LRD guides and handbook August 2020

Health and Safety Law 2020

Chapter 3

Hillsborough

[ch 3: page 59]

In November 2019, former South Yorkshire police chief superintendent David Duckenfield was found not guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 people who died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground. He was charged in June 2017 following a new police investigation and verdicts of unlawful killing returned by the jury at inquests held from 2014 to 2016. The retrial at Preston Crown Court followed an earlier trial where the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

Earlier, in May 2019, former Sheffield Wednesday football club secretary Graham Mackrell was fined £6,500 after he was found guilty of providing too few turnstiles for Liverpool fans entering the stadium that day. The fine amounted to just £67.70 for each person killed.