Hillsborough 96: Police must pay!
Families of fans that died at the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy unite to claim a multi-million — pound high court prerogative against Police forces.
The words about the claim only came out last Wednesday, but this was issued at high court last year, as the inquest wasn’t out nothing could be done.
Now that the inquest is out and that the juries ruled that the fans were unlawfully killed, families still going forward with the claim.
Last Wednesday when family members of the victims celebrated the ruling at St Georges Hall vigil, Liverpool, the South Yorkshire police chief constable, David Crompton was suspended.
David Crompton was accused of placing the blames on Liverpool fans during the investigation into the tragedy.
But he might not be facing disciplinary action for supposedly covering up police failures following the Hillsborough disaster because he has not been accused of any disciplinary offence.
This is despite the new rules that were introduced in January banning officers from leaving the force if they are facing an accusation that could lead to dismissal.
He had supported the statement that “drunken ticket-less fans” were to blame for the 96 deaths.
They were supposedly racing to get inside the stadium and causing the death of the 96 people, according to the police.
This led to The Sun front page which stated that fans had picked pockets of victims and urinated on a woman police officer who was trying to help the dying. Other regional and national newspapers published similar allegations, although less blunt.
According to The Canary a high court judge has ruled that there is sufficient evidence of possible phone hacking to warrant a legal trial against The Sun. The news of the World one of the newspaper that published similar information’s about the tragedy has already been shut down, for engaging in such shameful practice.
The News UK has always pleaded for The Sun’s innocence over allegations of phone hacking. The evidences submitted in the case included emails from 2006 involving The Sun’s associate editor. Read more
The police forces were given seven months to respond to this claims.
To get to the final decision the jury had to answer 14 questions about what happened in the pitch, they then understood that the actions of South Yorkshire police officers that were to blame for what had happened.
There are two Investigations on going with the participation of the Crown Prosecution Service to a possible criminal offence committed by police officers and others who caused the deaths at Hillsborough, and the police cover-up after that. This could lead to a prosecution of Duckenfield, who was appointed only 19 days before the game.
One of the questions asked to the jury was if the supporter’s misbehavior contributed to the unsafe situation outside the pitch. The jury, composed of six women and three men concluded by stating that that was not the case.
The jury criticized the South Yorkshire ambulance service, Sheffield Wednesday football club and its engineers, Eastwood and Partners. There were safety deficiencies and authorities were negligent.
Nia Williams, a partner at a Solicitors firm Saunders law, said that the legal action was not about money when interviewed by the Sky news. “It’s for accountability, not damages” she added.
All this false claims cost £19m to the police officers said James Saunders from Saunders Law’s.
That same Wednesday 27th April, a vigil was organised by St George’s hall, Liverpool, for the family members of the victims where a crowd of 30,000 showed up.
96 candles were lighted up for each fan that died and single roses were laid on top of each candle by representatives of Liverpool FC and Everton FC.
The family members stood at the steps of St Georges Hall and held pictures and scarves dedicated to their loved ones as fans sang “justice for the 96”.
“The truth was that your loved ones died by the incompetence of those in charge and then they disgracefully tried to (inaudible) establishment to create a conspiracy which laid the blame at the door of our fans but the truth was triumphed” Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool.
Margaret Apinall, Hillsborough Family support group chairwoman, showed her support stating: “It’s not just justice for the 96. It’s justice for the families. It’s justice for the city. Justice for the fans who were there on that day.”
Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool FC manager at the time of the incident read a poem called “Footprint” y Margaret Fisherback.
Families fought for 27 years just to know who was to blame for the deaths, how long will it take them to be compensated for the false allegations.
This is how everything unfolded on that tragic day:
