Proof that police changed evidence to implicate Liverpool fans in Hillsborough disaster
WILL the family and loved ones of the 96 Liverpool FC fans who died as a result of events on 15 April, 1989, know the truth? No, not the Sun’s version of “THE TRUTH”. This is the truth shorn of police, government and media lies. Today, the Hillsborough Independent Panel releases its final report into the horror.
Hillsborough inquest coroner, Stefan Popper, said the dead died from “traumatic asphyxiation”. He said 94 people died on the day before 3:15. (Two people died later in hospital.) Only, sources say at least one, Kevin Williams, might have been breathing after 3:15. His mother, Anne Williams, claims Kevin was still alive at 16:00.
We will now see the medical records. Could nothing have been done for the dead after Popper’s “cut-off” time of 3:15? It’s hard to believe that’s the case, especially when so many who were injured recovered.
Why did Merseyside Chief Constable, the late Sir Kenneth Oxford, tell the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, that drunk Liverpool fans caused the disaster? This was a lie reported as fact in the Sun, Mirror and Star newspapers. The Sun called it “THE TRUTH” on its front page of 19 April, 1989.
Why were the testimonies of junior police officers rewritten? All the final testimonies complied with the police line, making mention of boisterous and drunk Liverpool fans and good policing. The lie that Liverpool fans were to blame continues. In 2010, then sport minister Jeremy Hunt praised the behaviour of England World Cup fans in South Africa and slighted the dead: “I mean, not a single arrest for a football-related offence, and the terrible problems that we had in Heysel and Hillsborough in the 1980s seem now to be behind us.”
Also in 201, to help Bostonians make sense of Boston Red Sox owner John Henry’s acquisition of Liverpool FC, Alex Beam wrote in the Boston Globe:
“Two months ago, Red Sox owner John Henry and his partners in New England Sports Ventures purchased Liverpool FC, historically one of Europe’s greatest soccer teams… For now, the Red Sox PR machine is pumping out happy news about Henry’s visits to grotty Liverpool… Even by the deranged standards of European soccer, Red fans are totally bonkers. Their excitable Internet fan sites are still agonizing over a 21-year-old soccer riot that killed 96 people.”
Today the Independent has a bombshell. It has seen four original reports from South Yorkshire police officers who were at the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s ground.
Constable Martin McLoughlin, 31, said, “Basically it was chaos.” He said that police “appeared to be a bit thin on the ground for the numbers of people involved”. Police had a “poor supply of personal radios…it seemed very bad that only one in our serial – the sergeant – should have a personal radio. We had great difficulty in finding out what happened and what was happening and for too long a time we were basically working in the dark.”
His words were removed.
He said he listened to the police radio and heard “the voices of more and more officers … getting desperate”. This was altered to read that he heard “increased radio traffic”.
Pc Alan Wadsworth wrote:
“There was no leadership at the Leppings Lane end following the disaster, either in person or on the radio. The only officer I heard on the radio with any form of organization and method was Chief Superintendent Nesbitt (sic) [a reference to John Nesbit, traffic division commander] who did not arrive until later.”
That was deleted.
PC David Sumner said “many fans assisted in the removal of the dead and injured from the field”.
That was erased.
Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield did not open Exit Gate C. An independent inquiry led by Lord Chief Justice Taylor found the main cause of the disaster was a failure in crowd control by South Yorkshire Police.
And what about the police constables on duty that day?
Pc McLoughlin lost his job, marriage and, reportedly, ended up in a psychiatric unit in Rotherham.
Michael Mansfield QC, who has helped the bereaved families, asked:
“I’m wondering, with 400,000 documents, the extent to which the panel have been able to identify whether they’ve been given everything. What assurances have they sought? Are there documents they know exist that they have not got? Are they going to let the public and families know everything they’ve seen?”
Stood in the Liverpool goal before the crushed was Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. They called out: “They’re killing us, Bruce, they’re killing us.” The police heard nothing.
Will we ever know the truth?
READ: Hillsborough: When The Police And Media Colluded To Damn Liverpool’s 96 Innocent Victims
UPDATE:
up to 41 lives could have been saved / * evidence of official police cover up / * 116 out of 164 statements altered / * ambulance statements changed as well as police / * misleading information given to The Sun / * David Cameron offers ‘profound apology’ / * says families suffered a double injustice / * Attorney General to consider holding fresh inquests / * ex-Tory MP Irvine Patnick passed on ‘false information’ / * Hillsborough families applaud report / * 450,000 new pages of evidence published
Posted: 12th, September 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
