Hillsborough Independent Panel findings and release of documents.

[ViolentPanda]

Well i presume he was paid some form of wages in the intervening years. He was being paid 150 grand basic a year recently. For playing a role in making the decisions like the one outlined above and then trying to cover them up.

Greasing the wheels of oppression costs money, and it's money the establishment are more than willing to pay.

 

[butchersapron]

Middup on getting disaster fund money.

The suggestions for what the SYP could spend their claim on the disaster fund money on

from (@wrong_kennedy)

 

[Voley]

A fucking holiday home? Just when you think you've heard it all.

 

[butchersapron]

A fucking holiday home? Just when you think you've heard it all.

Do't forget the 'worthwhile gifts to police officers on sick leave'. Could've been a nice littler earner for south yorkshire police that Hillsborough Disaster Appeal Fund.

 

[butchersapron]

Going back to the magic disappearing CCTV tapes:

Note the suggestion that supporters or relatives may have stolen them.

 

[likesfish]

As an aside he was also lead prosecutor in Sussex from shortly after cops there executed unarmed and naked James Ashley in bed through to shortly before the acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges of fatal shooter PC Chris Sherwood.

int

That was the case where the so called armed team had never met before the mission let alone rehearsed or had the skills to carry out the mission
Random people off the street couldnt have made a bigger balls up

 

[butchersapron]

Relentless.

Police in pub meeting were told of ‘pride’ at Hillsborough slurs

It was the same Pc Middup whose name had appeared in several of those media reports that morning. For it was he, as spokesman for the force’s rank-and-file, who had briefed White’s News Agency in Sheffield the previous day that the fans were partly to blame.

“I am sick of hearing how good the crowd were,” Mr Middup told reporters. “Some arrived tanked up and the situation faced by officers trying to control them was terrifying.”

The minutes from that federation meeting, released for the first time, show Mr Middup told the officers he was “proud” of his media briefings.

“Mr Middup read the lengthy list of the reporters, radio and TV people who contacted us and interviewed him,” the minutes record.

“He stated he had been proud to put the members’ case forward. However, the people of Merseyside were now complaining at some of the secretary’s comments.”

Mr Middup told the meeting he had been relating stories from other officers, and his priority was “putting our side of the trauma over”. He revealed how Chief Constable Peter Wright had stated privately that “the truth could not come from him” – but that Mr Wright had given the Police Federation a “free hand” and his support.

The attitude among the rank-and-file that day was defensive, defiant. Several officers repeated the allegations in the Sun, one complaining that “the sympathy is always with the crowd, never with the police”.

At that point, unusually for a branch union meeting, the Chief Constable arrived. Mr Wright told the officers that with a judicial inquiry soon to get underway, a “defence” had to be prepared and a “rock solid story” presented.

He believed the force would be “exonerated” by the Taylor Inquiry and considered that “blame” should be directed towards “drunken ticketless individuals”

 

[DaveCinzano]

Relentless.

Police in pub meeting were told of ‘pride’ at Hillsborough slurs

Here's the transcript of Middups' contribution to a Yorkshire TV package on the disaster broadcast on the Sunday:

I am sick of seeing on television and reading in the press these instant experts. Doctors and a few lawyers, who all seem to know more about our job than we do, telling us what we should’ve done, that if there had been police officers just inside those gates that day funnelling people into the outer areas, then this wouldn’t have happened.

And I’m saying to you that if police officers had’ve been in there, when this mob surged through, the police officers would’ve been trampled to death underneath it. You just can’t handle them. And the vast majority of that lot had been drinking, the ones that were arriving late, and they will not be told what to do, they won’t do anything you try to do, and what can you do?

The police certainly aren’t to blame, because if the fans do what the police are asking them to do there wouldn’t be any problem, because people would be orderly. And if people were orderly they wouldn’t have these problems. You can’t crush all those people if people were orderly. It’s just not possible, unless you know a way that I don’t.

If they can’t have these matches without all this upset, both to the people who are attending it and those who’ve got the job of sorting it all out, then it shouldn’t take place. Let them watch it on television or something like that.

My people should not be asked to go into situations like that where it’s always a no-win situation for us. They shouldn’t have [inaudible], that’s not necessary.

 

[laptop]

Note the suggestion that supporters or relatives may have stolen... the magic disappearing CCTV tapes:

Or, indeed, press.

Which is not in fact beyond the bounds of imagination, in the case of hungry pap with his [sic] eye on the tabs...

 

[butchersapron]

Further to this discussion of safe storage of evidence, this is from a SYP risk assessment of the place where the original evidence was stored - the assessment followed a whistle-blower warning about files potentially going missing as part of a police cover up:

Whoever could they be worried about doing such a thing?

(Via @wrong_kennedy)

 

[DaveCinzano]

Further to this discussion of safe storage of evidence, this is from a SYP risk assessment of the place where the original evidence was stored - the assessment followed a whistle-blower warning about files potentially going missing as part of a police cover up:

Whoever could they be worried about doing such a thing?

