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Don't buy the S*n - Justice for the 97 - The Biggest Cover-up in British Legal History

160K views 819 replies 115 participants last post by  Howie_P 
#1 ·
Anyone else noticed the scumbag rag advertising on the Liverpool forum.

Any chance that they can be f*cked off this forum?

 
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#207 ·
Hillsborough police paid money found among the dead into force’s coffers

The Independent


The police force accused of covering up Britain’s worst-ever sporting disaster profited from the tragedy by keeping money found among the dead and dying at Hillsborough, The Independent can reveal.

South Yorkshire Police (SYP), the force whose officers falsely accused Liverpool fans of robbing from the dead at Hillsborough, held on to cash from the ground for almost three years before deciding to bank it – rather than donate the money to the disaster fund set up to help victims of the tragedy.

The revelation, in documents released by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, prompted an angry response from campaigners on Sunday night, with SYP’s actions branded “an absolute disgrace” and “beyond belief”.

A memorandum dated January 1992 details personal possessions which had been recovered from the disaster, where the owners were not known. It reveals that while officers were cautious about destroying clothing, they showed few reservations when it came to the loose change. Cash totalling £14.53 was part of the inventory and a recommendation to “pay this into the finance department” was agreed without reservation.

The news comes after it emerged last month that the force attempted to get thousands of pounds from the disaster fund to pay for gym equipment, microwaves and a holiday home.

Sheila Coleman, from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, said: “That the force responsible for the deaths of 96 people kept some of the money found at Hillsborough is beyond belief. The fact that they decided to keep it, and not even consider donating it to the disaster fund, speaks volumes as to the mind-set of the South Yorkshire Police and their contempt for Liverpool football fans and their friends and families.”

And Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, whose son, James, 18, was among the victims, said: “This is an absolute disgrace and very ironic, when they were accusing the fans of robbing the dead. I just find that rather appalling.”

An SYP spokeswoman stressed that the cash was banked “in accordance with the policy operating at that time” and that “unclaimed monies should have been placed into the Police Property Act Fund maintained by the then police authority which would then have been available for payment towards such charitable purposes as the authority might determine.”

She added: “South Yorkshire Police are unable to comment on how these particular monies may have been dealt with, as financial records from that time do not exist.

“Whilst there is no reason to believe the proper processes were not followed, any further investigation of the circumstances in which this sum was recovered and applied would fall to be addressed, if at all, by the IPCC [Independent Police Complaints Commission] as part of its ongoing investigation.”

It has also emerged that within weeks of the tragedy, in which 96 died and hundreds more were injured, police officers were encouraged to try and get compensation from a fund created for the victims.

In a letter to Sir Peter Wright, then chief constable, in June 1989, Paul Middup, secretary of the Police Federation’s South Yorkshire branch, stated: “I see no reason why our officers should not claim from the Hillsborough one,” and asked him to bring the matter to “everyone’s notice” through force orders.

Although the chief constable decided against doing this, he agreed to help by getting a force welfare officer to contact individual officers “about their rights in this regard” according to a file note by former deputy chief constable Peter Hayes [Feb 1990].
 
#209 ·
Hillsborough inquiry: IPCC says fans' statements may have been changed, as police hand over 90 notebooks

The Independent


More than 90 police pocket notebooks that could contain crucial new information about the Hillsborough disaster have been recovered by investigators.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which revealed last month that it was looking for the notebooks, said today that 90 had been handed in to South Yorkshire Police by retired and serving officers.

The force has also found boxes of notebooks and other documents that cover the period of the disaster, which could contain vital details.

Deputy chairwoman of the IPCC Deborah Glass said: "This is an ongoing criminal investigation the like of which has never been seen before in this country. Already we are uncovering more about the disaster and its aftermath.

"Hillsborough has had a history of inquiries by the police and others, many completed quickly, coming to flawed conclusions. Our investigations need to deliver the last, definitive account."

Last month the IPCC revealed that at least one officer made a note of what happened that day, against instructions, and that none of the previous inquiries into the tragedy had recovered any such notebooks.

