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HTT.T5B0RQUGH STADIUM DISASTER 

15TH APRIL 1989 

Report, statements and documents 

showing behaviour of Liverpool 

fans before, during and after 

the Disaster.

FRCM: Detective Inspector King, 

South Yorkshire Police 

21st June, 1989 

HILLSBORDOGH STADIUM DISASTER 151H APRIL, 1989 

I have to report that I have been investigating the behaviour pattern of 

Liverpool Football Club Supporters at matches played away from hone. I 

have limited this enquiry to the 1987/88 and 1988/89 Football Seasons. 

There have been a number of areas which I have looked at including the 

behaviour of fans on the day of the disaster. I have categorised the 

various enquiries and will outline the sailient points under each heading. 

1. POLICE REPORTS CONCERNING LIVERPOOL AWAY MATCHES WHERE PROBLEMS 

HAVE BEEN ENCOUNTERED WITH LIVERPOOL SUPPORTERS 

1.1 Everton versus Liverpool, the F.A. Cup Final played at Wembley 

on 1 0 Mav 1986. There was a capacity crowd of 98,000. Over 

1 .OOQ^'fans ~wrp many without tickets or in possession 

or forged tickets. 25 Police Officers were injured. 

^ 

1.2 Tottenham Hotspur versus Liverpool on 28 November 1987. Enquiries 

with New ScollanCT Yard Public Order Branch and having seen the Police 

Report on this match,it was declared 'all ticket' with a capacity 

crowd of 47,363. A total of 10,311 Liverpool Supporters visited 

White Hart Lane out of 

Liverpool piippr»rrt-Q-r-c -aro 

locked out-^£>-fche_ ground. This group caused policing problems 

intliaf'lshop wimows were broken in TottenhamHigh Road .but they 

were eventually dispersed into an underground station. ~ 

1.3 Watford versus Liverpool on -jAJ e b m a r ^ 1988. This match was __ ^ 

d@5Smypr“r3TT ^cket ’ with a total crdfe attendance of 23,838 

which included 6 ,20(1 Liverpool fans. 1,500 Liverpool fans 7 some 

of whom had been drinking, arrived without tickets. Given that 

it would have presented severe policing difficulties and problems 

were the 1^ 500 fans allowed to disperse and run the town of 

Watford and frequent local p J b E c “Houses, consultations between 

Club Officials and the Match Contnander ended in a decision to 

allow tha^fans injtp^^ ^ g ffl^ a m ^ nt. 

1.4 Liverpool versus Wimbledon the F.A. Cup Final played at Wembley 

on 14May 1988. Again there was a capacity crowd of 98,000, 92 

f a n s ^ l B ■aC'Jested, 85 of than from Liverpool. Over 3,000 persons 

were ejected from the Stadium for possession of either forged 

f tickets or no tickets at all.- The Stadium authorities recovered 

1/1478 forged tickets. Seven Police Officers were injured. The 

I [majority of those rejected were Liverpool fans and the majority 

I lof forged tickets were presented by Liverpool supporters. 

1.5 Southampton vp-rrsi.is- Sc»pterrft->er 1988. This match 

wa's declared ’all ticket1. 150 Liverpool fans arrived without 

tickets. Those fans were isolatt^'outside the ground and again 

because manpower would have been soaked up by allowing the fans 

to roam Southanpton, they were allowed into the around,on payment, 

after discussions between the Match Corrmander and Club Officials.

-2- 

1.6 Arsenal versus Liverpool on 9 November 1988. The Match Commanders 

repo^Ttetr«-

-3- 

1.11 

1.12 

1.13 

2 . 

2.1 

Winnbledon versus Liverpool on i Mav iq r q> This match m s declared 

'all ticket' with a capacity crowd of 14,730 of which 6,473 were 

Liverpool supporters. Enquiries with the Public Order Branch 

at New Scotland Yard reveal that Liverpool F.C. was allocated 

6,500 tickets which were sent with a request for supporters to 

be advised by means of local radio and the press that the fixture 

was an 'all ticket' one. Some 4,000 unsold tickets were returned 

to Wimbledon F.C. On the day, nearly 6,500 Liverpool supporters 

attended the game, excluding a number who entered the home supporters 

parts of the Stadium. It was clear that a large number of 

Liverpool supporters attended without tickets despite publicity 

before the match. Turnstiles were opened to facilitate those 

supporters who had come without tickets. - 

Everton versus Liverpool on 20 May 1989. This was the F.A. Cup 

Final played at the Wembley Stadium, some 5 weeks after the 

Hillsborough Disaster. The report from the Section corrmander 

tends to show that Liverpool supporters had not learned frpn this 

disaster. Ticketless fans caused considerable problems for the 

Police and when they were clearing the area of those fans, bottles 

and cans were thrown at them. Just before .the end of the gams 

all gates to the Stadium were opened in preparation for the exodus. 

An equalising goal was then scored by Everton which resulted in 

an influx of fans who had been leaving and also those still around 

the ground without tickets. All managed to get into bays around 

the Stadium to watch extra time. 

Detailed reports are ^tached under Apj»nddx Â' ,.i ^ ^ r C T ^ 

WITNESS STATEMENTS WHICH SHOW HOW CERTAIN LIVERPOOL FANS INTENDED 

TO GET INK) THE MATCH - “ 

Julie Dawn SHELIfTY is a part-time barmaid who assists behind the 

bar at j 

licensed premises, 

Sheffield. From mid-day on the day of the disaster, 

she had a conversation with three to four male persons who described 

themselves as Liverpool supporters. They told her they had come 

from Liverpool on the train, had no tickets for the match but 

it was their intention to go to Hillsborough and gain entry. 

They further told her that it was easy because they had done it 

previously and there were other Liverpool fans who had come down 

with them without tickets who were going to get into the ground 

as well. They left the public house by taxi to the ground between 

2.30pm and 2.45pm. 

Garry TAYLOR who is a retired Sales Director was drinking in The 

_________ Sheffield, some 1^ miles from 

the Hillsborough Stadium on the day of the disaster. Whilst in 

the premises he heard a conversation between three men sat nearby. 

Two of the men spoke with Liverpool accents and he assumed they 

were supporters of that club. He heard them talk about Leppings 

Lane and that they would meet up with others outside the leppings 

Lane entrance. They would organise as many other people as possible 

to cause whatever trouble they could. If enough trouble was caused 

the gates would have to be opened. Mr. TAYLOR concluded that 

this had happened before and the person doing the talking appeared 

confident that this action could be forced. More detailed evidence 

can be read in his statement.

-4- 

2.3 Peter Kevan MARJORAM is r\ Onnpany Director who visited The 

some 2\ miles from the Hillsborough 

Stadium, on the day of the disaster. He arrived at 2.35pm to 

find numerous persons both inside and outside the public house. 

He would estimate that 25 of than were Liverpool supporters. 

He got into conversation with two of them. They did not mention 

tickets, neither did Mr. MARJORAM see them in possession of one. 

At 2.45pm he mentioned to the two that they were leaving it late 

to get to the ground and one of than replied 'Don't worry about 

that, we know either a gate will be open or opened'. Both men 

laughed at each other. The two left shortly afterwards. 

2.4 

is a Quantity Surveyor who was also i n ___________ 

t 

J cm the date of the disaster and was joined by Mr. 

MARJORAM sometime, he says, after 2.00pm. He corroborates that 

one of the two Liverpool supporters he and Mr. MARJORAM were talking 

to said words to the effect that they were*, confident of getting 

into the ground because the gate would be open or opened. The 

manner in which this remark was made did not suggest that they 

irrttmdfcid lt> fdKeer-fencry "irrtx) -ins ypruGncII'— He GesCriBfes the Iwo’ 

meir ay decent" pSRons ancTtftey- dicfliwt say that they had tickets 

for the match and he did not see than in possession of any. 