(Via @wrong_kennedy)

Perhaps they thought they were in Carrickfergus?

 

[butchersapron]

Excellent piece by Brian Reade in today's mirror on giving and re-reading is witness statement to the police:

Were my words turned into lies?

Reading it now I realise why I felt at the time as though I was under investigation, simply for going to a football match.

Virtually all the questions were slanted towards finding out how culpable the fans were: “What time did you arrive at the ground? Did you witness any disorder? Did you witness any consumption of alcohol in the streets? Did you witness alcohol being brought into the ground or consumed inside the ground? Did you witness any act by supporters which obstructed police, stewards or medical persons? Were you subjected to any threats or violence? Did you witness anything you consider to be a criminal act by any person?”

Not a single question about how many police were outside the ground, the state of the stadium, whether any stewards filtered people away from the central Leppings Lane death pens, whether police officers responded to dying fans screaming to be let out of the cages , or if I saw any medics helping casualties.

Just a set of questions geared entirely towards the behaviour of people, like myself, whose only fault was that we saw fellow fans die.

I can’t say if my statement was changed when it was fed into a wider investigation but I do have severe doubts about one of the answers I gave.

When asked if I’d had any problem getting into the ground I say “we had to force our way around a crowd to get to our turnstiles”

There is a gap and the words “but they, our turnstiles were operating efficiently.” That’s the opposite of my recollection and doesn’t fit with the tone of my language on the rest of the statement.

Was it added afterwards by the West Midlands Police? Who knows? What we do know is that already many discrepancies have been found by the 1,000 fans who have come forward to study their statements.



Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...rough-witness-statement-2301438#ixzz2fzF84bfT
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brian-reade-hillsborough-witness-statement-2301438

 

[butchersapron]

A Liverpool Tesco worker became the centre of a debate on Twitter after she told a customer buying The Sun the paper should be banned.

Today Tesco confirmed the unnamed worker -who was on the till at the Allerton Road store -would not be sacked following a complaint, despite rumours circulating on social media.

The customer, who had today removed his profile from the social media site, tweeted Tesco to complain that the worker had been "rude" when he bought The Sun at lunchtime yesterday.

He said: "Girl picked up my paper with her fingernails, clearly didn't want to handle the offensive item, then said to her colleague on the next till 'this shop should ban this paper from being sold here'."

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-tesco-worker-wont-sacked-6098306

 

[killer b]

a wise move by tescos there. i guess they have ample evidence of the effectiveness of boycotts in liverpool...

 

[Streathamite]

I've just caught up with the last 2 pages of this thread. It makes me feel physically sick.

 

[butchersapron]

Have a read.

On the day of the game – outside the stadium - Mike and his friend began to feel uncomfortable with the crowds and with how the police were managing the situation. They decided to try to get out of the crowds, even if it meant missing the kick-off:

“As the pressure mounts I say to the lads I’ve had enough, I don’t care if I miss the kick off, don’t care if I miss the match, this is dangerous and I want out. I love my footie but someone is going to die here, make no bones. I head off to the side, pushing myself out of the crush and towards the edge of the fans. Sorry lads, I just can’t cope with that. Then someone shouts,” the gate is open” and I find myself looking at an open gate, a couple of coppers and a few fans jumping through. I go for it but as I arrive the copper is trying to pull it shut. I stuck my foot on the bottom and jump through, the last one in as the copper pulls it shut behind me. Half expecting to get nicked, I go to show my ticket but the copper isn’t bothered. I’m in, but what the fuck is going on outside?”

Mike tried to wait inside the ground for his friends, but was pushed forwards onto the terraces:

“I got lucky as I was only on the terrace for a few minutes. I entered the stadium when the gate was opened and made my way onto a full terrace as best I could. I was at the head of the fans so I knew there would be a few more behind. I got partly down the terrace, with great difficulty when there was an almighty surge. I presume now a barrier had broken but my luck was in landing on the fence very close to one of the exit gates. I was on the terrace for a matter of minutes and I know people trapped for much longer than me saw/witnessed things that you just don't ever talk about. Seeing, smelling and witnessing people die and thinking you are going to die - it's just not something you ever forget.”

Mike remembers the police on horseback outside the stadium, charging around and making things worse. He remembers the police stopping fans that were trying to escape and turning their backs on them, and he remembers the police telling him to “shut up” when he asked to go back and get people to help:

“The worst thing to see was police pushing people back over the fences, still not helping despite the severity being pretty clear. I had fallen to my knees when I got out and I was very, very lucky. When I saw a doctor three days later, she pointed to a print of the fence on my right shoulder. I had no idea it was there - three days later and there were marking of the fence on me…I was only trapped for a couple of minutes.”

Following the disaster, Mike contacted the police helpline. The West Midlands Serious Crime Squad was given the task of collating the evidence and presenting it to Lord Taylor who was the judge in charge of the enquiry.