The disaster, that claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in 1989, is now at the centre of the biggest ever inquiry into police conduct in the UK.

The IPCC said it has uncovered evidence to suggest that the statements of 74 more officers might have been changed, and that fans' witness accounts could also have been altered.

Investigators are set to appeal for witnesses next week in relation to how West Midlands Police ran their inquiry into the handling of the disaster by South Yorkshire Police.

Around 12,000 people spoke to West Midlands Police as part of their inquiry.

Ms Glass said: "This appeal, which will be launched next week, forms a crucial element to our investigation into how West Midlands Police conducted its inquiries into the disaster. We want to hear people's experiences of that process.

"We have already had a number of people contact us with concerns that their statements were amended and we have no doubt there are others who have not contacted us: we want to be able to present as full as possible a picture of witness evidence, both for the inquests and the criminal investigations."

Liverpool Football Club is expected to promote the appeal during its home match on September 21.
 
#210 · (Edited)
Hillsborough: Organisations could face manslaughter charges



Criminal charges will be considered once a fresh inquest into the deaths of 96 fans at Hillsborough has concluded

BBC

Manslaughter charges could be brought against organisations over the deaths of 96 fans in the Hillsborough tragedy, an inquiry boss has said.

Jon Stoddart said he was looking at the actions of South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield Wednesday FC, Sheffield City Council and the FA.

The retired officer said they were all being investigated for possible gross negligence manslaughter.

His team have found new evidence while going through thousands of documents.

The first priority for Mr Stoddart's inquiry, called Operation Resolve, is to provide evidence for the new inquest, which is set to start by 31 March 2014.

Unlawful killing

Once the inquest concludes they will concentrate on the criminal side of the investigation and eventually hand their findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for consideration.

Mr Stoddart, a former Durham Police Chief Constable, said: "We are here to try and prove or disprove the unlawful killing of 96 people and clearly the DPP will have to make a very important series of decisions on this."

He said the coroner had given them three things to consider as a priority: the safety of the stadium, the movements of the deceased and the response of the emergency services.

Forensic scientists, pathologists, structural engineers and the Health and Safety Executive were among experts being consulted, he added.

He said: "We have definitely identified a significant number of people who we know have got a story to tell but who haven't provided us with a statement or an interview so clearly they are part of the priority, that we make sure that we are going to find these people.

"We have to go through all of the investigation and interview them and if necessary we'll take statements as well, but clearly we have got [to consider] the families, the police officers on the day, the work beforehand in the stadium, the design, the engineering, the changes that were made to the stadium, they're all part of the inquiry.

"The Football Association, why they decided to award the match, the semi-final, to Sheffield Wednesday, and the club, have got a certain responsibility as well so it's a very wide inquiry."

Mr Stoddart said the team was nine months into an inquiry which could take up to three years.

"It's a massive, massive investigation, it's the biggest criminal inquiry in the history of the English and Welsh police services.

"Some people have criticised the pace of the inquiry but we can't afford to rush anything here.

"This is so important. It's so important for the families, we have got to get this right."


Hillsborough investigations

Inquest
A fresh inquest headed by Lord Justice Goldring takes place on 31 March at a venue in North West England yet to be confirmed.

The original accidental death verdicts were quashed in December at the High Court after the Hillsborough Independent Panel found that 41 of the 96 who died had the "potential to survive".

Independent Police Complaints Commission
The IPCC is carrying out the largest investigation into alleged police misconduct in UK history, focusing on whether there was a criminal cover-up by South Yorkshire Police of the force's failings.

It is also examining the role of West Midland Police, which first investigated how the South Yorkshire force dealt with the tragedy.

Stoddart investigation
Former Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart is looking at the causes of the tragedy and the deaths and examining the actions of a range of organisations and bodies, including South Yorkshire Police.

The police section of the investigation is being managed by the IPCC.
 
#211 · (Edited)
Met chief: 'I will welcome inquiry into statements on Hillsborough'

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says he was 'confused' when he claimed to have given evidence to the official Taylor inquiry into the 1989 football tragedy

The Observer


Bernard Hogan-Howe was in charge of a waiting area for relatives after the Hillsborough disaster.

Families of Hillsborough disaster victims have accused the head of Scotland Yard of making misleading statements about an inquiry into the tragedy and have called for an investigation. They say that Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner, failed to tell the truth last year when he claimed to have made a statement to Lord Justice Taylor's 1989 inquiry into how 96 football fans died.

The families want the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate his account and why he appears never to have made an official statement to the inquiry despite having been an inspector in South Yorkshire police at the time of the disaster. They want the IPCC to look into his actions on the day.

Their demands come amid a continuing IPCC investigation into alleged police misconduct during and in the aftermath of Britain's worst sporting disaster.

Hogan-Howe said he had been confused when he said he made a statement to the Taylor inquiry. In fact, the account he referred to is a brief, six-line note of a telephone conversation in May 1990, when Taylor's inquiry was over. He said he wants the IPCC to investigate the account he gave after Hillsborough as part of its current investigation.

The investigation has confirmed that it will examine Hogan-Howe's actions on the day. He was the officer in charge at a Sheffield boys' club in which friends and relatives waited for news. The investigation has confirmed that it will examine Hogan-Howe's actions on the day of the disaster. At 7.20pm a senior police officer, his identity still unknown, read out a list of people confirmed to be "safe and well". The list included Adam Spearritt – who was 14 when he died at Hillsborough. Friends who had gone to the match with Adam and his father, Eddie, telephoned Jan Spearritt, Adam's mother, to reassure her that her son was alive. She says that incorrect identification added to their anguish. The family never complained about that mistake, but have always been particularly unhappy that South Yorkshire police, despite repeated requests, refused to explain how it happened. Sir Norman Bettison, then a chief inspector in South Yorkshire police, was involved in organising the waiting area in the boys club and compiling the missing persons list. Both he and Hogan-Howe later became chief constables of Merseyside police, Bettison from 1998-2005; Hogan-Howe from 2005-2009.

Following last September's Hillsborough Independent Panel report into the disaster, Hogan-Howe was asked about his actions on the day. He replied that he "provided statements to the Taylor report about his role following the tragedy".

Those statements did not, however, appear in the archive of official documents published by the panel. One document, dated 18 May 1990, noted that an Inspector Sawers of West Midlands police (the force appointed to investigate the disaster) had contacted Hogan-Howe, to "ascertain whether Insp [sic] Hogan-Howe, who was at the boys' club, Hammerton Road, arranging the policing, has anything relevant to add to the inquiry".

Hogan-Howe said Sawers had telephoned him after he had given "investigators" his account. "When asked later [by Sawers] if I wanted to add to [my] account, I said I did not," he said.

The Metropolitan police then forwarded the document Hogan-Howe had been referring to as the account he gave to investigators of his role in the disaster. It is not, in fact, a statement provided to the Taylor inquiry; it is a very brief note of a telephone conversation with PC Kenneth Greenway, of the South Yorkshire police. Greenway's six-line account of his conversation with Hogan-Howe includes only this about the boys' club: "Going to the Hillsborough boys' club and had dealing with social services, relatives etc. I finished at 3.30am on Sun 16/04/89."

That is the note Hogan-Howe has described as his "account of my role" given to "investigators" and as "statements to the Taylor report".

It is dated 23 May 1990, long after Taylor had completed his report. It was also five days after Hogan-Howe was contacted by Sawers to see if he had "anything relevant to add to the inquiry". Sawers was not calling him "later," to "add to this account", as Hogan-Howe said. In fact when Sawers called him, Hogan-Howe had not made any statement, and he apparently declined then to make "a comprehensive statement".

Paul Spearritt, Adam's younger brother, said he was shocked by Hogan-Howe's apparently misleading statements about the accounts he had given of his role at Hillsborough, and called on the IPCC to conduct a full investigation.

"In all these years we have never had any explanation as to why Adam was in the list as 'alive and well,' no identification of which police officer read it out, no apology from that officer – no admission that it even happened," he said.

