Now on bbc news, witness history comes from the Royal Academy in london, with razia iqbal. As part of the bbcs crossing divides season we hear two perspectives on the 1979 iranian hostage crisis. 96 football fans were unlawfully killed at hillsborough stadium. But after 30 years, a jurys decided the man in charge on that april day in 1989 is not criminally responsible for their deaths. We say 96 were unlawfully killed. And yet not one person is accountable. The question id like to ask all of you, and people within the system, then who put the 96 in their graves . Commentator beardsley 0h, hes hit the bar tremendous effort. It was one of the biggest games of the season. But as the match kicked off, a terrible sequence of events was reaching its awful conclusion. Football fans were already dead and dying on the terraces when it was abandoned. Theyre all collapsed here i dont remember anything about the football being played because at that time i was fighting for my life. Commentator and there are fans on the pitch here in the six yard area. Three decades since britains worst ever sporting disaster, a jury has acquitted the man in charge of policing on that fateful day at hillsborough stadium of the manslaughter of 95 football fans. If youre told that your loved one is unlawfully killed, somebodys got to be responsible for that unlawful killing. David duckenfield was in charge when a gate was opened to let fans into the ground. But the crush it helped relieve spilt onto the terraces with fatal consequences. He then tried to blame fans for this catastrophic decision. Ill never forgive him for his actions on that day. Its not a question ofjust, what did you do wrong on the day . Its, what did you deny for all those years . What followed was 30 years of torment for the bereaved, traumatised families and survivors, as they fought to expose the truth behind duckenfields lie. If wed have had a criminal trial 30 years ago, you know, it would have been put to bed by now, but weve not been allowed to grieve. But after all this time, could justice for those who lost their lives that day ever really be done . After what became the longest criminal investigation in english history, involving hundreds of detectives and costing tens of millions of pounds, just two people were prosecuted, and the only one accused of manslaughter has been acquitted. Whats been achieved . I still feel that diminishing responsibility of hillsborough to the prosecution of one Single Police officer and the secretary of the football club, i think that was a wrong decision. I would have wanted to have seen far more people prosecuted. David duckenfields arrival at Preston Crown court in early october for the first day of his trial represented one more step in a 30 yearjourney a quest for truth, justice and accountability. But was that ever realistic . The court heard that duckenfield was out of his depth and ill prepared to take charge of a game of this magnitude. 0ur our policy is always will be a fair but firm policing prophecy. Policy. This was seasoned match commander brian mole briefing his officers before the 1988 semifinal. Hed also been in charge the year before. The day is a football day. I said last year and i mean it today, football should be enjoyed by the families that come. And if anybodys thinking of causing trouble, dont come, stay away. If they do, theyll be firmly and positively dealt with. But at a stroke, all that experience was lost, as with just three weeks to go before the semifinal, duckenfield was put in charge. Previously, there had been Police Cordons across leppings lane with officers checking tickets and slowing the flow of fans, but not in 1989. Duckenfields lack of preparation or knowledge was about to play out with tragic consequences. With feeds from multiple cameras inside the grounds own cctv unit and a clear overview from his own police box, he could monitor all around the ground. But events were spiralling out of his control. As thousands of fans were getting crushed at leppings lane, the police opened a gate into the ground to relieve the pressure. But they didnt think about where the supporters would go next. At that stage, David Duckenfield should also have ordered the closure of the tunnel into the pens that would have reduced the crush on the already full terraces, but he never gave that order. William crawford was a Police Sergeant at hillsborough. He gave evidence at duckenfields trial. His testimony laid bare the chaos of the policing on that day. There was a complete meltdown on the radios, or with the radios. No effective control was established as the fans arrived, and communication between the officers and the control room was haphazard at best. Sergeant crawford and his colleagues never heard the order to open the gate. In fact, the gates had been opened by the police in a misguided attempt to relieve the crush. You can see the problems were happening in the turnstiles itself. Fans getting crushed up against them. There was only one serial there on that day in 1989. Which was complete lack of manpower. The absence of Police Inside to direct the crowd as it surged forward through the open gates onto the already packed terraces meant the crush was now unavoidable. The buck stops with David Duckenfield. He is the person in charge. Hes the commander on the day. So, what he says goes. And thats it. I dont blame David Duckenfield. I blame the person who put him in that position. The consequences of the gate opening were captured on multiple sources photos, film and audio. For the last seven years, hundreds of detectives have been painstakingly putting together the pieces of a media jigsaw to give a comprehensive second by second chronology that tells the real story of that