The former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary at the time of the Hillsborough disaster had previously said he could not fully carry out the duties of a stadium safety officer on matchdays because he would be “too busy entertaining corporate clients”, a court has been told.
Graham Mackrell is charged with two breaches of safety legislation before the disaster in which 96 people were killed in a crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on the Leppings Lane terrace of Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium.
David Moore, a senior environmental health officer with Sheffield city council in 1987, told Preston crown court he felt “resistance” from Sheffield Wednesday to appoint a safety officer, as required from 1986 by the “green guide” to safety at sports grounds.
He said he had had a “difficult” meeting with Mackrell, who had told him the club would not be appointing a dedicated safety officer, but that Mackrell would take on the role as part of his position as club secretary.
“I do recall at one point a feeling of resistance from the club to appointing a safety officer,” Moore said.
Explaining his approach towards the safety officer appointment, Moore told the court: “Having read the green guide, I was looking for evidence of strong safety leadership from the club as represented by Graham Mackrell … I couldn’t see evidence of that leadership.”
Richard Matthews QC, the lead barrister for the prosecution, asked Moore about Mackrell’s approach to the safety officer role.
“I recorded it as ‘flippant’ in my notes at the time,” Moore replied. “The way he described that role to me, I wasn’t sure he was serious.”
Moore said after Mackrell told him he would take on the role, he had asked Mackrell if he would carry out the duties of a safety officer as required by the green guide, particularly during match days. Asked by Matthews about Mackrell’s reply, Moore said: “I was quite surprised by that response; he told me he would be too busy entertaining corporate clients.”
Moore said he had a number of other safety concerns following a visit to Hillsborough and the meeting with Mackrell in 1987, including the lack of a safety management plan, which he said the club never delivered, and contingency planning for stewards. Moore said he was also concerned about the number and adequacy of people trained in first aid, “should there be a major incident”.
“I was quite surprised, that arrangements for first aiders appeared to be quite informal at best,” Moore told the court.
In a written memorandum to the council’s legal department, which was responsible for licensing the Hillsborough ground for safety and issuing its safety certificate, Moore wrote that the stands were maintained to “excellent” standards and that he was impressed with the ground management. Below that he noted: “I would advise that the identity and role of the ground safety officer be formalised in accordance with the green guide and without undue delay.”
Moore explained that he gave that advice, and that the functions of the safety officer should be incorporated into the ground’s safety certificate, because: “I had doubts over [Graham Mackrell’s] intention to carry out that role thoroughly.”
Simon Antrobus QC, representing Mackrell, suggested to Moore, who was 27 at the time, a graduate qualified as a safety officer and responsible for his first sports ground, that he might be mistaken in his recollections. Moore accepted that he did not note his concerns about Mackrell’s attitude in the internal memo he wrote to the legal department, nor the need for a safety management plan. Antrobus suggested Moore mistakenly recalled Mackrell’s remark about corporate entertaining because Mackrell did not do that on matchdays.
Moore responded that although he had not recorded the remark in his notes or official memos, and could not recall the exact wording of the response: “I know he absolutely said that.”
Mackrell has pleaded not guilty to the charges. David Duckenfield, the former South Yorkshire police chief superintendent who was in charge of the match at Hillsborough, has pleaded not guilty to gross negligence manslaughter in relation to the deaths. Both men are sitting in the body of the court behind their lawyers, rather than in the dock.
The trial continues.