Hogan-Howe explained his incorrect statements about the accounts he gave of his actions at Hillsborough, saying his "confusion" was due to recollecting events of more than 20 years ago.

Of the incorrect naming of Adam Spearritt as "alive and well" in the boys club the night of the disaster, Hogan-Howe said: "I only became aware of the complaint or criticism regarding the reading out of a list by an officer earlier this year. If I had been aware, I would have been more than eager to provide what information I could."

Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, to which the Spearritt family is affiliated, said she is "furious" that Hogan-Howe has blamed "confusion" for his misleading statements about the accounts he gave of Hillsborough: "It is incredible that the top police officer in the country has not told the truth about the account he gave when 96 people lost their lives, and it is difficult to believe he was confused. It is also astonishing he has never made a detailed statement about what he did as the senior officer in charge of bereaved people at the boys' club. I am calling on the IPCC to fully investigate."
 
#213 ·
Hillsborough: IPCC considers Hogan-Howe disaster role probe

The watchdog probing police conduct during the Hillsborough disaster could formally investigate a complaint about the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

BBC

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, then a South Yorkshire police officer, was on duty at Sheffield Boys' Club where relatives waited for news of loved ones.

The IPCC said it had received a formal complaint from the family of a victim. It expects the London mayor's office to rule it should be investigated.

Ninety-six fans died in the 1989 crush.

The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime is responsible for deciding whether complaints against the commissioner should be recorded and referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The IPCC has said it expects this matter to be recorded and referred.

List of names

The tragedy happened at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on the afternoon of 15 April 1989. Later that day, relatives of fans caught up in the crush on the terraces at the Leppings Lane End at Sheffield Wednesday's ground waited at the Boys' Club for news.

A list of people believed to be alive was read out by an unidentified police officer at the Boys' Club that night, which included the name of 14-year-old Adam Spearritt, who had actually died in the disaster.

The IPCC said it had contacted the teenager's family to ask if they wanted the matter to be specifically investigated.

In a statement the IPCC said: "This complaint has been passed onto the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC) for recording as required by the complaints process.

"However in this instance the IPCC expects the matter to be recorded and referred."

In a previous statement, Sir Bernard said it would be "inappropriate" to give details about his role in the disaster before the IPCC decided whether it wanted to speak to him.

"As I have previously said I am more than willing to speak to IPCC investigators about my recollection of events and to assist their inquiry in any way I can," he said.

Declined interviews

The IPCC investigation follows the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report published last September, which concluded the lives of 41 fans could have been saved and cleared Liverpool supporters of any wrongdoing.

The panel found South Yorkshire Police had altered more than 164 statements and tried to blame fans.

The watchdog said its investigation has found a total of 240 altered statements.

The police watchdog said it had so far interviewed 101 of 211 surviving officers who were fit to be questioned.

It said nine former officers had declined to be interviewed.

The IPCC said none of the nine was a senior officer or suspected of any criminal offence over the nature of the amendments. As witnesses they were entitled to decline a request to be interviewed if they were not serving police officers, it said.

The police watchdog said more than 1,500 witnesses had responded to their appeal.
 
#214 ·
I live in Cumbria, but there is quite a large Liverpool support up here and no self respecting Liverpool fan would buy The Sun. Apart from its disgusting lies about Hillsborough, this same rag hacked the mobile phone of a murdered teenager and has spread lies, misinformation and libel for most of its 44 years in exisitence. Also I'd advise Liverpool fans to think carefully about buying the Daily Star, as they ran similar stories in 1989.
I'm not a Liverpool fan, well don't do football much at all these days, but I'd advise any football fan to keep away from The Sun as should something like this happen again, they'll invent some awful story.
 