afternoon. The av is crucial to the investigation because peoples recollection of what happened on the day may fade over time. However, when youre using the cctv, this does not change. All these cameras have all been put on one multiscreen and theyre all sequenced to the time which is shown on the bottom of the screen. If you could imagine that youre in the middle of a disaster or a very emotional situation, and were stood next to one another, your account might be slightly different to mine, and where the cctv footage would verify which account is correct. It helps the investigation to establish what the witness did, what they saw, and it also will assist the court in establishing that what the witness is saying is accurate. And, bearing in mind, that this happened 30 years ago. Over the weeks of the trial, witnesses have recalled the events of that afternoon. For one group of people following the court proceedings, its meant reliving an experience that none has ever really fully recovered from emotionally. During the legal processes, the focus quite rightfully 100 , first things first, is on those who were unlawfully killed. And of course, the first person youd feel sympathy to is the loved ones and the direct relatives of those. Damian, ian and diane were amongst the supporters on the west terrace that afternoon, fenced into pens designed to prevent pitch invasions. It was like a vice. I didnt feel a surge. I felt it was like, slowly and surely, it was just getting worse and worse. Clamouring ian has a particularly strong memory of standing in the pens. This bbc footage shows 19 year old ian in the red tracksuit. We were screaming at a Police Officer to open the gate of pen two. Ijust remember vividly one lad saying, my brothers in there, hes dying. Let me out, let me out. I dont remember anything about the football being played because at that time i was fighting for my life. Every time i took a breath, it was stopping at my throat, because i just couldnt expand my lungs, at all. I gave up. I knew i was dying. You knew. You just knew that you were going to die. And the next thing i knew, there was a pile of bodies next to me, erm. Irememberthinking, i need to go and help, because i was actually, im actually a nurse. I was a student nurse at the time. But my body just couldnt do anything. And the guilt of not helping. Isjust unreal. But, on the day, media outlets, including the bbc, reported as fact duckenfields lie that fans had forced open the gate. Fans rushed through a broken turnstile, crushing Liverpool Supporters against the front of the stand. The radio was full of it. And it was said that the gate had been smashed open. And of course David Duckenfield now confesses that he said that the liverpool fans had broken in. It wasnt true. The history of hillsborough has hung heavily over proceedings here at Preston Crown court. Families and campaigners, who have listened to countless legal deliberations over the years, have found it hard to do so again. Duckenfield was charged with the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 people. But its widely known that 96 fans died as a result of that day. Under the law at the time, he couldnt be prosecuted for the manslaughter of tony bland, as he died more than a year and a day after the disaster. Only three of those bereaved by the disaster gave evidence. Barry devonside recalled how he witnessed the crush that led to the death of his 18 year old son christopher. Dolores steele compared the scene that unfolded to a battleground, and told how her husband had to identify the body of their 15 year old son, philip. Jenni hicks, who lost both her teenage daughters, sarah and victoria, sat and listened as her ex husband trevor told the court their heartbreaking story. I obviously felt for trevor, having to relive that experience, and it took me right back to the day, to some of the emotions that i had then, so it was tough. Its almost like ive had two lives. The life before hillsborough, and the life after hillsborough. We were a family when we drove to the match that day. Theres four of us in the car. That night, when we drove home, there was two of us. So, we went from being a family a few hours later, we were a couple. The hardest part about this time to me is that we had an unlawfully killed verdict at the inquest three years ago. It took the cps 18 months to bring this case and ive sat there and had to watch the evidence being demolished, if you like. And thats been very, very painful. David duckenfield was finally facing a jury. No one disputes he failed that afternoon, but had he committed a crime . That question has twice come before court this year. The first time, he was tried alongside sheffield wednesdays former club secretary. Graham mackrell was found guilty of a health and safety offence in his role as Safety Officer of the club for providing just seven turnstiles for the 10,000 standing liverpool fans. Sentencing, judge sir peter 0penshaw said that whilst his actions had set the scene for the disaster, they were not a direct cause of the deaths. He was fined just £6,500. Hillsborough hasnt harmed your career, mr mackrell. Isnt it time to resign . In David Duckenfields case, the jury deliberated for more than 29 hours but couldnt agree whether or not he was guilty. The judge ordered a retrial. Professor phil scraton is an expert on hillsborough, having taken a leading role in the independent panels report into the disaster. He thinks it was a mistake in that first trial to jointly prosecute the two men in the same proceedings. Maybe it should have been decoupled from the prosecution against mackrell, the club secretary. I still feel that diminishing responsibility of hillsborough to the prosecution of one Single