I wrote about Hillsborough more than I wrote about any other subject during my 33 years at the ECHO.
In The Talk of Liverpool, I wanted to concentrate on the fantastic successes achieved by the families, survivors and each and every campaigner. I wanted to focus largely on events in 2012 and 2016 – the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report and the findings of the second inquests.
A momentous week that changed Liverpool forever, September 15, 2012
What a week for the Hillsborough families. What a week for the survivors. What a week for truth and justice. What a week for the city of Liverpool.
For more than 23 years campaigners had so often found themselves derided, defamed and damned by those who thought they knew better. Better? They knew nothing.
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But everything changed on September 12, 2012 – the day of judgement for so many people in so many positions of power in so many parts of this country.
No one knows exactly where and when this story will finish and reflecting on these past few days, it’s impossible to know where to start.
There are so many things we will never forget. People wanted to be told the whole story, and the Hillsborough Independent Panel very nearly achieved this impossible feat.
But how many of us dared to believe that the day’s events would be so dramatic, so damning of authority figures – and provide so much of a boost to the campaigners, by repeatedly confirming so many things they have been saying for so many years?
I’ll never forget hearing the first whispers of what was to come as I was standing in the car park at Liverpool Cathedral, waiting for the Lady Chapel to be opened to the nation’s media. The families and survivors were already inside hearing from the Panel and looking at its report and, if what we were hearing was correct, they must have been reeling. Police computer checks were carried out on those victims with a non-zero alcohol level? No, that had to be wild, wide-of-the-mark speculation. Shamefully, it wasn’t. And knowing what we know now, it’s a wonder only three family members fainted as they were being given this and other information.
I’ll never forget the gasps of astonishment from journalists as they turned over the pages of the press release, executive summary and report.
I’ll never forget the feeling that, suddenly, everything had been turned on its head – vindication belonged to the families and condemnation to those named and shamed in the report. I’ll never forget that this day, more than any other in the fight for justice, was a day of mixed emotions. People rightly celebrated being given the truth – but were left heartbroken by the horror of so much of it.
I’ll never forget the smiles on people’s faces, thumbs up, hugs and general scenes of solidarity at the vigil on St George’s Plateau. I’ll never forget how the day’s events dominated the night’s national news programmes. At last, the whole nation was talking about this grave injustice. I am so, so pleased to be able to say I will never forget the never-say-die words of the inspirational Phil Hammond, former chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, who has always said: “Something will turn up.”
Well done to the Hillsborough Independent Panel. Well done to the Hillsborough families and survivors. Well done to the city of Liverpool. And well done to the countless Merseysiders who never gave up campaigning for the truth. For more than 23 years, malicious and malignant members of the Establishment had it all their own way, but the tide turned on Wednesday.
This week belonged to us – and so does the future.
A day we will never forget: the Hillsborough inquests verdicts
It wasn’t a dream, was it? 11.13am, Tuesday April 26, 2016.
Remember the day? Remember the time? No, there is no need for the fantastic Hillsborough families, survivors, campaigners and all their supporters – throughout Merseyside and beyond – to make a point of remembering the moment the truth was finally delivered. For what happened, and the time it happened, in the large room of a modern building in a nondescript business park in Warrington will never be forgotten by anyone who was there.
Back in the ECHO offices in Old Hall Street, Liverpool, I was staring at a Google document into which this paper’s dedicated – and brilliant – Hillsborough reporter, Eleanor Barlow, was writing a second-by-second report which was immediately transferred onto our website’s live blog.
I can only guess at the tension that existed inside that bright building in Cheshire. But in Old Hall Street, the tension certainly increased as the clock ticked towards the start of the final day of proceedings which had lasted for two years and 27 days – and a hush descended on the editorial floor at 11am.
Just 13 minutes later, that big “YES” was delivered. YES. The 96 Hillsborough victims HAD been unlawfully killed. We knew this. We knew this at 11.12am yesterday, just before the forewoman of the jury said the word. For pity’s sake, we knew it on the afternoon of April 15, 1989. But now, finally, a proper inquest had been held and a proper verdict delivered.
At 11.13am, when that “YES” appeared on my screen, I shouted out my own “YES!” – and then smashed my right fist onto my desk. Was that unprofessional and unbecoming behaviour? I really couldn’t care less.
The scene had been set just a minute earlier, with the jury’s response – another “Yes” – to question five of 14. It had been asked: “When the order was given to open the exit gates at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium, was there any error or omission by the commanding officers in the control box which caused or contributed to the crush on the terrace?” The forewoman said “Yes” – and added: “Commanding officers did not inform officers in the inner concourse prior to the opening of Gate C. Commanding officers failed to consider where fans would go. Commanding officers failed to order the closure of the central tunnel prior to the opening of Gate C”.
And then came THAT question and THAT answer. The jury was asked “Are you satisfied, so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?” Then came that beautiful three-letter word… “Yes”. There were cheers and there was applause in the courtroom. The families, survivors and campaigners had waited 27 years and 11 days to hear this word.
The truth had finally been delivered. The insulting words “accidental death” had been wiped from the records. That question had been question six. And the very next question was also of enormous importance. “Was there any behaviour on the part of the football supporters which caused or contributed to the dangerous situation at the Leppings Lane turnstiles?” The forewoman answered “No.” More applause – and another outpouring of emotion.
Anybody who had been a part of this day of days will never forget it. And they will certainly never forget the moment they heard that particular word at 11.13am.
YES! At long bloody last, things had been made crystal clear to the world.
- The Talk of Liverpool by Paddy Shennan (RRP £14.99, Mirror Books) is on sale tomorrow, June 30. Save £3 with code RB5 on mirrorbooks.co.uk
