Hillsborough - The Search for Truth

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Is Norman Bettison for real with his statement released today...He needs to resign right now!

 

[ifwecouldjust......]

It has been obvious since 1989 that there has been a Police cover up over the
tragic events of April 15th 1989 when 96 people were killed in the Hillsborough
Disaster. What has not been available is an official account, detailing the truth and the scale of the cover up. The report that has finally been published this week shows the authorities’ failings to be even worse than many of us thought, and their cover up to be on a much larger scale than most people beleived.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims of the Hillsborough Disaster. As a parent I can only imagine what they went through and have experienced since that sad day in 1989. This disaster could have happened to any football fan. It should not have taken 23 years for the truth to be confirmed that South Yorkshire Police and South Yorks Ambulance Service covered up their failings and lied. The Police failed to protect the fans, and made decisions that caused those deaths and South Yorkshire Ambulance authority did not do enough to save lives, using their catastrophic “3:15 cut-off” time. We now learn that 41 people could potentially have been saved had they had responded adequately.

I lived in Sheffield for many years, including at that time, and our elected MP (and I must stress that I have never voted for him or his party) was Irvine Patnick (Conservative) - later Sir Irvine Patnick. This latest report revealed that Irvine Patnick shamefully actively participated along with Police in the smear campaign, briefing the Whites News Agency with defamatory comments about fans. What followed was a systemic cover up by the Police and Political Establishment. There has been a sustained effort over the years to damage the reputations of fans. Police Officers’ statements that made the Police look culpable were removed and negative comments about the Liverpool
fans were exaggerated. Changing such statements broke the law. Many officers who had made negative comments that could be seen as negative about South Yorkshire Police’s handling of the Disaster either complied or were systematically intimidated into changing their accounts. Some refused.

Police officers changed their stories to put themselves in a better light and besmirch the Liverpool fans. We have now learned that 164 police statements were amended. The report found 116 of the police statements identified for "substantive amendment" had been "amended to remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police". South Yorkshire Police tried to impugn the reputation of dead fans. South Yorkshire Police falsely accused fans of being drunk, violent and stealing from the injured. They did blood tests to determine the level of alcohol from dead fans including children in a failed attempt to damage the reputations of the victims and shift blame. It is truly sickening.

Thatcher knew about the lies and did nothing - she must have felt she owed SY police one for their brutal crushing of the miners and other workers. She didn't get and didn't want to understand football fans and allowed Police to treat us like scum.

There must be an Inquiry. There must be prosecutions. Nothing less than that.

Justice for the 96.

Absolutely spot on,that evil old cow should not escape justice either

She will

There are yet more files to be released under the freedom of Information act which will contain the notes of meetings held between thatcher / MP's and the police after the disaster. No doubt these will show the level of involvement between all the corrupt bastards....


How many more coverups tho eh? Bloody Sunday for one i'll bet


Liars thieves and cheats the lot of em.....

 

[totallywired]

This is enormous. South Yorkshire police are bastards.

Seconded.

 

[bluemanc]

Hillsborough was the template that the Police,Media used against football fans when ever Police actions were questioned.
Barnsley & Middlesborough being prime examples in our case.
A lot more to come on this.

 

[bernabias home shirt]

If anyone from my family had died there I would be screaming for someone's blood right now. I'd want that **** Kelvin MacKenzie fucking hung, drawn and quartered. I'd also expect a full apology from that fucking arsehole Boris Johnson - can't wait to see what that twat says.

What's Boris done?

Nothing really he said something about Scoucers being rather self pitying or something like that, nothing to do with this, they got upperty about it, it was an observation, its all about free speech really

Nice grovelling apology from thIs fuckwit today
Like you said though he said nothing really.

Oh dear!

 

[Rasher]

If it was not the fans fault and it was not a ticketing problem did we make our stadiums all seaters based on a lie? Can Hillsborough used as a argument for not standing?
If the police altered the statements of over a hundred that were made, was this the first time they have ever altered a statement? If it was nt then are there any other cases where the statements were altered to get convictions by the same police now considered to be safe convictions?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

If it was not the fans fault and it was not a ticketing problem did we make our stadiums all seaters based on a lie? Can Hillsborough used as a argument for not standing?
If the police altered the statements of over a hundred that were made, was this the first time they have ever altered a statement? If it was nt then are there any other cases where the statements were altered to get convictions by the same police now considered to be safe convictions?

There are two separate issues (although connected) and there were actually two Taylor reports. The Interim report dealt with the Hillsborough disaster itself but the Final one dealt with the problem of safety at football grounds generally.

Remember there was a severe hooliganism problem at the time, both at home and abroad, and the government were keen to deal with it. Hillsborough gave them the perfect excuse. It's clear now (or should be) that standing didn't kill those people per se but poor quality stadiums, fences and the actions (or lack of them) from the police.

 

[shackattack]

<a class="postlink" href="http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/docs/SYP000101420001.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/ ... 420001.pdf</a>

an example of how accounts were altered by the police, no wonder they covered it up.

 

[McManaman Fowler Bellamy]

Liverpool fan here. Joined this site to express thanks to some of the heartfelt comments that have been posted in here. Its nice to see.

Whats also great to see is fans of other clubs who have admitted to believing that it was the LFC fans own fault and have now acknowledged that they were misinformed and wrong.

Again, Thank you.

 

[LHarper]

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/docs/SYP000101420001.pdf

an example of how accounts were altered by the police, no wonder they covered it up.

Thanks for posting this. Ridiculous to think that they could of got away with it.