Monday, March 31, 2014

New Hillsborough Inquests Underway At Liverpool

((HT: Sky Sports))

For those of you unfamiliar, it was one of the darkest days in all of football...

96 fans lost their lives and another 766 people were injured after a crush in an enclosed and overcrowded terrace at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium on April 15, 1989. This happened during the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest...

Here's how ITV News covered the disaster


In some of the most shameful cover-ups ever, it was discovered by the Hillsborough Independent Panel in September 2012 that no Liverpool fans were responsible for the deaths. Attempts had been made by local police authorities to conceal what happened- including the changing the content of 116 witness statements relating to the disaster.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police- David Crompton, Football Association Chairman- David Bernstein, and Kelvin MacKenzie, then-editor of The Sun newspaper, all apologized at the time.

Here's how BBC's "Panorama" program covered all the shenanigans...


In September 2012, the Panel concluded that up to 41 of the 96 fatalities might have been avoided had they received prompt medical treatment.

A new series of inquests were ordered in December 2012 when the High Court set aside the original death verdicts. The proceedings are expected to last up to 12 months as families hope they finally get the answers they have been chasing for a quarter-century.

The Ministry of Justice has built the biggest courtroom in England and Wales in an office building near the town of Warrington, to host them. A jury will hear the evidence and will be asked to decide on the verdict- an unusual step in inquests like these.

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