2.5 Statements from the four witnesses are attached to this report 

under Appendix 'B'. 

3. SCHEDULE SHOWING EVIDENCE THAT CAN-BE GIVEN FRCM WITNESSES REGARDING 

LIVERPOOL FANS ATTENDING THE MATCH WITHOUT: TICKETS 

3.1 There is arrple evidence of fans arriving at this match without 

tickets to get into the Hillsborough Ground. Attached is a schedule 

showing that 25 Police Officers have submitted reports stowing 

numerous fans without tickets, fans asking for spare tickts, fans 

asking for the tickets of those arrested, evidence of fans coming 

to the match expecting to buy tickets from'touts, evidence of 

fans having tickets snatched, evidence of seeing stubs from tickets 

being thrown back into the crowd and evidence of persons complaining 

of having their tickets stolen. 

3.2 The 25 reports submitted showing this evidence appears to be only 

'the tip of the iceberg'. Further reports are still being processed 

from other officers which will no doubt contain a lot of similar 

material. 

3.3 Further evidence in relation to this matter can be given by civilian 

witnesses listed under Appendix 'B'. 

3.4 A schedule showing the report number, the time, location, the 

officer involved and a brief summary of what he could say is 

attached to this report under Appendix 'C'.

-5- 

4. EVIDENCE OF TOE BEHAVIOUR OF FANS AT THE SEMI FINAL MATCH BETWEEN 

NORWICH AND EVERTON PLAYED AT VILLA PARK ON 15TH APRIL 1989 

4.1 A statement from Chief Superintendent Mellor, the Match Commander 

at the Sard Final match played the same day between Norwich City 

and Everton at Villa Park, showing the behaviour of the fans, 

especially those supporting Everton, together with two of his 

Mounted Officers is attached. 

4.2 Whilst the evidence does not have any bearing on the match played 

between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, or the 

fans who attended the match, the Everton supporters behaviour 

at Villa Park shows a remarkable coincidence with the Liverpool 

supporters at Hillsborough which may indicate some Liverpool 

characteris t ic. 

4.3 Statements from the three Police Officers are attached and have 

been listed under Appendix 'D'. 

5. OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS 

5.1 It does appear that there is a nucleus of Liverpool supporters 

(unidentified) who do travel to matches played away from Liverpool 

without tickets and cause severe policing problems. At the end 

of the day, rather than soak up Police manpower, it is felt better 

to allow them into the ground, impossible, rather than them cause 

havoc in the town, their team is playing. Whilst there is no 

direct evidence to support this, the fans do appear to know this. 

In the case at Watford where numerous ticketless fans arrived 

they did irrply that if they were not granted admission to the 

ground they would go into Watford and cause havoc. 

5.2 The evidence in the attached reports etc., has been gathered from 

material in possession of the South Yorkshire Police. Given the 

opportunity to read and study the many civilian statements taken 

by the West Midlands Investigation Team, it may be that the 

evidence to hand could be enhanced further. 

5.3 Since the 1 January, 1989, the F.A. Cup match played at Hull and 

the F.A. Cup Final played at Wembley both show a similarity in 

crowd behaviour to that displayed on the date this disaster occurred. 

Detective Inspector.

HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER 15TH APRIL. 1989 

APPENDICES 

Appendix 'A' 

Police Reports concerning Liverpool away matches 

where problems have been encountered with Liverpool 

supporters. 

Appendix 'B' 

Witness statements which show how certain Liverpool 

fans intended to get into the match. 

Appendix 'C' 

Schedule showing evidence that can be given from 

witnesses regarding Liverpool fans attending the 

match without tickets. 

Appendix 'D' 

Evidence of the behaviour of fans at the Semi Final 

match between Norwich and Everton played at Villa 

Park on 15th April, 1989.

APPENDIX 'A' 

HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER 1 5 m APRIL, 1989 

Police Reports concerning Liverpool away matches where 

problems have been encountered with Liverpool supporters.

•16-06-1989 17520 01 230 2813 P.02 

METROPOLITAN POLICE 

T020 Public Order Branch 

New Scotland Yard 

Broadway 

London SW1H OBG 

The Chief Constable 

(Attention of Chief Superintendent WAIN) 


Police Headquarters 

Snig Hill 

Sheffield S3 8LY 

l6th June 1989 

D ear S ir 

RE,.- VISITS BY MERSEYSIDE FOOTBALL CLUBS TO WEMBLEY STADIUM 

Stadium 

t7°.my let,te£ of l6th June 1989 dealing with visits to London football 

C lub s u p p o rte rs, X am now a b le to p ro v id e you w ith 

relating to visxts by Merseyside football clubs to Wembley 

i!?3! . 1985 l5th April 1989' Mers©yside football clubs played at 

Wembley Stadium on 10 occasions as shown below: 

1 . 

2 . 

3- 

k. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

18th May 1985 F.A. Cup Final 

Everton -v- Manchester Utd 

20th August 1985 F.A. Cup Final Everton -v~ Manchester Utd 

10th May I986 F.A. Cup Final 

Everton -v- Liverpool 

16th August 1986 F.A. Charity Shield Everton -v- Liverpool 

5th April 1987 Littlewoods Cup 

Liverpool *v~ Arsenal 

1st August 1987 F.A. Charity Shield Everton -v- Coventry City 

16th April 1988 Football League Centenary Festival 

l^th May 1988 F.A. Cup Final 

Liverpool -v~ Wimbledon 

9- 

10. 

20th August 1988 F.A. Charity Shield 

30th April 1989 Simod Cup Final 

Liverpool -v~ Wimbledon 

Everton -v- Nottingham Forest 

On only two occasions were there incidents of concern. 

(&) 

On 10th May 1986 the F.A. Cup Final - Everton _v~ Liverpool. 

A capacity crowd of 98,000 attended• there were 51 arrests, the 

majority of which were for crime related offences. 

Inside the stadium, 6 Everton and 10 Liverpool supporters were 

arrested. Outside the stadium 7 Everton and 21 Liverpool 

supporters were arrested. 

Over 1,000 fans were ejected, many without tickets or in 

possession of forged tickets. Twenty five police officers were 

injured.

16-06-1989 1?«21 

01 230 2813 P.03 

% 

■ (b) 

On 14th May 1988 the F.A. Cup Final - Liverpool -v- Wimbledon. 

A capacity crowd of 98,000 attended; 92 fans were arrested. 85 

from Liverpool and 7 from Wimbledon. Over 3,000 persons were 

ejected from the stadium for possession of either forged 

tickets or no ticket at all. The stadium authorities recovered 

478 forged tickets., Seven police officers were injured. 

I hope that the brief summaries of the above matches, in addition to that 

f i ^ ady.f,urnished ** respect of the 1989 F.A. Cup Final held on the 20th May 

1989* will be of assistance. 

Please contact me if you think I can help further in this aatter. 

Yours faithfully 

B. EVANS 

Chief Inspector 

Public Order Branch

I 1i 

16-06-1969 11*31 

01 230 2813 P.03 

Fora 3017 

* 


football hatchsum w y 

DATE; Sat 28th Nov FIXTURE: Tottenham Hotspur -v- L iv erp o o l 

VEHJE: -White Hart Lane, N.17. KICK OFF TIME: J.OOpa 

HATCH (League/Cup/Dther) (Speclfy)s 

Barclays League Division 1 • 

2 . CROWD ATTEhDftNCE TOTAL 1*7,362 HOME SUPPORTERS 3 9 ,0 0 0 AWAY SUPPORTERS 8311 

Estimate i f not known 

3 . HDOE OF TRAVEL RAIL 

(No. on special Trains) 

(NO. on Service T a in s ) 

SUS/COftOH 

.(No. and Transport Companies) 

See Attached List 

OTHER (Specify) 

Transit Vans Nil 

Special Parties (P o litic a l ox youth gangs) 

Nil 

4. NUMBER OF 

IRKESSi 

INSIDE - 

HOC : VISITORS 

. OUTSIDE 

HOtE ------ ^“VISITORS 

•JBECT 

HOBT^w ------WSITORS 

m 

P i& llc Qxder 

Offences 7 1 1- N i l • 36 6 

Damage ' — _ — 

Others 

5 nnl-l 1 ■ 

See also Appendix *A* 

S . 