Police officer and the secretary of the football club, and thats a lesser charge, of course, i think that was a wrong decision. I would have wanted to have seen far more people prosecuted for their acts and their omissions. It does mean that all of the weight of responsibility for all that thejury in preston was asked to decide was duckenfields prosecution bitterly unfair, according to his defence barrister or was he criminally liable for the deaths of so many football fans . Ben myers said that no matter how great the jurys sympathy may be for those whove suffered, convicting David Duckenfield as a way of expressing it would be very wrong indeed. He said he was being judged by different standards to other people. This is the third manslaughter trial duckenfield has faced, so how was he tried three times for effectively the same offence . In the year 2000, David Duckenfield and his Deputy Bernard murray faced trial in leeds crown court. The hillsborough families had to bring private proceedings against the two men and their burning sense of injustice was fuelled by arguments over which evidence could be heard. This First Court Case was based on the finding by the original inquest coroner that all 95 fans had died by 3. 15pm. The jury failed to reach a verdict on the charges against duckenfield. Bernard murray was acquitted. To be considered responsible for such a terrible tragedy is a very, very heavy burden to bear. We stand by what weve done. We are not looking for scapegoats. We have put our case in a court of law exactly as we said we would do, and we very nearly won. We have not lost. This memorial at hillsborough is somewhere for fans and families to come and pay their respects. But it was on the 20th anniversary at anfield that an emotional outpouring would become a turning point. Chanting justice for the 96 in 2009, after the Memorial Service at anfield, the then culture minister andy burnham called for the release of all documents relating to the hillsborough disaster. Three years later, the Hillsborough Independent Panel reported back with shocking conclusions about when the victims died. The families say that, for 23 years, theyve never had the truth. Do you now feel that thats changed for them and this is the truth . In the process of the panels work, on more than one occasion the families have said to me that this is the first time that they feel theyve ever been taken seriously and that anybody has ever really listened to them. If today says one thing to the world, we are vindicated in our search for the truth. Despite the inquest coroners insistence on a 3. 15pm cut off point for all those who died, the panel determined that 41 victims could have survived had they received timely medical treatment. Indeed, the new evidence that we are presented with today makes clear in my view that these families have suffered a double injustice. Prime minister David Cameron apologised. Home secretary theresa may ordered a new criminal inquiry into the disaster and the verdicts in the first inquest were quashed. After the truth we heard on september the 12th, it has to be followed up with accountability and i think today is the first step in that, which is brilliant. The new inquest in warrington was the longest case ever heard by a jury in british legal history. More than 500 witnesses were called, including David Duckenfield. Do you agree with the following that people died in a crush in the central pens, that closing the tunnel would have prevented that and therefore would have prevented the tragedy . Yes, sir. That you failed to recognise that there was a need to close that tunnel. I did fail to recognise that, sir, yes. And that failure was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 persons in the hillsborough tragedy. They sing youll never walk alone the verdicts, when they came, brought an outpouring of emotion and vindication for the families. All their loved ones had been unlawfully killed and they werent to blame. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart. This bittersweet moment was 25 years in the making. I never thought in my wildest dreams that we would get this decision. I always hoped, i dreamt that we would get this decision. Im very glad we did. I want to look tonight at the sky and tell christopher, we did our best. We couldnt do any more than that. There is some solace in the fact that, after all this time, thorough investigations have actually vindicated the families belief of what happened at hillsborough. Within the last year, a new Survivors Group has been formed to help those who were there. Some are only now speaking to each other about their experiences for the first time. I think the support is the main thing. Weve got together. And youre with people that understand and obviously empathise with what you went through that day, and what youve obviously had to live with over the last nearly 30 years. Going back to what happened to us in1989. I was diagnosed with ptsd to a moderately severe extent. I went through counselling through the early stages and i think ive benefited over time with that. Im not saying my lifes been perfect and certainly ive had my issues and my troubles along the way, and when the subject of hillsborough comes up in the media, it regurgitates things, its a very difficult place. If you look at attitudes now, recent disasters thats happened in this country, i think the way that people who survived things like that are looked at far more constructively, or the welfare of them. It just wasnt of its time in the late 19805 and people have struggled. The hillsborough legacy affects even those who werent yet alive on that day 30 years ago. I was born into hillsborough. So, none of us really knew brian, but we feel like