Hillsborough match commander will not testify at his trial
The former South Yorkshire police officer who was match commander during the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 people died will not give evidence at his trial for manslaughter.
“My lord, we don’t call Mr Duckenfield to give evidence,” Benjamin Myers QC, defending, told the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, at Preston crown court.
The defence then read a statement and evidence given in previous proceedings by the former South Yorkshire police superintendent Bernard Murray, who was on duty with David Duck
enfield, then a chief superintendent, at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium in May 1989.
The court heard that Murray, while giving evidence to Lord Justice Taylor’s official inquiry into the disaster, had said he was “in overall control of the police control room, and the match itself”, and was “obviously adviser to the officer in charge, Mr Duckenfield”.
Referring to the moment when Duckenfield gave the order for exit gate C to be opened to alleviate a crush at the Leppings Lane turnstiles, Murray said he had not connected that opening with the tunnel opposite, which led to the central pens of the terrace. Murray said he had not made the connection because the gate was not used for entry.
The jury has been told that most of the approximately 2,500 people who came through gate C went down the tunnel, and the lethal crush happened in central pens three and four. Asked about the risk of overcrowding, Murray said: “I didn’t think of any risk to fans in pens three and four.”The Crown Prosecution Service told the jury it was dropping one of two charges against Graham Mackrell, the Sheffield Wednesday club secretary and safety officer for Hillsborough at the time of the disaster. The charge alleged that Mackrell had breached the club’s safety certificate by failing to agree “methods of admission” to the semi-final with police.
Richard Matthews QC, the lead barrister for the prosecution, told the jury: “The crown at the close of the case accept that there is insufficient evidence on which Mr Mackrell can be convicted of count two.”
The remaining charge against Mackrell is that he breached the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to take reasonable care to have sufficient turnstiles available for the semi-final so that “no unduly large crowds would be waiting for admission”.
The jury has heard there were 23 turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end to provide access for the 24,000 people with tickets allocated to support Liverpool in the north and west stands and the Leppings Lane terrace.
A particular of the charge was dropped which alleged Mackrell had failed to draw up contingency plans to deal with a situation in which the number of turnstiles had proved insufficient to prevent unduly large crowds building up.
Jason Beer QC, defending Mackrell, said his client would not be giving evidence at the trial. Evidence given by the late Ch Supt Brian Mole, the Hillsborough match commander whom Duckenfield replaced on 27 March 1989, at previous proceedings was read out.
He said he had stipulated that the Leppings Lane turnstiles should be used solely for Liverpool supporters, as the way of segregating the two clubs’ supporters, and that at the identical semi-final in 1988, no unduly large crowds had built up.
Beer read character references for Mackrell from Howard Wilkinson, the former Sheffield Wednesday manager, other senior football administrators, and the former Labour deputy leader and Sheffield Wednesday supporter Roy Hattersley. Wilkinson and Mackrell currently work together at the League Managers Association.
Openshaw gave legal directions to the jury about how they should consider the offences.
Matthews is expected to make the prosecution’s closing speech on Thursday.