Hillsborough Independent Panel findings and release of documents.

[butchersapron]

Finally Thatcher and Ingham are mentioned.

 

[purenarcotic]

It all leaves a rather bitter taste in the mouth still really, doesn't it.

 

[butchersapron]

Here is the report. (pdf) Taking ages to load so can't confirm yet.

 

[Libertad]

Press conference on Radio 5 now.

 

[Teaboy]

and yet Cameron has suggested the Government was lied to by South Yorkshire Police.

There are papers relating to what the home sec at the time reported back to the government about his meeting with sy police but there are no contempary notes (or if there are / were they have not been released or have been destroyed) of his meeting with the police, all we have is his say so.

 

[tommers]

Fucking wankers. All of them. Seriously, what kind of people make decisions like this?

 

[cesare]

It all leaves a rather bitter taste in the mouth still really, doesn't it.

That's an understatement for how I feel about it. Nothing against what you said, per se, but I think this coverup over more than two decades was in part intended to try and make sure that when the truth (or something akin to it) finally came out - that it would not be greeted with absolute fury everywhere.

 

[treelover]

On my local fora, some idiot is saying ''well who did the crushing then?'' FFS

 

[Pingu]

The SUNS SCUMS headlines tomorrow should be interesting...

 

[purenarcotic]

That's an understatement for how I feel about it. Nothing against what you said, per se, but I think this coverup over more than two decades was in part intended to try and make sure that when the truth (or something akin to it) finally came out - that it would not be greeted with absolute fury everywhere.

Oh have no fear, I am furious too. Bitter and furious. Understand what you mean, though.

 

[DotCommunist]

That's an understatement for how I feel about it. Nothing against what you said, per se, but I think this coverup over more than two decades was in part intended to try and make sure that when the truth (or something akin to it) finally came out - that it would not be greeted with absolute fury everywhere.

and seems to have set a 20 year precedent whereby the police routinely lie and smear and the tabloids run with it.

 

[Teaboy]

The SUNS SCUMS headlines tomorrow should be interesting...

Well the sun has cack handedly tried several times to apologise, so I expect they will do the same again. I want to hear from all those horrible vile scumbags that have backed up the sun over the years. Whats's Boris got to say?

 

[Treacle Toes]

Whats's Boris got to say?

Just imagining that fills me with rage. Even if he apologised I'd still not trust a word of his Tory court jester/clown act.

 

[treelover]

RE: Patnick, when I was NUS the Queen came to open a new wing of the Uni, the then Women's Officer refused to stand up for her, Patnick kept repeatedly and aggressively kicking her chair trying to force her to get up, , shows some of the character of the man...

 

[Teaboy]

Just imagining that fills me with rage. Even if he apologised I'd still not trust a word of his Tory court jester/clown act.

I doubt he'll say anything just like Mackenzie, just carry on as if nothing as ever happened.

 

[tommers]

Report here... http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/

 

[sojourner]

About fucking time

Really didn't think this was gonna be the outcome - so fucking glad this is now out

 

[sojourner]

So pens 3 and 4 CLEARLY visible to the coppers from their box then

 

[Pingu]

listening to this live on bbc (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19570810#TWEET224995)

now I am not a liverpool fan.. nor even a football fan.. but this really is fucking bad. Not just for the families of the 96 and those injured and traumatised by the events but for the whole country as there are both fundamental failings and the cover ups that followed undermine every authority and organisation involved in this debacle.

 

[friedaweed]

At last. The start of THE TRUTH now let's see the Justice.

We were right to never give up.

The lies, the scapegoating, cover-ups and outright denial of Justice over the last 23 years have now been uncovered and served on a plate for all to see.

I've spent most of my adult life with the events of that day there in my head like a nightmare that never went away. Today I can stand in the rain at St Georges Hall and hear the names of the 96 read out and find comfort in the fact that we never gave up in our fight for justice.

Like many of my friends and family who were affected by Hillsborough I have always found it hard arguing with people who questioned the plausibility of the fight for Justice. We no longer have to do that, what we always knew is there in black and white.

The blind man's found the black cat and the curtains have been drawn in that dark room.

I'm off to Town to stand with the families of the 96 in solidarity.

Today is their day.

 

[SpookyFrank]

And the police still herd groups of protestors into pens or against walls and beat the stragglers to push them further back.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Paras 148-9, p25:

• A further document records a meeting in Sheffield of Police Federation members on the morning of the publication of the controversial story in The Sun. The Police Federation Secretary, Mr Middup, confirmed that ‘putting our side of the story over to the press and media’ had been his priority. He told the meeting that the Chief Constable had stated that ‘the truth could not come from him’ but he had given the Police Federation a ‘free hand’ and his support.
• At the meeting police officers repeated many of the allegations published in the media. The Chief Constable joined the meeting and advised that the SYP case had to be pulled together and given to the Inquiry. A ‘defence’ had to be prepared and a ‘rock solid story’ presented. He believed that the Force would be ‘exonerated’ by the Taylor Inquiry and considered that ‘blame’ should be directed towards ‘drunken ticketless individuals’.