LEVELS CP POLICE COVER 

(a ) H i#t p rio rity (b ) Above average (c) Average (d ) Low 

XX 

I 3 * Q C ,

16—0&—19B9 11*31 01 230 2813 P. 04 

• 2 

16-06-1969 115 32 01 230 2613 P.05 

*• 

COMMENTS ON POLtCtMg TACTICS 

! • * ■ Escorts* Turnsfl In Sfmrctmi, tontrot nf ttrancing Lew, •+

HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 

From: .Superintendent J HIGGS 'C' Division 

Chief Constable, Headquarters........ 

h .Q. Ref: 

Div. Ref. .‘JH/SAK__ 

Date: 10 May, A?®?. 

RE: 

LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB - HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER 

Attached hereto is the Football Match Summary relating to the match 

played between Watford and Liverpool at Vicarage Road, Watford on 

13 February 1988, the total crowd attendance being 23,838 this 

included 6,200 Liverpool Fans. 

Together with Superintendent HOWLEY I was responsible for policing 

this particular game. I was responsible for policing outside the 

Football Stadium. Prior to kick-off it became apparent that approximately 

1,500 Liverpool supporters had arrived without tickets. The 

game, which had been declared 'All Ticket' at Police instigation, was 

well publicised prior to 13 February. The majority of all fans 

attending were in possession of tickets. Some of the 1,500 fans had 

been drinking and were somewhat noisy although I am bound to say the 

behaviour was generally good. The prevailing weather, without doubt, 

assisted the policing of the crowd and after consultation with 

Superintendent HOWLEY I decided to' hold the 1,500 supporters in the 

Cardiff Road area at the bottom of the walkway giving access to the 

Stadium. Given "that it would have presented severe policing 

difficulties and problems were the 1,500 fans allowed to disperse and 

run the town and frequent local public houses. After further consultation 

with Superintendent HOWLEY and Club Officials it was decided 

prudent to let these fans into the arena upon payment. I was aware 

that there would be sufficient room in the Stadium to accommodate 

these fans because of the shortfall on sales of tickets in Liverpool. 

I was also conscious of the fact that previously Liverpool fans had 

attempted to enter the ground by forcing open gates. The match was 

relatively trouble free there being 2 arrests of Liverpool supporters 

and 14 ejections of Liverpool supporters. 

At the match briefing officers were told of the strong possibility of 

visitors arriving without tickets and seeking access to the Football 

Stadium.

*• ** * 

I■ 

a 

FOOTBALL MATCH SUMMARY 

1. DATE: 13th February 1988 FIXTURE ’’ATFCRD _ v _ LIVERPOOL 

I VENUE: VICARAGE ROAD, WATFORD. KICK OFF TIME: 3 P.M. 

■ MATCH (League Cup Other) (Specify): 

I 2 CROWD ATTENDANCE TOTAL HOME SUPPORTERS AWAY SUPPORTERS 

“ Estimate if not known 

m 23838 6200 

I 3 MODE OF TRAVEL 

I 

OTHER (Specify) 

RAIL 

BUS/COACH 

(No on Special Trains) (No. and Transport Companies) 

NIL 

(No on Service Trains) êe attached l i s t . 

200 

Transit Vans 

I 

Special Parties (Political or 

youth gangs) 

4 NUMBER OF INSIDE OUTSIDE EJECTIONS 

ARRESTS HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS 

Public Order 1 _ 

Offences 

' i k 

Damage - - - - 


1 

See also Appendix 'A' 

5 LEVELS OF POLICE COVER 

(a) High priority 283 

(b) Normal. 

(c) Low.

FROM ELLIS & HANCOCK >6. 12. 19 8 9 11:33 NO. 1 

S. 

W'ELLIGENCE R 

information and comments,0 A * ° FR° M W* 0 M 

S°,tbal1 C,ubs' Police. et~ /«?- 

& ^°^BALr.XCLl4 sC5 ; ^ l AL L^V-H?cCLr na3.%°f^ P n*r -^yv» l J ty Ci 

---• --CLXCZ. 

en^> 

TS OF w c i- ^Tip „ 

«o in ia? ,d number of 

GlVEPf. 

^ ®atch ALL-Tickpt n ~ } l n £ supporter* v=~ ~ 

wi thru if .. DeSt)it« I * , r ~ 'a° sue th * t i t was 

to mak 

th< — I 

m l n th e Town Centr 

POUCINg PROSL5 

M s A N 0 c b o w d b e h a v .o u r 

(fl) In Transit; 

n i l 

(t>/ Inside G ’-ound: 

M 

‘^ y i n / t o fg ! t l into H StaXi of match v it* iar- i, 

* in to the ground q u ic k ly . * nurab^ s 

none tic k e t bo 7 a' 

holders 

‘■“ch of 14 M M t * ured. 

Locations: 

A holding area fo r nono • i 

srobl«*n

8. COMMENTS ON POLICING TACTICS 

i.e. Escorts, Turnstile Searches, Control of Licensing Laws etc.: 

Searching carried out at turnstiles. Sscorts to Shuttle Trains from Stadium 

to ’-'atford Junction* Large number of Liverpool Supporters travelled back into 

London on the Local trains. No problems. 

The tactics of establishing a holding area for those non-ticket holders was a 

success and will be done at future all—ticket games where this is likely to 

prove a problem. 

FROM: Chief Superintendent TO: Chief Superintendent 

C ' Division 

Herts Constabulary 

Shady Lane 

Watford 

WD1 1DD. 

(Attention of Inspector POPS) 

Merse-vside Police 

»C» Division H.O. 

Lower Lane, 

LIV3HPCCL 

L9 6DG 

Chief Superintendent

HAMPSHIRE CONSTABULARY. 

G.31 

S ta tlo n i! 

Shirley 

Western 

D iv is io n 

Departm e i t : 

Acting Superintendent 

Otb June, 

1* 89 

Su ije c tt 

Football Match 

Southampton v Liverpool 

24th September, 19B& 

A C.C.'O' 

S; r, 

I submit this report at the request of D,I. KING of 

sjuth Yorkshire Police. Hillsborough Incident Room based at Police 

Headquarters, Sheffield, Fux. No. 0742 523243. The report has been 

requested to assist the Burris lur representing Police at the Hillsborough 

Enquiry in connection with the behaviour of Liverpool fans at other all 

tttket matches in recent years. 

I have to report that the First Division League match 

b stween Southampton and Liverpool on Saturday, 24th September, 1900 

w *s an all ticket match and had been advertised as such. Pre match 

ii formation was that only 1,700 tickets had been Bold to Liverpool 

fins, although tho whole of the Archers Road end {capacity 4,000) 

hid been given over to their fans. Cuncern was expressed that a _ 

It rge number of Liverpool fans might therefore turn up without tickots 

a Liverpool Football Club had only sold tickets to callers at their 

g: ound and not sent any tickots out by post as a postal strike was 

t

CONTINUATION SHEET No. 2 . G. 

2, A local couple had booked tho Church next 

to the ground in Archers Road for a wedding at 

15,30 hours in the mistaken belief that it was 

not a match day. They had phoned the Police 

3 days before requosling assistance lo avoid 

disruption of the service. The presence of 150 

frustrated fane In the area would not have bean 

a good start to married life. 

