Hillsborough inquests: David Duckenfield admits gate lie

[LeftishBrit]

The match commander on the day of the Hillsborough disaster has admitted he lied about fans forcing an exit gate open to enter the ground.

Relatives of the 96 fans who died gasped as David Duckenfield told the new inquests: "I apologise unreservedly to the families."

He said: "Everybody knew the truth, the fans and police knew the truth that we'd opened the gates."...

He was in charge of policing at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium on 15 April 1989 when a fatal crush developed in terraced pens allocated to Liverpool fans.

(More at link)


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-31821211

[BlueCollar]

1. bastard!

YNWA

[Ken Burch]

2. Why the hell did he lie about it? n/t.

[LeftishBrit]

3. To cover up his own and the rest of the police's incompetence in doing their job

The police tried at the time to blame the disaster mainly on the fans themselves; but their story had a lot of holes from the beginning, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the police mishandled the situation very badly, and enabled too many people to enter at once, which was the main cause of the disaster.