Hillsborough report reveals South Yorkshire Police made 'strenuous efforts' to deflect blame on to Liverpool fans

An independent report into the Hillsborough stadium disaster has concluded that South Yorkshire Police and the ambulance service made "strenuous attempts to deflect blame" for the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters onto the fans.

In the 394-page report the panel has shed new light on the disaster, including:

• Police carried out criminal record checks on the deceased in an attempt to "impugn their reputations"
• Senior officers privately discussed the "animalistic behaviour" of "drunken marauding fans"
• Evidence that a number of the dead survived "for a significant period" beyond the 3.15pm cut-off point imposed at the original inquest
• 116 of the 164 South Yorkshire Police statements were doctored to remove unfavourable comments
• South Yorkshire Ambulance Service was misleading when it claimed criticism of its conduct made by doctors who were present was factually inaccurate
• There was "no evidence of substance" to support the police account that alcohol and fan aggression played a part in the disaster
• Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expressed concern in Cabinet that the first inquiry into the disaster contained "devastating criticism of the police"
• The weight placed on blood alcohol levels among the dead was "inappropriate"

The report concludes that police and ambulance service statements were doctored in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the failings of crowd control that were the primary cause of the disaster in April 1989.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel also raises "profound concerns about the conduct an appropriateness of the inquests".

The report finds that the decision of the coroner to rule that all 96 victims died in the same way, and to impose a 3.15pm cut-off time on the inquest, was "unsustainable".

The panel said there was evidence that a number of those that died were alive after the 3.15pm cut-off. The original inquest recorded 96 cases of accidental death, but the families of the deceased have called for those verdicts to be quashed.

In the aftermath, the police claimed that violent behaviour by drunken Liverpool supporters who arrived without tickets was the primary cause of the disaster.

Having reviewed more than 450,000 previously unseen documents, the panel concludes: "The evidence shows conclusively that Liverpool fans neither caused nor contributed to the deaths of 96 men, women and children".

The chairman of the panel, the Bishop of Liverpool the Rt Rev James Jones, said: "The documents disclosed to and analysed by the panel show that the tragedy should never have happened.

"There were clear operational failures in response to the disaster and in its aftermath there were strenuous attempts to deflect the blame onto the fans. The panels detailed reports shows how vulnerable victims, survivors and their families are when transparency and accountability are compromised."

Well, bad things can happen to whistle-blowers.

Gilly wrote:
It is all well and good being a WB but you may want to question why they do it. Some are scheming bastards, they do it because they have shit to hide themselves.

Possibly. Not all.

The point is that in this case, I'd be surprised if some people weren't coerced into going along with the publicised lies. Even decent people with consciences are likely to put the welfare of their own immediate family before that of strangers.