Hillsborough ‘focus on ticket fraud rather than fan safety’

TURNSTILE security systems were set up to detect ticketless football fans rather than ensure stadium safety on the day of the Hillsborough disaster, a court heard.

Jurors at the manslaughter trial of David Duckenfield, a former South Yorkshire Police chief, were told how “hooliganism and the effort to prevent hooligan violence had a profound effect on football” in the years before 96 innocent Liverpool fans were killed in a crush at an FA Cup semi-final in 1989.

Richard Matthews QC, the lead prosecuting barrister, said it was “not in any way merely with hindsight” that there was an “obvious, serious and very present risk of death from crushing”. The disaster happened eight years after police averted a tragedy at the same stadium by opening perimeter gates.

On the day in 1989 when Liverpool were due to play Nottingham Forest in Sheffield, South Yorks, police were outside the ground filming crowd movements.

It was ‘not in any way merely with hindsight’ that there was … ‘a very present risk of death from crushing’

However, turnstile security systems were set up to detect fraud – operators allowing in people without a ticket – rather than safety issues, Mr Matthews said. The safety certificate for the stadium was also “very out of date”, having been issued in 1979, Preston Crown Court heard.

On each turnstile, an electronic switch recorded when a person went through. When 90 per cent of the capacity for each zone was reached, the colour on a computer screen changed.

Mr Duckenfield, 74, of Bournemouth, who was the match-day commander, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 supporters. Under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after being injured.

Mr Duckenfield appeared alongside Graham Mackrell, 69, a former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary, of Stocking Pelham, Herts, who is charged with contravening a term or condition of the stadium’s safety certificate and failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety Act.

The trial continues