David Duckenfield, the South Yorkshire police officer who commanded the Hillsborough FA Cup semi-final at which 96 Liverpool supporters were killed, said while the disaster was unfolding that fans had “forced” a gate, the jury hearing his manslaughter prosecution has heard.
Glen Kirton, who was the Football’s Association’s head of external affairs, told the trial Duckenfield said that an “inrush” of Liverpool supporters, after the gate was forced, had caused “casualties” at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.
Kirton said that by then – when he and the FA’s chief executive, Graham Kelly, went to the police control box after the match was stopped at 3.06pm – he had been told that people had died. Kirton said the scene on the pitch appeared to be “chaotic”, with no “coordinated assistance” for people “clearly in distress”, who were being helped mainly by other supporters, rather than by police officers.
Christine Agnew QC, prosecuting, asked Kirton at the end of her questioning of him, about the explanation Duckenfield had given to Kelly for the events at the Leppings Lane end. Kirton replied: “Mr Duckenfield said to Mr Kelly that a gate had been forced … he said there had been an inrush of supporters.”
Asked whether Duckenfield had said which supporters had forced the gate, Kirton agreed he had previously stated that Duckenfield said it was Liverpool supporters. Asked further what Duckenfield said about the “inrush”, Kirton replied: “He said that it had caused casualties.”
The trial at Preston crown court has already heard that Duckenfield had ordered a wide exit gate, C, to be opened shortly before the 3pm kick-off on 15 April 1989, to relieve overcrowding at the Leppings Lane turnstiles, which was allocated to Liverpool supporters. More than 2,000 people were allowed through the gate during two openings, at 2.48pm and 2.52pm, and many of them went down a tunnel facing them, into the two central “pens” of the terrace, where the lethal crush took place.
Ben Myers QC, representing Duckenfield, asked Kirton in cross-examination whether it was true of Duckenfield’s explanation that “no particular gate was identified to you, and no particular time given as to exactly when it was that this happened”?
Kirton agreed that the particular gate that Duckenfield said was forced, and the time it happened, were not stated.
Kirton said that his responsibilities at the semi-final included the “hospitality of VIPs” and the lunch put on by the FA for its officials and those of the clubs, which was organised by Sheffield Wednesday. Questioned by Simon Antrobus QC, representing the former Sheffield Wednesday secretary and safety officer Graham Mackrell, who is charged with two counts of breaching safety law, Kirton confirmed that the FA had regarded the club as well run, and Hillsborough as a well-maintained stadium.
When, seven years after the disaster, he was the FA’s tournament director for the 1996 European Championship in England, Kirton confirmed, he appointed Mackrell as one of the FA’s venue directors, overseeing Hillsborough and Nottingham Forest’s City ground.
“Is it fair to surmise that that is a marker for how well-regarded Mr Mackrell was in the 1980s and 1990s?” Antrobus asked.
“Yes,” Kirton replied.
Mackrell is charged with two counts of breaching safety law.
Duckenfield is charged with gross negligence manslaughter in relation to 95 of the people who died because no charge could be brought in relation to the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland.
Bland was 18 when he went to support Liverpool at the semi-final and sustained critical brain injuries in the crush. He was on life support for four years until it was lawfully withdrawn in 1993. According to the law in 1989, a criminal charge relating to a death could not be applied if the victim died longer than a year and a day after the alleged criminal acts.
Both Duckenfield and Mackrell, who are sitting in the body of the court with their lawyers rather than in the dock, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial continues.