 

[treelover]

It really really does show that behind the 'democratic' veneer, we really are a banana republic...

 

[temper_tantrum]

About fucking time.
And now let's see the rest of the paperwork.

 

[cesare]

And the police still herd groups of protestors into pens or against walls and beat the stragglers to push them further back.

If anything additional comes out of this, I hope that people will start to realise kettling tactics for what they are.

 

[Dovydaitis]

still in shock. Knew we would hear some shocking things today, hoped against hope (well it is the condems) that it would all come out. Even so, still shocked by the amount and what has come out. Lets hope that this can be a start to the justice and the healing for all the victims both living and dead

 

[DaveCinzano]

Pages 353-6 - Detailed minutes, dated 27 April 1989, of a Special Joint Branch Board Meeting, Police Federation, South Yorkshire Police, held at the ‘Pickwick’ Restaurant, High Green, Sheffield, 10am, 19 April 1989, TPF000000010001, pp1-12:

The Police Federation: ‘Putting our side of the trauma over to the press and media’
2.12.96 On the morning The Sun and other newspapers published the serious allegations against Liverpool fans members of the SYP branch of the Police Federation met in a Sheffield restaurant.44
2.12.97 The branch Secretary, PC Middup, addressed the meeting stating that the ‘Chief Constable had been most grateful for the support we had given as he had been in a difficult position’ and ‘it was a measure of the immense esteem in which the Chief Constable held this Board’ that he would be joining the meeting later in the morning.
2.12.98 As spokesperson PC Middup ‘wanted to tell the J.B.B. members and the people he represented what he had tried to do, putting our side of the trauma over to the press and media’..

2.12.101 The meeting discussed officers’ reaction to negative media coverage, to the stress they had been under and the offer of counselling. PC Middup ‘stated that the Chief Constable had said the truth could not come from him but had given the Secretary a totally free hand and supported him’, as had many senior officers...


2.12.107 The meeting criticised senior officers and raised the issue of junior and inexperienced officers, including special constables, having to deal with dead bodies. Soon after, the Chief Constable, Peter Wright, joined the meeting. He noted the continuing criticisms of the police published in the media, the ‘trauma’ that had been inflicted on
the ‘Force itself’, and all that had happened ‘has to be said’ as there ‘would be a Judicial Inquiry’. He then discussed his statements to the media:
Mr. Wright stated he had to say on Saturday night we opened a gate to save lives outside. He said he had received all sorts of horrendous stories ... he had made a conscious decision not to talk about these things – the behaviour of the fans. The mass of the crowd was the reason for opening the gate. He added he did not think there was any purpose or merit to respond in this way. Although Mr. Wright admitted he would have liked to have been able to make the comments which Mr. Middup had made..

2.12.111 The meeting then reverted to informing the Chief Constable about the behaviour of Liverpool fans, particularly allegations of heavy drinking.
2.12.112 The Chairman, Bob Lax, told the Chief Constable that ‘fans who had travelled across the Woodhead [Pass] had left a trail of beer cans’ and a ‘video car had been sent round the whole route and he likened it to driving through confetti, driving through the beer cans’. In fact, the video material disclosed to the Panel suggests this was a gross exaggeration..

2.12.115 CC Wright informed the meeting that ‘we had got to catch it whilst it is hot’ and ‘we must pull our case together and present our case to the Inquiry team’. He ‘felt a tremendous responsibility to get ourselves moving’ and ‘anyone who acts in good faith would get as much support as possible’. They were engaged in ‘preparing a defence and we had got to prepare a rock solid story’. He was ‘delighted the Inquiry had started and believed we would be exonerated’.
2.12.116 He stated further that ‘the Inquiry team could be directed but if we sit back and let them collect the evidence, we would lose it. We have to do it ourselves’. It was vital to
ensure that the information regarding fans’ behaviour was logged, for ‘if anybody should be blamed, it should be the drunken ticketless individuals’.
2.12.117 The Chairman thanked the Chief Constable for presenting to Police Federation members ‘a positive way to deal with it’. The minutes concluded: ‘It was agreed by everyone we had to get the message – togetherness – across to the Force’.

44. Detailed minutes, dated 27 April 1989, of a Special Joint Branch Board Meeting, Police Federation, South Yorkshire Police, held at the ‘Pickwick’ Restaurant, High Green, Sheffield, 10am, 19 April 1989, TPF000000010001, pp1-12.

 

[cesare]

and seems to have set a 20 year precedent whereby the police routinely lie and smear and the tabloids run with it.

Not a precedent though, cf what happened during the miners strikes previously. And before that the fallout from the New Cross fire (for example).

 

[cesare]

Pages 353-6 - Detailed minutes, dated 27 April 1989, of a Special Joint Branch Board Meeting, Police Federation, South Yorkshire Police, held at the ‘Pickwick’ Restaurant, High Green, Sheffield, 10am, 19 April 1989, TPF000000010001, pp1-12:

Bears quoting again.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Is the South Yorkshire Police Federation Secretary Paul Middup the same Paul Middup who subsequently served as a director of the Sheffield Credit Union Development Agency?