David Duckenfield From rising star of South Yorkshire Police to a career left in tatters

David Duckenfield had been a chief superintendent for just 19 days when he was put in charge of the safety of fans at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough.

It was a role that ended his police career and left him with nightmares and flashbacks 30 years later.

His order to open an exit gate to let fans in allowed 2,000 to flood the stands, setting in motion a crush that claimed the lives of 96 people.

Until that day, Mr Duckenfield had been a rising star of his profession.

After joining South Yorkshire

Police as a cadet aged 16, he was made a sergeant nine years later.

Promoted to inspector in 1974 then chief inspector three years later, by 1983 he was a superintendent.

He was suspended from duty in August 1989 after the interim report into the Hillsborough disaster by Lord Justice Taylor, then retired on medical grounds in 1991, aged 46, after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The former superintendent left the force with an indexlinked pension worth a reported £23,000 a year.

He settled in rural Dorset with his wife.

A Freemason since 1975, he was elected as “worshipful master” of his local lodge a year after the disaster.

Relatives of the victims have waited for more than 30 years for criminal charges to be brought against the individuals whose decisionmaking on April 15 1989 led to the death of their loved ones.

During both his trials for the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans, Mr Duckenfield refused to give evidence. In his first trial, in which jurors failed to reach a verdict, the only sound he made was humming to keep his anger at bay.

At his retrial, he sat quiet and expressionless listening to the evidence put to the jury.

It was the final leg of what he called his “road to Damascus”, which had been littered with depression and alcohol abuse.

He previously admitted that his lack of foresight at Hillsborough was “one of the biggest regrets” of his life and that he had been “overcome by the enormity” of the decisions he had to make.

Phoebe Southworth and Tom Morgan