3. It was felt that the postal strike had frustrated 

the 'all ticket1 system. 

The Club Secretary agreed to open a cash turnstile 

Shortly after 15.00 hours and the fans were let in. 

? The Liverpool fans behaved well throughout the match 

and there was little evidence of dmnkcness. Five Liverpool fans 

were ejocted from the ground for breaches of tho ground 

regulations. Two Liverpool fans were arrested for being drunk 

md disorderly beforo the match. Two were arrested in tho ground 

or drunkeness. This is below the averags for matches at the 

Jell during the 1988-09 season. 

I ask that this report bo Faxed to the Incident Room 

>n the above number for the information of D.I. KING. 

A. McWHIRTER 

Acting Superintendent

16-06-1989 11:32 01 230 2813 ' P.06'";:':'"'' 

Form 3017 

* . >•; 


FOOTBALL MATCH SUMMARY 

1. DATE: November 1988 FIXTURE: 

ARSENAL ~ v— LIVERPOOL 

.VENUE; 

HIGHBURY FOOTBALL STADIUM 

KICK OFF TIME: 

i•*5p» 

M A T C H (l»agwa/Cup/C>tfaetJc(Spectfy): LITTLEWOODS CUP 3rd Round Seplay 

2. CROWD ATTENDANCE 

Estimate if. not known. 

TOTAL 

'' 5 M 7 5 

HOME SUPPORTERS 

> *6 ,0 7 5 1 

AWAY SUPPORTERS 

9,000 

3. MODE OF TRAVEL : . .. RAIL 

(No., on Special Trains) 

OTHER {Specify) 

Transit Vans 

Special Parties {Political or youth gangs) 

{No. on Service Trains) 

l 

BUS/COACH 

. {No.'and Transport Companies) 

Amberline - B170HTS 

B1713TE 

A3^1UFS 

‘ C792PEK 

C39ÛPC 

•» • 

Selwyn’s - A51 UM3 

Suhspe». 

* E275HRY 

Basford's - TGI 698 

Selecter Notts - B918FFE 

Evesway - FSU 369 

Wittli 

E5CS 

4 NUMBER OF INSIDE OUTSIDE EJECTMENTS 

ARRESTS: 

HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS 

Public Order 

* » 

Offences 

8 

2 

k8 

7 

Damage 


See also 

Appendix 'A' 

i 

5. LEVELS OF POLICE COVER 

{a) High priority 

s n ^ T " 

(b) Above average 

(c) Average 

(d) Low

— 2 — 

lO- _ ■ . 

r ! 

6. INTELLIGENCE RECEIVED AND FROM WHOM 

(Information and comments) 

Bus Companies, Football Clubs, Police, etc. . __ 

(Show nature of intelligence) 

T020 information of number of coaches 

correct*. No spotters supplied by Liverpool* 

7. POLICING PROBLEMS AND CROWD BEHAVIOUR 

(a) In transit: ■ low'number of coaches attending this match underlines the 

residual support for Liverpool in London and the South East* 

. . . Crowds started to build up outside the Stadium at 6pm and 

increased to beyond capacity by 7*30pn* Start of game delayed 

by 1*> minutes to allow fans to enter* 

(b) Inside Ground: Capacity crowd with approximately 6*000 fans locked outside 

the stadium* The South Bank is at present being built on 

and a constant stream of locked out fans were ejected from 

the building site area who were trying to gain entry without 

payment* No serious disorder in the ground. Some ko fans 

• were ejected from the building site area during the m 

*■ « it was impractical to take all their names er decide which 

club they followed. 

(c) Immediate vicinityof Ground- „ ■ i.. , , , , , ^ ^ , , 

Constant attempts by locked out fans to scale 

■ the ground from all directions made it necessary to call 

on Central London Reserve Serials for" assistance* 

(d) Other Locations: 

1 «\ * ' 

None as yet reported*

16-06-1989 11*33 

COMMENTS ON POLICING TACTICS: 

Late arrival of fans estimated 30 to 40 thousand arrived after 7pm. 

Radio reception on Force Radios intermittent. 

A 

Intelligence from TO 20 Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC indicated a crowd 

of 45,000 to 50,000. 

A crowd of 54,000 inside the ground and approximately 6000 locked out 

was beyond the police resources employed as per grade ’B ’ matches. 

The presence in Gillespie Road of a considerable number of fans before 

the turnstiles opened prevented police removal vehicles operating and 

therefore parked cars added to the obstruction. 

Turnstiles at Gillespie Road ran out of change causing delay and further 

congestion in Gillespie Road. 

Fans ignored Police instruction to fora queues not enough Police present 

to enforce instructions. 

Kick Off delayed by me until 8pm but many of the locked out fans attempted 

to climb or break into the stadium. 

The only police available to police outside the ground after kick off 

were Mounted Section and Dog Section until reinforcements arrived from 

West Ham FC match and Commissioner’s reserve. 

While Mounted Branch, Dog Section and local officers were splendid ’Aid 

serials' generally seemed overwhelmed by the situation and were not as active 

as one would hope. 

Searching at turnstiles had to be abandoned because of crush. • 

There were few problems inside the stadium during the match. 

Due to late kick off and extra time match finished at 10.20pm in nil nil draw, 

therefore fans only interested in getting home and the dispersal prsented 

no problems. 

Future Plans 

Due to Arsenal's successful season and Tottenham’s failures crowds are larger 

than expected at Highbury therefore policing levels are to be reviewed. 

For evening matches Commissioner’s regulations will have to be 3 hours before 

kick off instead of 2 hours to enable vehicles to be removed before crowds 

arrive. 

Turnstiles will be opened earlier and Arsenal are to supply a PA S y s t e m into 

.Gillespie Road to assist in directing fans to correct queues. 

More Barriers will be used in Gillespie Road to operate queues.

FROM HANTS POLICE Ml CONT 6 , 9. 1989 15« 31 P. 

HAMPSHIRE CONSTABULARY 

Tel, No, Southampton 581111 

T .I.X N o , flgJJ/J 

Our R«f. 

Your Ref. 

PORTSWOOD POLICE STATION, 

ST. DENYS ROAD, 

PORTSWOOD, 

SOUTHAMPTON. 

S02 1GN. 

9th June 19B9 

The Chief Constable, 

South Yorkshire Police, 

Police Headquarters, 

Snig Hill, 

Sheffield, S3 6LY. 

For the Attention of Chief Superintendent T ..7.w a i n 

Dear Sir, 

Re: Letter dated 7th June 1989 

On Saturday 12th December 1988, I was on duty in uniform as the 

Superintendent in charge of the First Division Football League match between 

Southampton and Liverpool at the Dell, Southampton; kick off 1500 hours. 

The match was an ’all ticket' match in that entry to the ground for 

Liverpool fans would only bo allowed if they arrived with a ticket already 

purchased. 

At 1345 hours it became obvious that a large number of fans 

supporting Liverpool did not have tickets. 

Our strict and rigid policy at the Doll has always been that fans 

who arrive without tickets will not be allowed entry and that the Club will 

not open a turnstile. 

However, on this occasion there were about 750 Liverpool fans 

without tickets. Many related a story of being unable to purchase a ticket 

from the office at Liverpool because it had not been opened to sell tickets 

for a sufficiently long enough period. 

Therefore, I got all 750 into an orderly queue and Southampton 

Football Club opened a turnstile and charged them all £5 per head entry 

instead of tne usual £3.BO. 

The situation was extremely tense for a while and we had to use much 

tact and good humour to avoid a situation of serious disorder. 

We were helped by the fact that we still had room inside for those 

750. Had that not been so then controlling those locked out would have been a 

major problem. 

