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BRITAIN-HILLSBOROUGH-DISASTER-COURT
Hillsborough disaster police chief to face trial
PRESTON, United Kingdom, Jan 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The police commander at
the Hillsborough football stadium disaster will face trial on Monday over the
deaths of 95 Liverpool supporters, 30 years on from the tragedy.
David Duckenfield was the match-day commander at the FA Cup semi-final
between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough
ground on April 15, 1989.
He is charged with 95 counts of gross negligence manslaughter following
the fatal crush in the Leppings Lane end.
The trial takes place at Preston Crown Court in northwest England. The
city is 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Liverpool.
Duckenfield has pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
There is no manslaughter charge over the death of a 96th casualty, Anthony
Bland, as he died almost four years later, and under the law in 1989 his
death is now “out of time” to be prosecuted.
Once a 12-strong jury has been selected, the prosecution can begin to set
out its case against Duckenfield.
It is unknown how long the trial is expected to last.
Duckenfield’s co-defendant, former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary
Graham Mackrell, is charged with an offence involving the stadium safety
certificate and a health and safety offence.
Families of the Hillsborough victims fought a long campaign for events
surrounding the disaster to be re-investigated.
The Crown Prosecution Service, England’s state prosecutors, announced the
decision to press charges in June 2017. “We will allege that David
Duckenfield’s failures to discharge his personal responsibility were
extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths,” the CPS
said at the time.
“It is not the function of the CPS to decide whether a person is guilty of
a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments
about whether it is appropriate to present charges for the criminal court to
consider.”
Former police officers Donald Denton and Alan Foster, plus retired lawyer
Peter Metcalf, will go on trial in September, charged with doing acts
intended to pervert the course of justice.
The crush was Britain’s worst sports stadium tragedy.
The final memorial at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium for the 96 victims was
held in 2016, 27 years to the day since the disaster took place.
Families of the deceased unanimously agreed the service would be the last
public event at Anfield in memory of the supporters who died.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0848 hrs