He contacted the police and they came and spoke to him about what he had witnessed. The interview turned out to be a thinly veiled threat against Mike making any trouble for the authorities. They suggested he got his ticket from a tout and that he and his friends were drunk; both untrue. They also suggested Mike was some sort of student agitator with a grudge against the police and promised to look into his background for any criminality. There was none.

Finally they suggested he withdraw his statement and his allegations against the police or else risk facing charges of wasting police time. When his statement was read back to him, he asked that a number of things be changed as they were very different to what he had stated. He still feels to this day that the evidence and statement he submitted was altered and was not what he wished to submit.

Anyone reading this who gave a statement, please please go and have a look.

 

[butchersapron]

Warning, graphic pic of the disaster on the link

SYP tried to hire spin doctor who was responsible for the Jean Charles De Menezes PR after his murder.

 

[DotCommunist]

at risk of sounding conspirascist, how likely is this whole affair down to state forces taking revenge for the north being militantly opposed to her shennanigans?

not that anything was strictly mandated, thats not how its done anyway. But. opportunistic stuff

am I off beam here or is it likely?

 

[butchersapron]

It was a result of the way the state(s) treated football fans, and it treated them in that way because of who they were - working class. Cattle. No need for any conspiracy there.

 

[butchersapron]

This attitude played out for all to see:

 

[butchersapron]

Warrington for new inquests. 6 months yet, and then all the stalling to come.

This means in the offices of the IPCC. Really. In the same offices as the other investigation into possible criminal charges for coppers.

 

[TopCat]

They can't let the simple truth come out easily. The police disregarded the H&S of the supporters and ignored the obvious and let them die, then lied about it on an industrial scale as well as stealing directly from the dead and then attempting to steal from the fund set up to support the dead.

How could it be worse? The mind boggles.

 

[butchersapron]

More useful digging by @wrong_kennedy - instructions given to police on how to report what went on:

Source (pdf) Page 448. Note what comes on the following page as well.

 

[co-op]

It was a result of the way the state(s) treated football fans, and it treated them in that way because of who they were - working class. Cattle. No need for any conspiracy there.

Isn't there more to it than just that? I'm old enough to remember football before during and after the 80s and there were always some forces that seemed to hate football fans, (hello west midlands) it seemed to me to be based on silly old-fashioned geographical stuff; the WMP hated cockneys for some reason. Liverpool police were absolutely fine in my experience, went up there for games at Tranmere & Liverpool 3 or 4 times, no problems with them.

By 1989 the police had been completely mobilised to attack working class crowds. The SYP were the force that used to brag it broke the miners strike - they were effectively given a free hand by Thatchers govt to do what they liked, hence Orgreave etc (and the massive compensation payouts they had to make afterwards). And it was Liverpool which had stood out as a bastion of left opposition to Thatcher's govt. Maybe some stupid Lancashire/Yorkshire stuff there too.

I think the Hillsborough disaster itself was down to the whole fuck-you-I'm-ok culture of thatcherite free marketism (the deaths at the Leppings Lane end were at least partly due to a barrier collapse, a barrier that had "nearly" failed a safety test) but there was a pretty direct political element; the govt was paying back the SYP for doing its dirty work in the miners strike so effectively. You scratch mine etc. They gave them a free hand to do whatever was necessary to come out looking clean.

Also there was the whole compulsory seating agenda that the richest clubs were pushing, blaming the fans was great for that. The Home Secretary at the time (Waddington?) stood up a day after Hillsborough and said we are going to make all-seaters mandatory and then did a quick backtrack when it was pointed out that he was pre-empting the Taylor Reports - but Taylor was a classic insider, I'm sure he got the message loud and clear.

 

[co-op]

Just to add ba thanks for the updates on this thread. What a fucking disgraceful read it is.

 

[butchersapron]

There certainly was a lot more to the post-disaster cover-ups and smears yes. I understood doctom to be asking about the actual disaster itself though, the deaths. And yes, the gov was always going to pull all out all the stops to help SYP or to allow them space to do what they wanted - Thatchers immediate concern was with the police and their reputation not anything else (i think i linked to some documents showing this earlier in the thread). And west mids were a disgrace across the whole force. I think my first thread on here was asking who in posters experiences of going to football was the worst force and i'm pretty sure they won easily,

 

[co-op]

And west mids were a disgrace across the whole force. I think my first thread on here was asking who in posters experiences of going to football was the worst force and i'm pretty sure they won easily,

I missed that - they would have got my vote. Amazing thugs. I remember arriving at New St station in about 1976-77 when I would have been 14ish and I was going to see Walsall vs Brentford (ffs!). I was so innocent I was wearing a scarf. The first thing that happened as I passed through the ticket barrier was I got grabbed by the throat by one of the WMP put up against a pillar and sworn at (can't actually remember what he said!) while all his mates laughed. Real tough guys.

 

[butchersapron]

Today is the third and final preliminary inquest hearing before the Inquest proper next march. Can follow later on here. (10:30 start i believe).

 

[butchersapron]

Two quick things from today: BBC are to release unseen footage and that police footage presented 'as is' was edited.

 

[butchersapron]

Half-time summary.