Yû^s faithfully,

16-06-1989 11*34 

*\ 

•*.«■ 

, ,, fc,* ' •'***?.. V , 

&''>•'*-1.*%? 

•*.*•••* '«* * V » 

. ■«» 

01 230 2813 P.10 

Form 3017 

10 11^ '.I* ■ < tiv'— *'"* - 2 ;irc/(J .* •./it 

- i-‘.C *OO"- 3*:':i:v .sf'O-.1cU*i 

• .V ■ .*■ ' « , / J .■*'•,A-tc>% ^cs:> 

'S*i' 

, - . K, ■ , v •■ . FOOTBALutÂTCH SUMMARY * V \ . , . ^ , v... 

I.'v\rs :%■;> Iscaft I-}.* 'frX'?'* iru# ~‘z-i a? i*~,r :■• «.j. . •■••',■ 

s ii" V.-* 

VENUE: Hillwall F.o. 'KICK OFF TIME: *?PB- 

MATCH (League/Cup/Other) (Specify): * 


Estimate if not known 

„ ■ ■ ”*ivO v- 

TOTAL 

25615 

' 

‘ HOME SUPPORTERS 

20715 

' AWAY SUPPbRtERS 

• . 2900 - 

. ' V. %J » I' \ •; *:-o 

b V« y.tU A '' J**' ... . • »♦ rs • r: P’ / 

- .*•*%#—*>r7«- w v:- •:.A»-‘ ' ^ \ '** .. / 

, tv •' ' • •*f • 

u>>J...A > '** 

4 NUMBER OF INSIDE OUTSIDE . EJECTMENTS 

‘ 

ARRESTS: 

HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS 

Public Order 

AA #/ *• 1• ,. ‘ r One ^ Onej . Seveateen One Twenty “Four Sdvexu 

'' Offences-^ i: 5«v..-' E'i • Ci CJi*f*-< J^C'C ’Ii:jti-.j ’ J »>0 C 

•Da'hi a'ge - 

ciC .v *. at.t. *« i.> r .1 a? 

.,/• .; 

l.i':/. 

('.r , '■v - S. - • ■ .. r:rt: 

Others Five Two 

See also 

, 

Appendix 'A' 

t 

5. LEVELS OF POLICE COVER 

(a) High priority 

(^)/Above average 

* aîSw 

(c) Average 

(d) Low

16-06-1989 11!34 01 230 2813 P. 11 

- r * 

6. INTELLIGENCE RECEIVED AND FRQM WHOM 

(Inforination and comments) 

Bus Companies, Football Clubs, Police, etc. ■ 


. ? *: 

Information from F.L.O. in Liverpool that about $000 would attend. This was correct. 

r , \ . 

v ‘*«»•*%..*ii*,j ♦?v#t •. 

,l\:oq;si>vjM- • -t—'J— /.Ir-wUiii 

mu'K. ‘ Slz-.rj.ia 


(a) In transit: • • 

A Millwall supporter walking to the ground was slashed about the face with either 

a Razor J3lade or a Stanley Knife. He was unable to identify his attackers* Liverpool 

. -supporters..walking to the rear of the ground via a Walkway, threw stones into Cold 

,alow Lane:but they fell amongst other Liverpool Supporters* 

*{b) Inside Ground: 

a 

Only Minor problems inside the ground during the game. One Millwall supporter got 

over the fence on to the pitch but was detained* After the final whistle, Millwall 

supporters forced two gates and got out into rear car park. 

* 

(c) Immediate vicinity of Ground: 

As a result of the above incident, serious disorder took place in the car park- A 

total of Fourteen Officers were injured. Four Police Vehicles were damaged One 

seriously. Three Liverpool supporters were seriously assaulted and several Liverpc 

“■ ,j *>r -- ■ j\ . ■ ' 

'Coaches damaged. . 

(d) Other Locations: 1 '*' " 

One Double Pecker Coach containing Liverpool Supporters was “attacked in Old Kent 

fioad when a bottle of V.P. was thrown through a window. Two passengers injured. 

C.VZ- 

•. 

-1

16-06-1989 11:2® 01 230 2613 P. 12 

8. COMMENTS ON POLICING TACTICS 

i.e. Escorts, Turnstile Searches, Control of Licensing Laws, etc: 

All the Liverpool Coaches attended the meeting point at lower Bridge as' arranged. They 

were escorted to the ground without any incidents. Several hundred Liverpool Supporters 

from the London Area attended without tickets. An unknown male obviously "from Liverpool 

was selling forged tickets in the car park for £15* Several persons obtained entry to 

the ground with these tickets but several were noticed at the.turnstiles and the holders 

refused entry* The seller was not located* Apart from the supporters who attended by 

Coach, the rest arrived via service trains and by their own means* In the main, they 

were well behaved* Because of the position of the Turnstiles i.e. only at each end of the 

ground, the main problems were getting all the Millwall supporters into the ground before 

the start. Many arrived late the worse for drink. The game took place with only minor 

incidents. Considering Millwall were well beaten, not too much was thrown onto the pitch. 

Some damage was caused inside the ground when Millwall supporters forced their way out 

into the car park. Lack of lighting in the Car Park was again the main problem together 

with all the debris lying about. The Liverpool Supporters who had attended by train 

were escorted to the railway station and seen off to London without any problems. To lool 

back on the day, a total of 32 persons were injured. The Dog Section suffered the most, 

with Seven Officers injured One with serious back injuries. Following many games without 

any disorder, this one game showed that the Hooligan element is still present waiting to 

strike. The main targers being visiting supporters, their coaches and Police Officers. 

The Chief Superintendent from Liverpool attended the fixture as an observer together 

with Inspector CLOW the F.L.O. $nd a Sergeant* We were unable to offer them any decent 

hospitality but they seemed to understand. I think they also appreciated the problems in 

Psliceing First Division fixtures with a Third Division ground surrounded by waste land* 

FROM: 

Chief Superintendent 

* P*Lg>ivision 

TO: 


Force Support Services 

Chief Superintendent

9 JUN ’9: 16:31 FROM HUMBERSIDE POLICE HQ TO S.YORKS 

! 

PAGE.002 

From: 

Inspector JARVIS 

Humberside Police 

BK Sub Division 

To: 

Chief Superintendent J T WAIN 


HULL CITY V LIVERPOOL. SATURDAY 18.2.89 

F A COP 5th ROUND MATCH - VENUE BoGtHFeKRY 

PARK, HULL, KICK OFF 1500 HOURS 

Further to the general report sent on the 8 June 19$9 with regard to 

a summary of the day’s events, I submit my observations as to the 

conduct of Liverpool supporters at the turnstiles ai the North East 

corner of Boothferry Park, Hull which are used by atfay supporters 

wishing to enter the ground. 

I was the Sector Commander responsible for the Nortft East turnstiles 

and the two designated areas allocated to Liverpool:supporters, 

these being the North Stand and the enclosure on th£ north end of the 

East Stand which are connected by a large gate close to the perimeter 

wall of the playing area, allowing free access to arid from the two 

areas. 

I 

Prior to the match I was engaged outside the turnstiles, all of which 

were open, admitting Liverpool supporters upon production of a natch 

ticket (this being an all ticket match). 

Forged Tickets 

j 

i 

It was discovered that many fans had several batche^ of tickets all 

bearing the same serial number, there being severaljdifferent numbers 

used. Some of the tickets appeared to have been pointed and others 

were poor quality photocopies, all being of a similar colour to the 

genuine tickets (yellowish). The fans stated they!had bought them 

close to the ground and in Liverpool from touts. Arrests of the 

sellers were made by officers other than my Sector itaff. 