#218 ·
Russell Brand: the Sun on Sunday lied about me.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/nov/29/russell-brand-rages-sun-rupert-murdoch

I wonder what punishment would be severe enough to make them recognise the wrong they've done to us? Maybe we should show solidarity with the people of Liverpool and the Sun's other victims. Or at least next time we skim these rags remember what they really think of us and what they really care about. Observe the companies that advertise on their tainted pages and let them know that we notice their allegiances. When they start to lose enough money, when enough of us come together and confront our real enemies, not the imaginary ones that they select, then perhaps the sun will go down and tomorrow we might see clearly, in the light of a new dawn.

Russell Brand is donating his fee for this article to the Justice for the 96 campaign
 
#220 ·
Questions asked about 'unexplained' 10-minute gap in Hillsborough tape

Matchday recording may have been 'adulterated', a pre-inquest hearing has announced

The Independent

Police handheld film taken on the day of the Hillsborough disaster contains an “unexplained” 10-minute gap in one of the tapes, it has emerged at a pre-inquest hearing in London today, while some officers have admitted they believe they were pressurised into accepting changes to their statements.

Families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the tragedy demanded that experts be allowed to analyse the matchday recording, so that the inquest due to be held next year could cover the events “warts and all”.

It has also emerged that Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, a former officer with South Yorkshire Police, is to be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over his role in the disaster.

It follows a complaint by Paul Spearritt, who claims his late brother’s name was wrongly put onto a list of survivors read out by an officer, whom he believes may have been Sir Bernard.

Mr Spearritt also alleged that ensuing statements made by the Commissioner had been misleading. Both matters were referred to the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime before being passed back to the IPCC.

The pre-inquest hearing held at a central London hotel today also heard that 19 former or serving officers had either declined or were yet to respond to interview requests by investigators considering evidence that statements were altered following the crush in 1989.

Pressure is mounting for the names of those that have failed to co-operate with the inquiry to be disclosed, as lawyers for the families also sought details of all 240 officers whose evidence may have been altered to be made public.

The IPCC, which is investigating the handling of the original police inquiry by West Midlands Police, said it was prepared to disclose the names but only to the coroner Lord Justice Goldring.

Relatives of the dead groaned when they heard that a tape recorded by South Yorkshire Police at the match in Sheffield was incomplete.

Pete Weatherby QC, who is representing 22 families from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, said there was an “an unexplained 10-minute gap" in one of the 20-minute tapes.

A second tape, which was expected to contain continuous footage, was found to be adulterated with film from the first tape.

Mr Weatherby urged the coroner to allow the tapes to be copied and analysed, telling the hearing: “There may be integrity issues here."

Campaigner Margaret Aspinall said: “Where is that 10 minutes? What went on in those 10 minutes? Give us the whole jigsaw, we need it warts and all.”

Rachel Cerfontyne, the deputy chair of the IPCC, said that a number of the 143 officers interviewed so far claimed they had come under pressure to accept changes to their statements, or did so after discussion from senior officers.

Others believed they were being made for legal reasons, or were unaware that changes had been made. A further 47 officers are still awaiting interview, but the remainder have either died, are unfit to be interviewed or have refused to co-operate.

Ms Cerfontyne said that issuing names of those officers publicly could pose a risk to the investigation.

“I understand many will find this disappointing, but I must stress we are not deliberately concealing information. I am determined not to do anything which may undermine the integrity of the investigation,” she added.

The inquest is due to begin in Warrington in March 2014.
 
#222 ·
From the BBC -

Hillsborough disaster survivors 'threatened by police'

Survivors of Hillsborough have said they were intimidated and threatened by police from the independent force asked to investigate the football disaster.

BBC Newsnight has heard that witness criticisms of police who had been at the scene were not properly recorded.

This is the first time fans have come forward to question how West Midlands police took their statements.

The force declined to comment pending ongoing inquiries and the forthcoming inquests into the deaths of 96 fans.
Nick Braley, who was a teenage student at the time, said that when he told West Midlands officers three weeks later that South Yorkshire police failings had caused the disaster, he was told he could face prosecution.

He says he was "scared and intimidated" by a West Midlands officer.

"I'm a 19-year-old boy, three weeks out of Hillsborough, traumatised, and he's threatening me that he's going to put together a case for wasting police time because he didn't like my evidence," he says.