we did. Hes spoken about absolutely every single day. Deannas uncle, brian matthews, was 38 when he died. He came from a large merseyside family who have spent 30 years campaigning on his behalf. Brians sister debbie has passed the baton to the next generation. His niece deanna was born after hillsborough but, driven by injustice to herfamily, shes training to be a barrister. Ive never actually been to the hillsborough stadium myself but i could draw you out a plan of the ground, i could show you the entry route, i could detail all the turnstiles, the barriers, absolutely everything. Deannas interest came about from being a baby in a little carry tot and i used to take her to the hillsborough Family Support meetings. People went to that Football Game as a family. Dads went with their sons. Dads came home with their sons in body bags. You went as a family on a saturday to watch a Football Team play. There shouldnt have been any risk that you wouldnt come home. There shouldnt have been any risk that you would not be safe while you were there. If wed have had a criminal trial 30 years ago, it would have been put to bed by now, but weve not been allowed to grieve. Theres frustration that the prosecution earlier this year failed to capitalise on the inquestjurys conclusion of unlawful killing. We sat through two and a half years of evidence in warrington and there was lots and lots and lots brought up about alcohol, drunkenness, ticketless hooligans. And theres, you know, theres not one shred of evidence against that. And, yet, you know, here we are now, you know, during this trial and its getting brought up again. Its inevitable that, once the trial starts, families say, we know all this. Weve heard all of this. Why arent they asking this question . That was in the inquest. The reason is, the slate has to be wiped clean before the prosecution starts, because otherwise youre influencing the jury with that which has gone before. They can only decide on guilt or innocence on the basis of what they hear in that court. However painful it is to relive the events of the 15th of april, 1989, survivors and family members have been determined to witness the court proceedings. Some watched over a video link to liverpools cunard building. This time around, deanna and Debbie Matthews made the trip to preston. Itjust feels like groundhog day. Its like, the third chance of it, last chance saloon, so all we can do is just hope that it goes better this time. I should be well used to it by now but ive got butterflies i make no excuses. I was the man who did it. What i would like to say to the liverpool families is this i regret that omission, and i shall regret it to my dying day. And, then, a more general apology for the families pain and suffering. I deeply regret what happened on the day. It was a major mistake on my part. I apologise unreservedly to the families and i hope they believe it is a very, very sincere apology. But that was it. In this recent trial, the jury was told that David Duckenfields post Traumatic Stress disorder made it undesirable for him to speak. This is the third time that a jury has chosen not to convict David Duckenfield, but for the first time theyve gone further and found him not guilty of the manslaughter of all the men, women and children who died at hillsborough. The reaction after three decades of campaigning was always bound to be emotional. 376 days of inquests, in which our loved ones were found to be unlawfully killed, and thats the one thing that will remain as part of history, that the 96 people at hillsborough were unlawfully killed. These families, i look at their faces. Please, god, give them some peace. They deserve it. Most importantly, them 96 deserve it. Somebody should have been found responsible for that today and they werent, and that is something everybody will have to have on their conscience. Weve done all we can for our loved ones, theres nothing more that we could do, and ijust hope that everybody else can sleep easy tonight knowing theyve taken away our chance to grieve. Justice delayed has certainly been justice denied. Hello again. Many of us saw that sunny but cold weather work its way in yesterday. Skies like these were pretty commonplace, not a great deal of cloud around and it wasnt too windy either. Youve really got more of the same to come as we look forward to the weekend weather prospects as well. Yes, its going to be sunny, but its also going to be cold. We have some sharp frost, and some fog patches around as well, but at least it will be dry for quite a few of us. Now, if youre heading outside over the next few hours, we do have clear skies for many areas, although a few showers coming and going across northern scotland and cloud keeping the frost at bay as well across the south west of england. Otherwise its a cold night, it could be the coldest of the autumn, actually. Temperatures may well get down to 10 as we look at the first part of saturday morning. Those temperatures probably around six or seven in the morning. Travel, that could well be affected by fog patches around. If there are a couple of things fog hates, its low cloud and strengthening winds, and thats what well have moving in on saturday morning. That means the zone most at risk of seeing fog patches really stretches across the midlands into wales. We start with breaking news on the London Bridge attack the metropolitan police has just confirmed the identity of the attacker he is 0sman khan. What else do we know about 0sman khan . Attacker he is 0sman khan. What else do we know about osman khan . He was shot dead by the metropolitan police here in london during the afternoon. That is after he stabbed two people
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