Ii 

Offers of Cash 

I was approached, as were my staff, by Liverpool faijis with £10 or 

£20 notes held in their hands asking if we could possibly get them 

into the ground. They were informed this was not possible and 

several made attempts to several different officers* 

Behaviour of FSns 

The general behaviour of the fans at the turnstilesjwas peaceful but 

it was evident that the majority of the Liverpool fins had been 

drinking intoxicants heavily. 

I 

i

JUN *8; 16:32 FROM HUMBERSIDE POLICE HQ TO S,YORKS PAGE.003 

- 2- 

The fans formed up at the turnstiles and were marshalled into orderly 

lines with officers carrying out good hearted searches. 

I was informed by Stewards from inside the ground tljiat several 

fans had jumped over or crawled under the turnstile land entered 

the North Stand. 

There are 2 wire meshed gates between the turnstile* and fans who 

had entered the ground were passing their retained ijialf of the 

tickets to fans outside who tried to gain entry alleging they had 

lost the other part of the ticket or had it snatched from them. 

The crowd were physically pushed back from these gates at which 

point the fans inside crumpled up their retained pa#t of the ticket 

and threw them out of the ground for fans outside t pick up. 

Then, shortly before the kick off time, I had my baik to the wire gates 

observing about 100 fans who were without tickets aijid had gathered 

close to the turnstiles. 

i 

From their conversation they were of the opinion th&t we would let 

them in the ground shortly after kick off. They w4re informed this 

was not to be the course of action we would take and they would not 

be admitted without tickets. From the replies I farmed the opinion 

that this was an expected course of action and had happened at other 

grounds. | These fans then started to rush towards me at whichjpoint I noticed the 

gate had been opened by a Steward to allow someone to leave the ground. 

Fans from inside rushed to the gate attempting to pijtll the gate wide 

open and appeared to be trying to lift it off the hinges which they 

could not do because of restraining pins through thi hinges. 

A short struggle ensued and with the help of Mounted Officers fans 

were bodily thrown and pushed from the gate and we Managed to resecure 

the gate. Prompt action by my staff and Club Stewards 

prevented the gate from being fully opened and only la small number 

of non-ticket holders entered the ground and ran into the crowd 

knocking fans out of the way in their efforts to mingle with the 

standing crowd. I instructed my officers not to pursue these 

fans. 

After this the Mounted Section pushed all fans without tickets onto 

the car park. I then lined officers from the Dog Section with their 

dogs on leads across the front of the turnstiles and the Mounted 

Section allocated me two officers, one to each wirejgate between 

the turnstiles to preserve a sterile area. After all fans with 

tickets had entered, the turnstiles started to clos^, at this 

point about 30 fans in the over 30 age group staggered, they had 

obviously consumed a lot of drink and started to shd>ut comments 

to the effect that if the turnstiles were not opened they would 

rip the gates off and nobody closed doors on Liverpool supporters.

9 JUN *8! 16:34 FROM HUMBERSIDE POLICE HQ TO S.YORKS 

PAGE .00'j 

"•3" 

At this time I only had two officers outside the ground. We calmed 

them down, checked their tickets and they entered by a turnstile. 

During the match I received a report that due to attempts to reach 

in and steal stock from the refreshment hut it had been closed and 

fans in the North Stand round the hut were startir g to damage it. 

I requested fans to back off from the hut so that my officers could 

supervise an orderly purchase of refreshments and the hut would reused 

uniform 

open. Despite several requests there was no movement even though 

there were areas away from the hut. I therefore 

officers who in the end had to bodily fight their way into the 

crowd to prevent fans banging and pulling at the * ooden end of the 

hut. After a bitter struggle we managed to bodilly force them away 

and preserve a sterile area around the refreshment hut. At no 

time did any of the fans assist in clearing the ar ea, they acting 

in a mindless way pushing towards the hut. 

For the rest of the match officers physically retained a small 

sterile area and supervised sales. ! 

Holdback after the Final Whistle 

It is the policy of the Humberside Force to allow home supporters to 

leave the ground and holdback the away supporters to prevent any 

confrontation on the car park or around the ground 

This was the case of this date, announcements were 

public address system to this effect. 

made over the 

The holdback is achieved by a cordon of uniformed officers across the 

entranceway from the two areas. After a short tito :e X could see the 

fans at the back pushing the fans in front of there forward and 

pressure started to build up at the front. Verbal requests were 

made to fans at the back to ease back and stop pushing, this was 

totally ignored arid they just pushed all the more prom the back. 

It was obvious to roe that fans at the front were bjeing crushed and 

there was a danger of them being seriously injured along with police 

officers engaged on the holdback. 

I instructed my officers to ease back and allow ti hie fans to leave in 

an orderly manner. As we started to move back a large cheer went 

up from the away supporters and a big surge forwa; r i broke through the 

cordon. The fans then rushed out in an uncontro. 11ed manner, best 

described as a herd of wild horses knocking their ?wn supporters out 

of the way. My staff were unable to prevent this because of weight 

of numbers against us. 

At no time was any request by myself or my officers willingly followed 

and various degrees of force had to be employed to achieve our 

requests.

1989-06-12 15:53 

NORFOLK CONSTABULARY 

0603 653006 r '— 03'vou 

f 

v 

"I was the officcr in charge~of the policing of the Norwich City 

Football Club versus Liverpool Football Club football match at Carrow 

Road, Norwich on Saturday, 1st April, 1989. 

It is usual procedure to categorise football matches as of high, 

medium or low priority In our pre-season planning. This match had been 

categorised as high priority even before the result became of greater 

significance in the Division One Championship Competition. The Carrow 

Road ground capacity is 26,81,2 and for this reason it was also decided 

that the match would have to be all ticket, a fact which would be well 

publicised in advance. 

Carrow Road offers limited options for the acconmodation of 

visiting supporters and the total available space, taking into account 

the need for segregation and accommodating home club members, is 5,000. 

There is terracing behind both goals at the football ground. Hie 

River End terracing is part of a 51% membership scheme and, therefore, 

always occupied by home fans. The Barclay Stand terracing is divided 

into 4 enclosures to limit lateral and forward movement and segregate 

opposing factions. The pens are numbered 1 to 4, pens 1 and 2 are 

always occupied by home fans, pen 3 at medium and low priority matches 

remains empty and pen 4 is for visiting supporters. In addition there 

is another area of terracing, the Triangle, which faces obliquely across 

the pitch and is adjacent to pen 4 and seating in blocks F, G and II 

normally taken up by visiting supporters. Pens 3, 4, the Triangle and 

blocks F, G and il were allocated to Liverpool supporters for this match. 

A,800 tickets were sent to Liverpool for sale in advance. 

Access to the visitors enclosures is through turnstiles at the 

rear of the Barclay Stand which are completely Independent of the 

access points available for home supporters. The rear of the Barclay 

Stand borders the main A.47 Norwich to Great Yarmouth trunk road. 

Cont'd /

1969-06-12 15:54 NORFOLK CONSTABULARY 0603 66S086 04 

- 2 

was obvious, owing to Liverpool's recent success that there 

would be a large, if not capacity, crowd for this match. Local interest 

J!i?°4Ver2 8 policing arrangements included the highest level 

i 

°f ?ny match durln8 the season, This level was 313 officers 

including Special Constables. 

n i u rt1 p ursday, 30th March, 1989, I saw the Norwich City Football 

**ert CHASE, at the football ground; He told me 

c et sales for the match were not selling ag well as expected in 

Liverpool. lie had been told that 1,272 tickets would be returned and 

would be brought to Norwich on the club coach on Saturday. Mr. CHASE 

!??t 1)611 ?,now 1x2 allocated to home fans as pen 4, the Triangle 

tI!?,s?a4 n8 c°uld accommodate the reduced away support. 1 told him 

i 

t0 fc?k® that decision in the light of experience 

wmch showed that Liverpool always attracted considerable national 

support. The probability being that many people would attend who either 

could not obtain tickets because they were only on sale at Liverpool or 

unaware that the match was in fact designated as all ticket. I 

suggested that the decision be delayed until the morning of the match 

end I would then consider the situation with regard to pen 3, although 

because of access and egress to this enclosure for home fans it was 

most likely that the space would still be allocated to Liverpool 

supporters. 

