Seeds of Hillsborough disaster sown 10 years before crush, expert tells court

STADIUM FEATURES including turnstiles, signage, fences and an overstated capacity were all potential factors in the cause of the Hillsborough disaster, the trial of match commander David Duckenfield has heard.

Giving evidence to Preston Crown Court for a second day yesterday, structural engineer John Cutlack said the safe capacity for the West Terrace, where the fatal crush happened at the FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989, was about 30 per cent lower than the number of tickets sold.

The jury heard the safety certificate for Sheffield Wednesday showed the terrace had a capacity of 7,200, but Mr Cutlack calculated it would have been 5,426.

Under cross-examination by Benjamin Myers QC, defending Duckenfield, he agreed the stage would potentially be set for problems if more tickets were produced than a stadium could safely hold. Mr Cutlack told the court he was aware there had been issues of overcrowding at the ground in 1981 and 1987.

He said: “I think some of the seeds of this disaster were sown 10 years before, therefore it was likely when you had a capacity crowd some form of overcrowding could occur pretty much anywhere on that West Terrace.”

Mr Cutlack identified problems with the ground, including an insufficient number of turnstiles for the Leppings Lane end, confusing signage, crush barriers which were not all at the recommended height or spacing and gates in the pitch perimeter fence which were less than the minimum recommended width.

He said that the tunnel, which led to the central pens of the terrace where 96 Liverpool fans suffered fatal injuries, should have been manned to ensure overcrowding did not occur, and its slope was irregular and in places too steep.

Mr Cutlack agreed that each of the points identified potentially “had a part to play in what happened”.

Duckenfield, 74, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans.