Hillsborough: the Truth

THE (REAL) TRUTH

• 41 of the 96 victims could have lived.
• Police carried out criminal record checks on deceased to "impugn reputations". 
• Blood samples were taken from all of the deceased, including a 10-year-old child, to check for alcohol levels. 
• 116 of the 164 South Yorkshire Police statements were doctored to strike out criticism.
• The Sun's allegations originated from police and a local MP.

THE TRUE horror of the Hillsborough disaster was laid bare today following the publication of an independent report into previously unseen documents about the tragedy.

The report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel confirmed the worst fears of the victims' families who have had to campaign for 23 years to get the truth. Indeed, many key findings were even worse than expected.

Most strikingly, it has become apparent that 41 of the 96 deaths might have been prevented.

An analysis of post-mortem test results found that 28 of the victims had no "obstruction of blood circulation" and there was "separate evidence that, in 31, the heart and lungs had continued to function after the crush".

These findings are in stark contrast to the verdict of the original inquest which concluded all the victims were dead or brain dead by 3.15pm.

Of course, the original coroner's report was only one of so many procedural failings to have taken place during and after the utter chaos on that fateful afternoon in South Yorkshire on 15 April 1989.

And, if negligence from the authorities was not bad enough, those same authorities then engaged in a monumental cover-up and covert campaign to smear the fans as hooligans.

Today's report confirms that 116 of the 164 police statements were "amended to remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police".

It also found that police carried out criminal record checks on the deceased in an attempt to impugn their reputations. 

Incredibly, it has further been revealed that blood-alcohol samples were taken from all of the deceased, including one from a 10-year-old child, to check for evidence of excessive drinking. 

The fans were an easy target, I guess. English football's problem with hooliganism was hardly a well-kept secret and Liverpool supporters themselves had, of course, been implicated at the Heysel stadium disaster just four years earlier.

What happened at Hillsborough was different, though.

And, indeed, today's report confirms what has since generally been accepted as the true version of events from anyone who attended the antiquated Leppings Lane end of the stadium that day...

Kick-off was fast approaching and, with a crush was developing outside the ground due to a lack of turnstiles, the police opened a gate usually only used as an exit.

The supporters from outside the ground rushed through the gate and headed to a tunnel which led them to the two central pens of the ground. This was despite the fact that these pens were already filled to capacity while the two side pens remained underused.

Normally, when this was the case, the police would block the end of the tunnel leading to the central pens and divert the fans to the sides of the terrace. This did not happen on 15 April 1989 and it has never been explained why.

Instead, as more supporters rushed through the tunnel to the central pens, those supporters who were already in the ground were crushed against the fencing at the front of the stand.

Eventually, the fencing collapsed and hundreds of people streamed onto the pitch, many gasping for air.

The match was abandoned as uninjured fans tore up advertising hoardings to use as makeshift stretcher boards.

But their actions were restricted by the police who created a cordon across the pitch to prevent the rival fans from getting to each other. Police also turned back all but one of the 44 waiting ambulances.

Despite all of this, the supporters of Liverpool still face snide remarks about them being somehow responsible for their own downfall, a particularly notable example coming from London mayor Boris Johnson.

David Cameron spoke in the House of Commons today, advising Mr Johnson and others that it might be time now for them to revise their perspective.

Mr Cameron was contrite as an unusually solemn mood swept through the chamber. He offered his "profound apologies" for a "double injustice" in which the fans were allowed to die in an unsafe stadium before their names were blackened as the authorities engaged in a "cover-up".

Labour leader Ed Miliband joined the Prime Minister in these sentiments, and added: "The people of Liverpool were systematically smeared and portrayed as its perpetrators.

"Imagine for a moment any of us waving a loved one off as they go to a football match, and then the impossible grief of your loved on not returning.

"Then imagine being unable to grieve in peace, but facing two decades of torment, a cloud of suspicion, innuendo and downright lies spread about the person you loved. Lies about rushing the gate, lies about ticketless fans, lies about the drunkenness of the victims.

"This is what the Hillsborough families had to endure from day one of this tragedy."

So, why do the myths about the supporters persist? Well, part of the reason must be the coverage afforded to the tragedy by Britain's biggest-selling newspaper, the Sun.

The Sun might still sell 2.6m copies per day but only a handful of those sales are made in Merseyside. In fact, many newsagents in the area simply will not stock it.

The extent of the boycott is really no surprise, considering what editor Kelvin MacKenzie decided to publish at the time.

Under a huge banner headline 'The Truth', the Sun claimed in three sub-headings that:
"Some fans picked the pockets of victims;
Some fans urinated on the brave cops;
Some fans beat up PC giving the kiss of life".

But it can now be said, with all assuredness, that none of this was true.

It was instead part of a monumental cover-up with that version of events originating from the police and local MP of the time, Irvine Patnick, somehow now a knight of the realm.

In the past, MacKenzie has resisted calls for him to apologise for what has written under his esteem that day. On other occasions, he has given half-hearted statements of regret.

Today, MacKenzie has issued a proper apology - but, while this can only be commended, it has taken so long that it seems only right the rest of his professional career will be remembered for this incident.

For, as MacKenzie and the rest of us now know for sure, the truth was in fact rather more gruesome, and particularly uncomfortable for certain authorities such as the South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Indeed, some of the revelations would have been uncomfortable for all of us - after all, the victims could have been supporters of any club. They could have been any mother's daughter, any father's son.

The relentless campaigning by the Hillsborough Family Support Group has been entirely understandable and, after a 23-year struggle, it is heartening to see them finally starting to get somewhere.

Of course, nothing will ever bring back the Hillsborough victims - but the publication of this 394-page report should see the scandalous original inquest verdicts of accidental death overturned.

The decision to apply to the High Court for a new inquest lies in the hands of the Attorney General Dominic Grieve - and, while he will make his application outside the influence of the political sphere, the PM hinted strongly at what he would like to see done.

No doubt, if the decision is as expected, many of the victims' relatives will apply for fresh hearings to be carried out at which doctors could be questioned about the possibility of survival.

Perhaps, only once this has been established, then it can be said that justice for the 96 has been done.