https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-48253507

Can someone please clarify that Graham Mackrell has been prosecuted as a Director under section 37 of Health and Safety at Work Act rather than as “safety officer” (ie Health and Safety professional) under some other part of the Act (Section 7 or 36). The BBC report does not make this clear.  

Edited by user 13 May 2019 20:25:46(UTC)  | Reason: more info

Since we had a near miss (Spurs V Wolves FA Cup Semi final at the same ground in 1981) where the walls collapsed and fans spilled out onto the pitch therby easing congestion and stopping fans getting crushed to death, Hillsborough 96 should never have happened.

The only "improvements/lessons learnt" from that incident was for Sheffield Wednesday to reinforce the walls to stop them collapsing therby removing the main safety valve for overcrowding the stadium.

There are many, many unanswered questions, such as:-

Why the FA decided to award Sheff Wed another FA cup semi final should be investigated.

The reasoning behind Sheff Wed decision to reinforce the walls should be ascertained.

The policing of the event where they funneled an inapproiate number of fans into a single stand.

Why did the local authority issue a safety certificate.

Laying the blame on a single person who was not a H&S professional at the time looks like nothing more than a sacrificial scapegoat offering.

It seems that the original CPS charges were:

• Graham Henry Mackrell, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club’s company secretary and safety officer at the time, was charged with two offences of contravening a term of condition of a safety certificate contrary to the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975(as RoundTuit suggested). Also one offence of failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of other persons who may have been affected by his acts or omissions at work under the Health and Safety Act 1974

The former were dropped during trial, the latter is s.7(a) wording – I initially thought it may have been s.37 (as he was also the Company Secretary) but they went for Section 7.

I have commented on this event on numerous platforms, and as earlier people have identified, lessons learned are negligable.

Guilty Mind and Guilty Act - The FA have never in their part been identified as culpable for the tragedy, interesting as it is the FA Cup; they themselves sanction the tie and also sanction the ground, so surely there is failure here?  They surely have to do a due diligence process to determine the ground's suitability to deliver a safe semi-final experience for the fans and players?

Liverpool were given the Leppings Lane end of the ground, with minimal turnstiles, though it was known they had the largest following?  They also travelled from the west to the 'east' part of the ground?  Forest fans came from the south and headed to the western turnstyles?  Strange.

'sentenced' is a bit strong isn't it? hardly appropriate for the 'crime'

There's an important aspect not considered here- Thatcher was doing her very best to irradicate the 'English disease' therefore ALL football fans were criminals to be treated with uptmost contempt.

If you ever get the chance google Bernard Ingram's letter to a Hillsborough victims family, in fact i'll save you the effort, here is the text;

"Thank you for your letter of June 13. I am sorry you are disgusted with the uncomfortable truth about the real cause of the Hillsborough disaster. It is my unhappy experience to find that most reasonable people outside Merseyside recognise the truth of what I say.

All I get from Merseyside is abuse. I wonder why. You are at least right in believing that you will have to put up with my discomforting views. I cherish the hope that as time goes on you will come to recognise the truth of what I say.

After all, who if not the tanked up yobs who turned up late determined to get into the ground caused the disaster? To blame the police, even though they may have made mistakes, is contemptible."

I was sat at home in the kitchen, by 1989 I had moved from Liverpool to my mothers home town of Plymouth, my dad hand called from Liverpool telling me he had got lucky and been offered ticket, obviously this was years prior to mobile telephones, I didn;t hear from him again until 9pm that night.................................................

Edited by user 20 May 2019 08:19:08(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Absolutely nothing to do with Thatcher.

Speakingas someone from personal experience of the 1981 semi-final where 38 Spurs fans received crush injuries due to overcrowding and policing.

No one was drunk due a bad traffic accident on the M1 delaying the flotilla of coaches and cars, mini buses travelling by a 90+ mins.

The scope for getting drunk pre match at that time was very limited as most pubs opened at 11am and closed at 3pm allowing for travelling time you could get a couple of pints, but that would be about it.

I can only assume that Bernard Ingram never actually attended football matches in the 80's as most of the drunken behaviour he alludes occurred at European matches or Seaside towns when fans go for the weekend and spent all day drinking with disastrous consequences.

The main reason justice will not be served seems to be that Sheff Wed of 1980's effectively ceased to exist when Mandarić's UK Football Investments bought it for £1 in 2010 when they were on the point of bankruptcy.

The main cause of this is overcrowding, so the controlling minds that said it was ok to put 10,000+ people into the Leppings lane stand when it clearly isn't should be held to account. given that you had a very near miss in 1981 how on earth could you permit the same thing to happen in 1986?

For me the controlling minds are Sheff Wed 1981, The FA & Yorkshire police.