Hillsborough review turns up more claims of altered evidence
LONDON: The BBC is to release previously unseen footage of the Hillsborough disaster to next year’s fresh inquests into the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
The development was revealed at a packed final pre-inquest hearing in London ahead of the inquests, which are due to start in Warrington on March 31.
Britain’s worst sporting tragedy took place at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989 when football fans were crushed to death at the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final.
At the hearing, the barrister representing some of the families of the victims revealed an expert witness had looked at the hand-held video and concluded the pictures may have been edited.
It was also disclosed that 74 more police statements were allegedly altered than originally thought.
Coroner Lord Justice Goldring reassured relatives he remains “committed” to ensuring the inquests begin on time.
He told the hearing: “We will start when I’ve said we will start.”
New documents
The hearing was told that the materials involved in the inquest were “unprecedented in terms of scale and complexity” and new documents would be made available right until the last moment as investigations into the disaster are still continuing.
The hearing was also told that jurors are likely to be taken to Hillsborough when the inquests get under way in an effort to give them a better knowledge of how the disaster unfolded.
While Pete Weatherby QC, representing 21 victims’ families, also said that handheld footage filmed by police at Hillsborough might have been edited, according to an expert who looked at the images.
He asked for an audiovisual expert to be among those to give evidence to the inquest to ensure that the best possible copies were shown to the jury.
At the hearing, the barrister representing some of the families of the victims revealed an expert witness had looked at the hand-held video and concluded the pictures may have been edited.
It was also disclosed that 74 more police statements were allegedly altered than the original known 164. This would raise the total number to 238 statements known to have been altered, in most cases to edit out criticisms of South Yorkshire Police.
Of the 238 officers accused of tampering with statements, some 220 are still alive and 57 have already been interviewed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The IPCC hopes to complete all police interviews by February 2014 before the new inquest begins in March. The inquest will be held in Warrington in front of a jury and is expected to last six to nine months.
The original inquest verdicts of accidental death were quashed in December, three months after the damning findings of Hillsborough Independent Panel report were released.
Two inquiries are also taking place: the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the aftermath of the disaster, while the Stoddart Inquiry team is examining what went wrong on the day.
######################
