Hillsborough trial: Risk of deadly crush was ‘obvious’ before disaster, court hears
Prosecutors say hindsight not necessary to identify failings in crowd management after 1981 crush
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The risk of Liverpool fans being crushed to death at Hillsborough was “obvious” long before the start of the 1989 FA Cup semi-final in which 96 people died, a court has heard.
A prosecutor at the trial of Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield told Preston Crown Court that the danger was shown by a series of previous overcrowding incidents, and made worse by the failings Mr Duckenfield and Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell.
“There was an obvious, serious and very present risk of death from crushing to those entering the Leppings Lane area of the stadium,” Richard Matthews QC told the jury on Wednesday.
“It involves no hindsight to recognise that if there is a need to prevent too many people from entering a particular wholly confined area, bounded by metal fencing, that is to avoid crushing and that with crushing comes the real risk of death.”
The court was played footage of the hours and minutes leading up to the disaster on 15 April 1989.
The footage showed a crush developing outside the turnstiles in Leppings Lane as Liverpool fans tried to enter the stadium in time for the 3pm kick-off.
The fenced pens behind the goal, where the disaster would unfold minutes later, were already full but prosecutors said police “did nothing” to stop more spectators from flooding in.
The court heard that lives were saved in a crush at Hillsborough stadium eight years before the disaster because gates at the front of pens three and four were opened as an escape route.
A jury deciding whether match commander David Duckenfield was responsible for the deaths of 95 victims was told police vowed to “learn lessons” from the averted tragedy in 1981.
A letter from South Yorkshire Police to the chairman of Sheffield Wednesday in June 1981 said “letting spectators onto the track was not only necessary, but was vital to avoid further serious injuries and possibly save life ... the searching examination should be in regard to why such emergency action was ever necessary”.
Police officers on duty in the 1988 FA Cup semi-final match, also played between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, said a tunnel leading to pens three and four was closed off by officers to prevent overcrowding.
But a year later, the tunnel into the pens remained open and the escape gates shut, as 96 people suffered fatal injuries.
The court also heard that Hillsborough stadium’s safety certificate had not been updated since 1979, despite changes to the layout including new fences splitting the West Terrace into pens.
An expert witness is to tell the jury that Sheffield Wednesday’s designated safe capacity for the fenced areas had been “overstated from the outset”, by thousands.
Mr Matthews said the 23 turnstiles designated to 24,000 Liverpool fans entering the stadium from Leppings Lane were not enough for them to enter safely in the time given.
He told the jury that a plan drawn up before the match made clear that 10,100 people passing through turnstiles A to G would immediately be faced with the central tunnel leading to pens three and four.
It was marked “standing” with a large sign above, and although two other tunnels to the left and right led to the terrace, the signage was too small to be seen.
Mr Matthews said that to carry out reasonable care as match commander, Mr Duckenfield should have identified the “obvious hazard” posed by the layout.
He added that an electronic counting system on the turnstiles showed that half an hour before the match, only 40 per cent of Liverpool supporters had entered the stadium but the kick-off was not delayed.
The court heard that the turnstile system had been installed “primarily to deter fraud, rather than for safety”.
Mr Duckenfield, now 74, denies gross negligence manslaughter and Mr Mackrell, 69, denies two health and safety offences.
Ninety-four of the 96 victims died on the day of the disaster, while Lee Nicol passed away as a result of his injuries two days later.
There can be no prosecution over the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after his injuries were caused.
The trial continues.
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Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the third day of the Hillsborough trial. The jury is to hear details of how the 1989 disaster unfolded. Match commander David Duckenfield denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 victims, and former Sheffield Wednesday safety officer Graham Mackrell denies two health and safety offences.
Yesterday, Preston Crown Court heard that "extraordinarily bad failings" by Mr Duckenfield caused the fatal crush at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough stadium, in Sheffield.
The jury has arrived in the court and Richard Matthews QC, for the prosecution, is continuing opening its evidence against Mr Duckenfield and Mr Mackrell
Mr Matthews is telling the jury about Sheffield Wednesday's control room, which contained a PC in contact with the police control box and a club official, who was a former South Yorkshire Police superintendent himself
It also contains a man called Roger Houldsworth, who played a "major role" in the club's CCTV and electronic turnstile system
There were 15 cameras whose locations are currently known, Mr Matthews says
Each one was linked directly to a monitor. A diagram of the Sheffield Wednesday control room show that some were marked "turnstile monitor" and others with what they showed, including Gate C.
Mr Matthews says the cameras were in a fixed position, could not pan or zoom, and were not intended for crowd monitoring purposes.
There were also several BBC cameras in the ground that recorded footage on the 15th April 1989, and two South Yorkshire Police evidence gathering teams who had hand-held video cameras recording some of the crowd’s movements towards the stadium outside the ground
There were five South Yorkshire Police cameras, Mr Matthews says
Camera 1 had the ability to view Leppings Lane, the turnstiles, the inner concourse and aspects of the South Stand access road. Camera 5 gave a view of the Leppings Lane terrace. Cameras 3 (in colour) and 4 were located on the South Stand. Camera 2 overlooked Penistone Road
The jury are now being played a video modelling what live feeds could be seen from the police control box. Two monitors had the ability to pick which South Yorkshire Police camera to record two VCRs.
At 12pm on the day of the disaster, the area around the stadium appeared calm as preparations for the FA cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were underway
Mr Matthews says the CCTV retained was recorded from those two screens, which moved through different cameras during the day.
The video is now showing the CCTV viewed from Sheffield Wednesday's control room, whichw as separate to the police control room.
One monitor, sitting centrally in front of a desk, showed a feed from the police control box, which was controlled by a police officer. Another screen showed an electronic counting system, which had been installed "primarily to deter fraud, rather than for safety", Mr Matthews says.
Some turnstile operators had allegedly been taking cash to let people into the stadium without issuing tickets in the past.
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