The Hillsborough match commander apologised to the families. 2.48pm: One of those gates, Gate C, is opened. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? On 28 November, the remaining jurors acquit Mr Duckenfield of gross negligence manslaughter, as the investigating police officer says the delay between the disaster and the trial should not have been allowed to happen. The Crown Prosecution Service has said it will seek a retrial, which Duckenfield is expected to oppose, at a hearing scheduled for 24 June. The jury found match commander - former Ch Supt David. Mr Duckenfield said he felt the diagnosis was a "sign of weakness" and tried to "conceal" his conditions from family and colleagues but the publication of the report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012 and a TV programme he had seen about the disaster's effect on the families prompted him to finally tell the truth. But despite it finding that police evidence to the Taylor inquiry had been doctored, home secretary Jack Straw rules out a new inquiry. England and Wales company registration number 2008885, Subscribe to TheWeek. So ashamed, embarrassed, distressed that at a later boardroom meeting of officials he failed to correct his lie - with one inquest witness claiming he actually repeated it. In February 2000, both officers appeal to the Divisional Court but fail and the trial is held in Leeds between 6 June and 24 July 2000. The former chief superintendent of South Yorkshire police, David Duckenfield, leaves after giving evidence to the Hillsborough inquest in Warrington. The inquest jury finds that Hillsboroughs 96 victims were unlawfully killed and that Liverpool fans were not responsible for the disaster. Due to the ongoing proceedings relating to Duckenfield, and a forthcoming trial of two former South Yorkshire police officers and the forces then solicitor on charges of perverting the course of justice, the 30-year memorial ceremonies will be muted. David Duckenfield, who as an inexperienced chief superintendent in the South Yorkshire police was in charge of the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, admitted he had not told the. Sir, I am the man in overall control, he replied. The inquest jury concludes that the 96 victims were unlawfully killed and that Liverpool fans behaviour did not contribute to the crush. erath county rant and rave; springfield, mo jail inmates; essex county hospital center jobs; blanching vs non blanching erythema; star trek next generation cast salaries And a jury of seven women and three men agreed with him when they cleared the 75-year-old of gross negligence manslaughter. Although there were other causes, the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control, it concludes. The former South Yorkshire Police chief superintendent, 75, was in charge of the FA Cup semi-final in which 96 fans were fatally injured. David Duckenfield, the police commander at the Hillsborough football stadium disaster, was on Thursday found not guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans who were. Mackrell, who sought in his defence to blame Liverpool supporters for the dangerous congestion that developed at the turnstiles, will be sentenced on 13 May. David Conn. For this to happen, there needs to be accountability. Judge Sir Peter Openshaw rejects a defence application to ban reporting on the Hillsborough trial until the jury delivers its verdict. avid Duckenfield can finally rest easily. But the jury accepted the defence case that the 75-year-old was a target of blame who was unfairly singled out for prosecution. After three years reviewing 450,000 documents, including those relating to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Merseyside Police, the Hillsborough Independent Panel publishes its report and exposes the police campaign to blame Liverpool fans. The matchday commander at Hillsborough was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter charges pertaining to his role in the football disaster 30. Mr Duckenfield's wife, Ann, went over to comfort her husband in the courtroom after the verdict was read out. 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Weakest since 2012: UK house price average falls to 257,406. When Mr Duckenfield, the police officer in charge of keeping people safe at Hillsborough in 1989, attempted to apologise for the deaths of 96 people, the family members listening to his testimony gasped. The trial of Mr Duckenfield and Mr Mackrell starts at Preston Crown Court. Click to reveal 30 years means evidence has been corroded and some people and organisations cannot answer for their actions because they are no longer with us. The retired chief superintendent, 75, denied the charge relating to the FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989. Crucially, the panel finds that 41 victims did not have signs of the crush injuries originally claimed by pathologists, and so may have been saved. It was even more dispiriting to hear the defence barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, recycle all the rancid myths that grew out of Duckenfields dissembling: that fans turned up late, alcohol was a factor and supporters ignored police instructions. 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About 45 family members watched the verdict from the Cunard building in Liverpool, where the trial was screened. Shortly before kick-off, in an attempt to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, the police match commander, David Duckenfield, ordered exit gate C to be opened, leading to an influx of supporters entering the pens. The CPS spokeswoman said: "The disaster at Hillsborough 30 years ago has caused unimaginable suffering to the families of those who sadly lost their lives and to everybody affected by the tragic events of that day. This was to be a fatal decision as thousands of Liverpool. It was David Duckenfield, Preston Crown Court heard, who told FA chiefs fans had gained entry through a "forced" stadium gate before the crush on the terraces beyond. He acknowledged that even after he said he realised, at 3:04pm on the day, that he was facing a medical emergency not an incident of disorder, he called for police dogs to come to the ground, not ambulances. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. After the verdict a CPS statement said that the decision of the jury does not affect the findings in the inquest which ruled the victims of the tragedy were unlawfully killed. Christine, whose father Henry Burke was killed in the disaster, addressed the judge after the verdict was read out. The prosecution in the case alleged Duckenfield, 75, had a 'personal responsibility' for what happened at the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15 1989, where 96 men, women. Three more defendants are still facing charges relating to Hillsborough: retired police officers Donald Denton, 80, and Alan Foster, 73, and police solicitor Peter Metcalf, 68, will all stand trial later this year. The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest ends in tragedy as a crush at the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesdays Hillsborough stadium leads to the death of 96 Liverpool fans, with more than 750 people injured. All rights reserved. The inquests become controversial after Dr Stefan Popper limits their scope to events up to 3.15pm on the day of the disaster just nine minutes after the match was halted and excludes the witness evidence of two doctors inside the stadium. It is rejected by Lord Justice McCowan in the divisional court. The collapse of the latest Hillsborough trial comes after 30 years of legal battles over responsibility for the disaster, which claimed 96 lives on 15 April 1989. South Yorkshire coroner Dr Stefan Popper begins the inquest process into the deaths, but only considers events up until 3.15pm on the day of the disaster, nine minutes after the match was stopped, so the role of the emergency services after the disaster does not come under scrutiny. And 30 years means many people, especially families, have had to constantly relive their terrible experience.". Prosecutors allege Duckenfield should have taken action to close the tunnel that led to those pens, a tactic his lawyer said he and other experienced officers were unaware of, but which the court heard had been used at Hillsborough before. 0 . The Week is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. The Crown Prosecution Service announces that six people are to be charged with offences in relation to the disaster Mr Duckenfield is charged with manslaughter and former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell for health and safety offences. He also admitted to a "terrible lie". The court heard the chief superintendent ordered the opening of exit gates at the Leppings Lane end of the ground at 2.52pm, eight minutes before kick-off, after the area outside the turnstiles became dangerously overcrowded. Visit our corporate site www.futureplc.com Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. "It is right that an impartial and thorough investigation was carried out, and it is right that a jury was asked to make a judgement of the facts. I apologise unreservedly to the families and I hope they believe it is a very, very sincere apology. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Turnips vs. tomatoes: should salad crisis force UK shoppers back to their roots? The following March, a Home Office meeting consideres material submitted by the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) calling for a new inquiry but advice to the attorney general says the 3.15pm cut-off had been fully justifiable.