Newsnight has found that his experience is typical of those cited by a number of Hillsborough survivors.
Full article here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25947994
 
#223 ·
I buy the sun. I also buy the Mirror, the Guardian and the Financial Times. I'm not ashamed of it either, and find it quite bizzare when ( as has happened), shop owners give a dirty look. Why sell if if you don't want people to buy it.

As for why I buy it, news is news. I like to see what all papers take on a given event (although with the Sun it's predictable enough). I also tend to think a boycott 30 years on serves precious little purpose given the vast majority of any at the Sun who had anything to do with Hillsborough have long since ceased working for the paper
 
#235 · (Edited)
If you're talking financial restitution, then what about the possible knock on effect over the years on investment and business in the city as a whole?

Grief city, anyone? Bunch of thieves? Wallowing in self-pity? Drunken ever-fighting violent thugs? Who hasn't heard all of these things at some point from someone somewhere? This city has had to endure a never ending torrent of such quasi-racial slurs ever since this happened from all parts of England.

How much have these false negative connotations that the city still today has to battle against cost the city over the years?

There should be no reconciliation ever. As for anyone who'd buy that kind of thing, regardless of any boycott, have some self respect for heaven sakes.
 
#241 ·
Grief city, anyone? Bunch of thieves? Wallowing in self-pity? Drunken ever-fighting violent thugs? Who hasn't heard all of these things at some point from someone somewhere? This city has had to endure a never ending torrent of such quasi-racial slurs ever since this happened from all parts of England's.
Sadly all too common l'm afraid.

From thieving to Hillsborough, which is seen by many as an example of Liverpool thriving on grief and not being able to let things drop, especially in Sheffield. I was also involved in a conversation this week where someone claimed that 'scousers' are inward looking and don't like to leave their own city.

These prejudices have built up over the years to the extent where it now seems fairly common or even acceptable to say them in public, whether in jest or not.
 
#238 ·
Re fans drunk, its an absolutely despicable blame shifting allegation to make but even if any were, its the police's job to manage that. Too many officers that day were there for easy overtime and froze when they needed to do what they were trained for. Are the South Yorkshire Police saying that every single sporting event and concert that ever took place has had all attendees perfectly sober.
Re The S*n, Kelvin McKenzie called Kenny Dalglish and asked how they could stop work together to stop the down turn in sales and Dalglish said 'You know the Headline THE TRUTH, print another front page with 'WE LIED'. McKenzie replied 'I can't do that' and Dalglish said 'I can't help you then' and put the phone down. They have maintained the stance ever since that LFC fans were at fault and wallowing in self pity now. When they'apologised' in 2004 after they got a Wayne Rooney serialisation it was one paragraph apology and 3 paragraphs about self pity and refusing to forgive/forget (by the paper which brings up WW2" and 1966 when England play Germany) They only ever acknowledged they were wrong in September 2012, too little too late.
 
#239 ·
They sort of realised they were wrong but they never went with "WE LIED" nor did they reveal their sources.

**** them, they tried it on when £30 million of lost revenue got compounded by, ahem, bad press. Snidey shitehawks.

DON'T BUY THE SUN
 
#240 ·
When News International was rumbled in connection with phone hacking the rich, the famous and the influential they were forced by political pressure into two actions.

One was to recompense those they had mistreated financially as individuals and the other was to close down the News of the World then, allegedly the highest selling Sunday newspaper in the world. They were also dragged before a select committee and given a very public dressing down by a bunch of irate MP's.

However, they can falsely accuse 96 dead people and continuously degenerate a city for over 20 years and hey ho who gives a damn! Where is the £100,000 payments to the 96 individual families who suffered a lot more than Jude Law or some B List celebrity and where is the Mia Culpa action of closing down the S*n in a mirror image of the NoW?

Justice depends on stature and where you sit in the the strata of British society so even though I was there on the day and personally knew friends and families who lost loved ones on the day there is one thing I have learned over the years and that is the words 'British - Justice and Morality' never appear in the same sentence together.
 
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