Hillsborough and David Conn

If you follow David Conn you'll know that he's sat through every minute of the latest Hillsborough inquest. A fine journalist and he's compiled an incredibly moving page dedicated to the 96 including photos, what happened to them on that terrible day and a link to the moving personal statements that their families recently gave.

Heartbreaking.

Guardian

Shame Lord Tisdale isn't here to tell us that david conn is a leftie moron and that the scousers brought it on themselves.

Hillsborough is in equal parts a bona fide off the scale scandal and a complete stitch up. And that's been clear for many years now. It would take a very special brand of numbskull to think otherwise.

Anybody who was at Highbury that day knows exactly how much of a freak accident Hillsborough was.

Something like it was dodged by a hair's breath many, many times at numerous football grounds all over the country and eventually the luck ran out.

And 96 innocent people died as a result - which is horrific enough but what happened to cover it all up afterwards was/is so unbelievably callous and dishonest that words can barely do it justice.

And now there can be no doubt about it whatsoever.

You are right to praise Conn for his efforts on this. He has gnawed away consistently against the odds and eventually there has been a form of justice for the 96.

He's a fine, proper journalist and his book The Beautiful Game is something all football fans should read. It rakes away all the flim flam and lays bare exactly what football is now all about and his section on the formation of the PL and Alan Sugar's role in it quite simply beggars belief.

So massive credit is due to him and all of the other JFT96 campaigners. I didn't think for one moment they would ever get anywhere near a result - and they have ended up romping home unopposed.

Conn is excellent. The Football Business is also worth a read, as further evidence of modern football's dark heart.

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

Agreed. Shameful what the families of those lost have had to go through to get the truth. Hopefully they'll all find some sort of peace now the whole sorry episode is nearing an end.

Innocent Egbunike wrote:

Conn is excellent. The Football Business is also worth a read, as further evidence of modern football's dark heart.

That's the badger.

I got the title wrong.

Everybody who loves football should read it.

Verdicts in

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2016/apr/26/hillsborough-disaster-inquest-jury-returns-verdict-live-updates

The killings were unlawful and the police action directly led to the loss of 96 lives. Complete vindication of the families of the dead, perhaps Kelvin "I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now" McKenzie might pause to regret the lies and smears spread by his rag.

Justice whilst appearing to be done, surely will only be so when the Police involved are charged and convicted of Corporate Manslaughter with in addition each family compensated accordingly and for that not to come out of Public Funds.
I've seen personally how the filth will distort manipulate and pervert the course of justice when it suits them and in the case of Hillsborough these individuals must be bought to justice however old they are now (the next excuse mark my words)

Amsterdamage wrote:

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

That's it.
The CPS will now do their work and decide whether to prosecute one, some, all those involved in the cover up. Many (all?) have retired and the CPS have to decide whether it is in the public interest. Apart from the verdict which absolves the fans of blame what else do the families want? Do they want retired policemen put in jail? Do they want improvements to stadium with increased safety? (In place now). Do they want compensation? Or is the verdict sufficient?
I don't know the answer but today they have the verdict that should not have taken so many years to get to.

Verdicts in. And yet, and yet, there are still deniers who refuse to believe that the fans had nothing to do with the causing the deaths of the 96 of their fellow fans.

tigertony wrote:

Amsterdamage wrote:

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

That's it.
The CPS will now do their work and decide whether to prosecute one, some, all those involved in the cover up. Many (all?) have retired and the CPS have to decide whether it is in the public interest. Apart from the verdict which absolves the fans of blame what else do the families want? Do they want retired policemen put in jail? Do they want improvements to stadium with increased safety? (In place now). Do they want compensation? Or is the verdict sufficient?
I don't know the answer but today they have the verdict that should not have taken so many years to get to.

What would you want if it was your son who died ?

Elias wrote:

tigertony wrote:

Amsterdamage wrote:

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

That's it.
The CPS will now do their work and decide whether to prosecute one, some, all those involved in the cover up. Many (all?) have retired and the CPS have to decide whether it is in the public interest. Apart from the verdict which absolves the fans of blame what else do the families want? Do they want retired policemen put in jail? Do they want improvements to stadium with increased safety? (In place now). Do they want compensation? Or is the verdict sufficient?
I don't know the answer but today they have the verdict that should not have taken so many years to get to.

What would you want if it was your son who died ?

Appreciate you were not asking me but if you were at the very least charged with Perverting the Course of Justice against the multiple officers that have lied incessantly......That in itself is a serious charge carrying up to 25 years for serving Police Officers.
Manslaughter charges against those at the top

Elias wrote:

tigertony wrote:

Amsterdamage wrote:

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

That's it.
The CPS will now do their work and decide whether to prosecute one, some, all those involved in the cover up. Many (all?) have retired and the CPS have to decide whether it is in the public interest. Apart from the verdict which absolves the fans of blame what else do the families want? Do they want retired policemen put in jail? Do they want improvements to stadium with increased safety? (In place now). Do they want compensation? Or is the verdict sufficient?
I don't know the answer but today they have the verdict that should not have taken so many years to get to.

