There can only be one subject for today. This is a piece I have done for www.thejusticegap.com.
Most people
in Liverpool can tell you what they were doing
on 15th April 1989. At 3.00 I was listening to local radio following
Everton FC’s FA Cup semi-final with Norwich
City. I knew that
Liverpool FC were just getting started at Hillsborough in the other semi
against Nottingham
Forest.
Ten minutes later
everything changed and the football games became irrelevant. Twenty three years later we have finally moved towards the truth of what happened.
I can still
remember the news coming over the radio that there was ‘trouble’ at
Hillsborough. The initial reports also said that the trouble seemed to have
been caused by Liverpool fans. That has been a
factor in the perception of the tragedy ever since. Particularly with the Sun
Newspaper’s disgraceful headline – ‘The Truth’ which laid the blame firmly with
the fans.
The
families of the 96 who died and all those who were physically and mentally
injured have fought for all those years years to get to the real truth. Their concerns were
summed up by Rogan Taylor from Liverpool
University speaking to
the BBC –
"All those people responsible for staging that match,
from the Football Association... to the police policing it, the emergency
services who attended it... The simple answer for everybody was: blame the
fans. They killed themselves. Well I'm afraid that doesn't work, it doesn't
ride, it's not true. I think what we want is the truth."
It seems
that we are now much closer to the truth following the release today of the
devastating report from the team led by the Bishop of Liverpool who have
reviewed all available documents including many which had not previously been
disclosed. This is not an inquiry which can apportion responsibility. It is
simply a report on the documents which, frankly, tell their own story.
Following the
disaster there was an inquest in Sheffield. The
Coroner found that all of those who died had lost their lives by 3.15pm. That
finding has always been controversial and has underpinned all subsequent discussions and reports. It has now been
shown to have been completely wrong. There is evidence from the documents
disclosed showing that a significant number of victims were still alive after
3.15 and could possible have survived if there had been a quicker and more
efficient response. In fact it seems that the number could have been as high as 41. This
takes the investigations to a different level.
In a statement
to the House of Commons the Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged the double
injustice suffered by the relatives of victims.
He talked of a - "failure of the state to protect their
loved ones and the indefensible wait to get to the truth", and in the
efforts to denigrate the deceased and suggest that they were "somehow at
fault for their own deaths". He offered an unconditional apology to the families
on behalf of the nation. Most significantly he emphasised that the fans were
not in any way responsible.
So the way is now cleared to enable us to get to the truth.
There
must surely be a fresh inquest. The report will be reviewed by the Attorney
General who will need to apply to have the original inquest quashed. There will
then be a fresh hearing hopefully before a senior judge sitting as a coroner. This
is an essential first step. We can then finally get to the bottom of why it has
taken 23 years to get where we are today and why it has taken the resilience of
the families to fight and fight to get to the truth.
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