should be done different now, but at the time football fans were treated differently by people who knew no different.

It was a tragedy that Duckenfield will feel he could have handled differently, and wished he had, but he handled them in the way things were handled at that time, amateurishly.

He also tried to cover up his mistakes, and for that he should have been sacked, but in my opinion he never for one minute went out to work and thought he'd be responsible for the deaths of those poor people when he arrived at Hillsborough.

[erin go bragh]

If he hadn’t told lies about the fans rioting, the ambulances could have went straight in and saved many life’s .
Bloody right he was guilty. Feel so sorry for all affected by his inexcusable actions .

[JimBHibees]

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If he hadn’t told lies about the fans rioting, the ambulances could have went straight in and saved many life’s .
Bloody right he was guilty. Feel so sorry for all affected by his inexcusable actions .

Agree the cover up to cover his own incompetence and negligence were despicable. Guilty as sin even taking into account the differing culture at football at the time.

[HIBERNIAN-0762]

A masonic cover up if there ever was one, if not then they should bring a private prosecution against him, an absolute disgrace.

[ben johnson]

Liverpool Echo reporting that the defence team attempted to introduce a video of extreme football violence to be shown to the jurors. It seemingly was some of the most extreme violence ever caught on camera.
It had no connection whatsoever with Liverpool fans but the defence wanted to show the jurors the video to show what the police were up against in those days
The Judge saw through it thankfully but does the desperate attempts to paint all football fans as hooligans ever end

[McIntosh]

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A masonic cover up if there ever was one, if not then they should bring a private prosecution against him, an absolute disgrace.

Wow - I’ve heard it all. This is effectively the end of the legal processes in relation to Hillsborough.

[Baader]

Shameful stuff.

[Skol]

Anyone who attended football matches at the time will know it was a very different situation to that of today and you cannot judge decisions of the time by the standards of today.

While it is clear that very bad decisions were made that day you have to remember the poisonous atmosphere at football. The police were very heavy handed and the fans treated authority as the enemv.

[truehibernian]

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Agree the cover up to cover his own incompetence and negligence were despicable. Guilty as sin even taking into account the differing culture at football at the time.

I must admit to having not followed this case however what would also bother me Jim is the fact that there were no other / alternate charges considered such as attempting to pervert the course of justice / defeat the ends of justice, given that there is overwhelming evidence of statement tampering (to the extent they totally changed the context and truth of the original police and witness statements) and the fact Duckenfield himself attempted to cover up his original interpretation of events and lied.

The Assistant Commissioner who oversaw the case was bang on - the tragedy amongst all tragedies of this event is that it took 30 years to get to this stage. That's what is utterly despicable.

The families (and survivors) continue to conduct themselves with dignity which is astonishing given what they've been through and had to endure. You have to feel for them at this time.

[Cataplana]

The only compassion I can find for him is that I doubt he went to work that day with the intention of killing 96 people.

[Killiehibbie]

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The only compassion I can find for him is that I doubt he went to work that day with the intention of killing 96 people.

That would be murder but his actions or lack of led to the deaths and that is manslaughter.

[green day]

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No doubt that he was guilty of gross incompetence but manslaughter, no. It will be a hard painful decision for the families to takes and they have all my sympathies but it is the right decision. I saw Heysel and Hillsborough unfold in front of my very eyes, it seems a completely different time but both disasters had a few things in common - contempt of fans and amateurish organisation. The football culture of the time was poisonous, Liverpool and this will be hard for the fans of the club to accept had a damaged reputation, however this is no excuse for what happened but indicative of the odious culture which surrounded football at the time.

I was at Hillsborough as well - the previous year too - and you are right, it was a different time.

But the police seemed to have forgotten that their primary role was and remains the safety of the public.

At that match, like the previous year, fans were all assumed by the police to be thugs and treated accordingly.

That the police put Duckenfield (who was not that experienced) in charge of this match was indicative of the contempt with which they treated football fans.

His lack of knowledge of the Leppings Lane access, gates and the implications of opening one and hence allowing people to flood through to the central pen are at the heart of this tragedy.

[Cataplana]

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That would be murder but his actions or lack of led to the deaths and that is manslaughter.

I tend to agree. Again, trying to empathize, losing control of machinery and causing death would be. He lost control of the "machinery" of crowd safety.

[Killiehibbie]

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Wow - I’ve heard it all. This is effectively the end of the legal processes in relation to Hillsborough.

Not according to the news bulletin I heard. Other legal proceedings ongoing.

[EI255]

Pretty shocking that no one is gonna be held accountable to this.

Imagine if it were Hibs fans.

Utter disgrace.

That's UK justice system for ya.

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[Killiehibbie]

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I tend to agree. Again, trying to empathize, losing control of machinery and causing death would be. He lost control of the "machinery" of crowd safety.

It would seem he made no attempt to familiarise himself with the machinery and tried to cover up his ineptitude but the jury thought otherwise.

[Weegreenman]

No justice and no surprise really.

[McIntosh]

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Not according to the news bulletin I heard. Other legal proceedings ongoing.

Yes in April but this is the end of directly responsibility proceedings.

[ancient hibee]

There was never any chance of him being convicted after 30 years.The real disgrace is the refusal of the authorities to take the death of 96 people seriously enough to get to the bottom of it in all that time.If it hadn’t been for the families and the guy from I think Liverpool uni. it wouldn’t have got this far.