What would you want if it was your son who died ?

An advocate of Sharia law? I think that families of victims shouldn't be asked to hand out sentencing to their abusers. You need to be removed from the process so that it can be decided rationally not via red top justice.
As for Tone asking whether retired policemen should be tried after all these years, if they didn't then Yewtree would have to be scrapped, the nazis would get posthumous pardons and time limits would have to be set out for different crimes, what do you reckon 5 years for GBH and 10 years for murder?

Amsterdamage wrote:

Elias wrote:

tigertony wrote:

Amsterdamage wrote:

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

That's it.
The CPS will now do their work and decide whether to prosecute one, some, all those involved in the cover up. Many (all?) have retired and the CPS have to decide whether it is in the public interest. Apart from the verdict which absolves the fans of blame what else do the families want? Do they want retired policemen put in jail? Do they want improvements to stadium with increased safety? (In place now). Do they want compensation? Or is the verdict sufficient?
I don't know the answer but today they have the verdict that should not have taken so many years to get to.

What would you want if it was your son who died ?

An advocate of Sharia law? I think that families of victims shouldn't be asked to hand out sentencing to their abusers. You need to be removed from the process so that it can be decided rationally not via red top justice.
As for Tone asking whether retired policemen should be tried after all these years, if they didn't then Yewtree would have to be scrapped, the nazis would get posthumous pardons and time limits would have to be set out for different crimes, what do you reckon 5 years for GBH and 10 years for murder?

It was a question not my thoughts if you see what I mean. Following the letter of the law then the answer should be yes. Unfortunately it never seems that simple or perhaps it should be that simple. Break the law and whether its 1 hour later or 50 years later you will get charged.

Indeed, was just curious.

Elias wrote:

tigertony wrote:

Amsterdamage wrote:

Yeh big up the guy. And big up the fans who sang "justice for the 96" at the big games and didn't let this go away. It's a crying shame it's taken so long. As Franny said it was a tragic accident it's the cover up that is shameful.

That's it.
The CPS will now do their work and decide whether to prosecute one, some, all those involved in the cover up. Many (all?) have retired and the CPS have to decide whether it is in the public interest. Apart from the verdict which absolves the fans of blame what else do the families want? Do they want retired policemen put in jail? Do they want improvements to stadium with increased safety? (In place now). Do they want compensation? Or is the verdict sufficient?
I don't know the answer but today they have the verdict that should not have taken so many years to get to.

What would you want if it was your son who died ?

I would want those responsible to be held to account.

I would also want those who had carried out the cover-up to be held to account. Those who lost/falsified/withheld evidence to be held to account. Those who either sanctioned the cover-up or turned a blind eye to it to be held to account.

This is an absolute scandal that has guilty parties all the way from the bottom to the top of the pyramid and the whole truth of all of what happened must be made public.

Only then will we know exactly how despicably, or not, people we trust implicitly to serve us have behaved and only then can we start to have trust in our institutions again.

And if that means retired policemen getting sent to prison or people already deceased being shamed posthumously then so be it.

Why? Because we are a democracy meaning that those in power, those that we pay the wages and pensions for through our taxes are answerable for their actions and not above the law. Anything less makes it all too clear that "democracy" would apply to this country in name only and that we were really an autocratic state with the police performing the role of a clandestine establishment millitia.

I would be suprised if only the match commander lied, possibilty that those above told him what to say?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/26/hillsborough-disaster-deadly-mistakes-and-lies-that-lasted-decades

I am a big fan of David Conn. I think that report is the best thing he has written.

I've just read David Conn's price today. I still can't believe the scale of the corruption at the top of the police, it's staggering. I'm so angry reading what the bastards put the families through.

I see Tony asked what else people wanted. We'll, I'd like to see anyone believed to have taken part in the cover up prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. If any police officers are found guilty of this they should lose their gold plated pension as well as suffering any criminal punishment.

We are a nation that sees corruption in every other part of the world except here. This is the worst example how the UK establishment can simply shut up shop and expect never to be questioned.

FIFA took bribes - hey, ho. Politicians, police and the judiciary covered up the reasons behind why innocent football fans died. In any just society the punishment for that cover up should go as high as it needs to.

Corruption is everywhere.
I wonder if the match commander will see trial ?
Interesting how these things take 30 years plus to resolve gives chance for those involved to die themselves ?

I doubt we'll ever see any prosecutions for this horrendous cover up & lying on an industrial scale, like SFD said, right to the very top. The CPS will doubtless kick it into the long grass & wait for those implicated to die off.
Just another example of our totally rotten establishment, like the Met virtually saying the other week they aren't going to investigate any more allegations of paedophilia by the Charlie Chesters of Dolphin Square & the Admiralty Guest House.
A bit of proles summary justice Ceausescu wouldn't go amiss.