On Saturday, 1st April, 1989, there was a significant crowd 

assembling outside the Carrow Road Football Ground by midday. Almost 

all were Liverpool supporters and the majority had tickets. By 1300 

hours there was a considerable crowd gathered, a number of whom did not 

have tickets. Many said they were not aware it was an all ticket match 

and others that they could not obtain tickets because they came from 

areas distant from Liverpool. I decided, therefore, to open 2 

turnstiles and sell the returned tickets, after agreement with the Club 

Uiairman, to Liverpool supporters for access to pen 3. All the 

tickets were sold in this fashion and there is no doubt that some home 

supporters benefitted in this way. They were, however, met by officers 

just inside the ground who directed them to accommodation reserved for 

home supporters. The visiting fans were quite well behaved and formed 

orderly and quiet queues outside the ground. They did not arrive late 

and all supporters were in the ground by 1500 hours. 

. 

j visiting fans were quite boisterous, generally good humoured 

and totally partisan in their support for their team to the exclusion 

j 

? f. * I attach'a copy of the match summary which was forwarded j 

to the Merseyside Police on the 3rd April, 1989, and indicates the 

problems that we had faced. A video tape of this match is available 

It required. I attach a copy of the Carrow Road ground plan."

1989-06-12 15:52 NORFOLK CONSTABULARY 0603 665086 

The enclosed is an extract of a report submitted by Cliief 

Superintendent MAXWELL, Norwich Divisional Commander, who was Operational 

Commander for the Norwich City versus Liverpool football match held at 

Carrow Road, Norwich, on Saturday, 1st April, 1989. It covers the 

overall policing of the event and is forwarded for the information of 

Chief Superintendent WAYNE/Detective Inspector KING, Operational 

Intelligence Unit, Police Headquarters, Snig Hill, Sheffield. 

12,6.89 

RE/GT 

>erintendent

16-06-1969 lit 36 

01 230 2013'-";;-'P .is •■■■. 

Form 3017 

r . 


' FOOTBALL MATCH SUMMARY 

1. DATE: Sat 15th May 1989. FIXTURE: WIMBLEDON ~~v~ LIVERPOOL 

VENUE: Plough Lane, Wimbledon, SV/19. 

KICK OFF TIME. 1500hrs. 

MATCH (League/Cup/Other) (Specify): League Division One. 


Estimate if not known 

TOTAL 

1^,730 

HOME SUPPORTERS 

6,257 

AWAY SUPPORTERS 

6,^73 

3. MODE OF TRAVEL 

RAIL... 

{No. on Special Trains) 

O T H f R (Specify) Private motorcars. 

TransitVans Nil. 

Special Parties (Political or youth gangs) Nil. 

(No. on Service Trains) 

B U S / C O A C H 

(No. and Transport Companies) 

Private Coaches. 

2 Selwyns coaches 

2 Starline coache® 

1;Go Whittle coach 

1 Eavesway coach, . 

1 Landliner coach 

1 Jones of Flint coach 

1 Aniberline coach 

1 Sun Span Travel coach 

All coaches parked in the . 

Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium 

car park. 

NUMBER OF 

ARRESTS: 

Public Order 

Offences 

Damage 


See also 

Appendix 'A' 

INSIDE OUTSIDE EJECTMENTS 

h o m e VISITORS HOME VISITORS HOME VISITORS 

one (1) Nil Nil ' Nil oneCD oneO) 

Mil oneCD Nil Nil Nil Nil 

one(l) Nil Nil .Nil Nil Nil 

t 

S. LEVELS OF POLICE COVER 

(a) High priority «i a »• & & $ 2 S 0 B )@ S ® £ S & X X X X m m x x m ^

16-06-1909 il!3? •. ;':;^"''':''''01-230':2813::"p.i6 

e * 

6. INTELLIGENCE RECEIVED AND FROM WHOM 

/ - ' ‘nformation and comments) 

Bus Companies, Football Clubs, Police, etc. 


Information received from 

TO 20 was correct. Most of Liverpools 

support came from the London area n ^,500 plus whatever was in the home end# 


(a) In transit: Most of the Liverpool supporters came early and queued in an orderly 

fashion until the turnstiles opened at 131$hrs. Mot much drunkness was in 

evidence. The locel public houses were quite empty* 

(b) Inside Ground: Soth sets of Fans were very well behaved. One arrest for criminal C V 

of the toilet window by the C.C.T.V, but on the rerun of the video after the 

match it was not clear that the arrested person ( though clearly involved in the 

damage with another person ) committed the offence. He was released without 

charge. Two other arrests in the home end one for threatening behaviour and 

one for drunk and disorderly a Chelsea supporter* 

, (c) Immediate vicinity of Ground: Very quiet no' problems. 

(d) Other Locations: Very quiet no problems. 

I

TOTAL P . l ? 

8. C 1MENTS ON POLICING TACTICS 

i.e. Escorts, Turnstile Searches, Contri&l of Licensing Laws, etc: _ ^ . 

Turnstile serial were using metal detectors on all supporters for the match. Nothing 

untoward was found. Although this game was billed a© all ticket, due to the very low 

before match sales it was agreed by-police ■‘“and- the club to open four turnstiles at 

each end of the.ground .for picket sales only* The match went very quiet without any 

serious problems. During the game there were three arrests and two ejections.' - See 

appendex MA ” for details* The game ended'without incident and'both sets of 'fans'went 

to there rêctive homes without incident# 

_. 

•A‘ '' «*•* .>...*** * ..* . < 

The Commissioner of Police, Sir Peter Imbert was present at the ground for this'game. 

’ - < 

This game was made all-ticket at the rfeqUgst of Wimbledon P.oljLoe,-.:;.:Liverpool . 

F.C. was allocated 6,500 tickets which were sent with a request for supporters 

to be advised by means of local radio and press that the fixture was an allticket 

one. Some 4,000 unsold tickets were returned to Wimbledon F.C; despite 

this, policing arrangements were based on intelligence reports that 4,500 

or more!; Liverpool supporters could be expected. On the .day nearly ,6,500 

Liverpool supporters attended thejgarae, excluding a, number w h o entered the 

home supporters parts of the stadium. It was clear that a large number of 

Liverpool supporters attended without tickets;, despite publicity, that the .. 

game was an all-ticket one and adequate tickets were, available -for -sale in..' 

Liverpool. 

FROM: 


' VWr Division 

TO: 


Force Support Services TO 20. 

G WEfrXtfKTPS 68W . F.L.O. 

Chief SunerintP.nrient & EABWOQD.

Report for the 

information of> 

The Chief Constable, 

South Yorkshire Police, 

Police Headquarters, 

Snig Hill, 

Sheffield S3 8LY, 

South Yorkshire. 

Through Deputy Assistant Ccrmusîoner 

R B Wells Q£M MA (QXCN) 


•Q\ Division. Wembley, 

Station 

603 Harrow Road, .Wembley, Middlesex 

HAD 21IH 

5 June, .19 89. 

pjjf Nii 

Your Rcf- 

Doted 

V * . ^ ( y ^ ) & 

JfeaBCK»e&fciab&QnB{XKXiraa< 

Subject F.A. CUP FINAL - 20 MAY, 1989. 

I am a Chief Inspector in the Metropolitan Police, attached to Wembley Division. 

My duties include the policing of events at Wembley Stadiun and T have been doing 

this in my present rank since January, 1987. 

The Hillsborough tragedy, after the initial shock, gave me hope for the future. 

This hope was that the behaviour of fans in Leppings Lane, which I recognise as 

a not unknown tactic at Wembley, would now cease - the danger being acknowledged 

by those who indulge in such acts. ^ 

On the 20 May I was in charge of the concourse at Wembley Stadium frcm the Royal 

Tunnel round Westwards to Turnstile 'K1. This area has two groups of turnstiles. 

•F* and 'G1, which are approached by flights of steps and are relatively safe from 

crushing. It also has three groups of turnstiles, *H', 1J ' and 'K', approached 

by level ground and which are liable to crushing problems. The stadium offices 

are close to 'H', 'J* and 'K' and likewise on level ground. 

I saw the first Liverpol supporters on my way into Wembley at Stanmore Broadway, 

some six miles frcm the stadium, where a number were sitting on the pavement drinking 

cans of beer or lager, at about 9.30 a.m. 

The to Wembley, the more fans I saw who were drinking in the street, often 

carrying more cans with them. 

I arrived at Werrbley Stadium at about 10.30 a.m. and saw that a large nunber of 

fans were already on the complex, perhaps as many as 10,000. Again, many of them 

had cans of drink, i.e. beer or lager with them. I was dismayed to find that many 

of those present did not have tickets for the game. My advice to them to leave 

the area went for the most part, unheeded.

On inspecting the area I found that at Turnstile 'H' a small section of 

fencing, secured by scaffold clips, had been slackened so that a significant 

breach of the fence could be made, giving* access to the circulating 

corridor. From the enquiries I made it appeared that this hod been done 

by fans during the night, no doubt intending to apply pressure at the 

right moment to gain,entry to the Stadium. 

Information was passed to officers under my conmand by an unidentified 

Liverpool police officer, that he had heard fans planning to rush the 

'H', 'J* and ‘K* turnstiles. This confirmed my own view that these were 

the most vulnerable areas and therefore the most likely to be attacked. 

As time progressed, I noticed that there were more people in that area 

suffering the ill effects of alcohol and tension was beginning to increase. 

This culminated in a number of fights at the 'pinch point', the narrowest 

point of the concourse, outside the Stadium Offices. The fights were 

caused apparently by tlie tsale of tickets by *touts'. Although well known 

touts were not evident, there seemed to be a number of people selling 

one or tvro tickets. The fans were keen to attack such people and yet 

also to buy the tickets at inflated prices. 

By 12.30pm, the crowd was building up generally, but especially so outside 

turnstiles 'H'# ,J t and ’K*. Because this area is confined, l had to 

put in a cordon of police horses and foot police between the T.V. compound 

and turnstile 'H' to prevent the danger of crushing. 

Outside of the cordon, there were more outbreaks of disorder among fans 

who had been drinking and I personally received a blow to the head whilst 

assisting one of iny officers in making an arrest. 

The turnstiles were- late in opening because a lorry was still carrying 

out some .-work in the circulating c o r r i d o r . This Jarry could only «akc 

an exit through a gate at the side of turnstile 'X'. it did this just 

before 1.15pm but caused quite severe problems with crowds waiting for 

the turnstiles to open. The gate stuck when it was o n l y half open and 

a lot of effort was required to prevent a large number of illegal entries 

to the Stadium. 

Once the turnstiles opened, 1 expected the crowd to ease considerably 

and to reduce the cocrplaints of crushing I was getting from people in 

the crowd. That people were obviously pressing forward and causing a 

crush in these circumstances, in the wake of Hillsborough, amazed ire. 

I was more amazed, however, to find _that the crush was not diminishing 

as I expected -it to at turnstile 'H*. This was because of ticket less 

fans forcing their way through the turnstiles with ticket-holders and 

having to be removed through exit gates, slowing down the whole of the 

operation. 

Whilst a lot of illegal entrants were removed, I believe an appreciable 

nunber were not. The rrost intense crush was at turnstile 'H', which had 

had a fence weakened during the night, and in my mind must have been preplanned 

by a large number of fans hoping to breach the security of the 

fence, if they were unable to get in through the turnstiles. 

By 2.30cm. the number of people going in through turnstiles 'H\ 'J' and 

'K' had reduced greatly. This had been achieved by having tickets for 

turnstile 'H* accepted at 'J* and *K* turnstiles and filtering people

at the cordon and allowing only those with tickets through. Many people 

* were reluctant to produce tickets, fearing that they might be snatched 

from them. They took the trouble to secrete than in shoes, socks and 

other places, made it difficult when production was demanded. The 

m u t e r of street robberies for this event are much hiîer than for similar 

events. 

16. There were now boob 300 people on the outside of the cordon who did not 

have tickets but were still -anxious to find a way into the.Stadium. Rather 

*than leaving t***

APPENDIX 

HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER 15TH APRIL, 1989 

Witness statements which show how certain Liverpool 

fans intended to get into the match.

iBent 105 190689 0P3231 

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SHELLEY 

DOCUM E N T R E C O R D PRINT 

STATEMENT NUMBER 

S53 

Station 

renames 

•en 

•II 

[^h 

dtf ss 

JULIE 

DAWN 

27 Date of birth 

cupat up; i on 

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1 Jlhone 

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OFFI C E WORKER 

Hei ght 

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C o m p lexion 

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nber of Pages 03 

150689 J D SHELLEY Signed 

, is the licensee of the 

Sheffield. 

On occasions when they are busy 

at the pub I will go down and help them out and on Saturday, 

15th 

April this year (150489) was by herself in the pub, so I 

went down to help her out. 

We opened the pub at about 11.30am

PAGE 

S53 

between serving customers from the conversation I had with them I 

ascertained that they had travelled on the train from Liverpool to 

Sheffield with other Liverpool supporters and although none of them 

had tickets for the semi final match it was their intention to go to 

the Hillsborough ground and gain entry into the stadium. 

They even asked me to go to the ground with them and I said that they 

would not get in without a ticket, but although I cannot exactly 

remember how they said that they were going to get in they said it 

would be easy as they had done it before and there were other 

Liverpool fans who had come down with them, without tickets who were 

going to get in the ground as well. 

Also in the pub at the same time there were a small group of 

Nottingham Forest fans but they did not have any conversation with 

myself or the Liverpool fans and these people left the pub at about 

1.30pm (1330). 

At about 1.45pm (1345) I was asked by the Liverpool supporters to 

call them a taxi to take them to the Hillsborough football stadium, 

the first two occasions I tried to phone for a taxi the line was 

engaged. 

I eventually got through at about 1.55pm (1355) and booked 

* 

a taxi for them with a company called City Cars, I think, this taxi 

eventually arrived at about £.30 (1430) 

to £.45 (1445) and took the 

Liver pool supporters to the ground. 

During their stay at the pub I am unable to say exactly how much they 

consumed in the way of alcoholic drinks, 

but they were drinking 

steadily all the time they were there. 

The group of Liverpool supporters were aged in their mid twenties, 

well presented in casual dress. 

I had no doubt to believe that what 

they told me about not having tickets was not true. 

I left the pub at about 4.30pm (1630) that day and made my way home. 

is situated about five miles from the Hillsborough

I 

I 

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1CPl 

football stadium, 

TEMENT TAKEN 

PLACE: 

TIME: 

TNESS TO SIGNATURE! 

f I C E R S SIGNATURE: 

DATE: 140689 

PAGE 

S53 

J D SHELLEY SIGNED 

OF REPORT 

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LORD JUSTICE TAYLOR'S 

JUDICIAL INQUIRY 

INTO THE 

HILLSBOROUGH FOOTBALL DISASTER 

SATURDAY 15 APRIL 1989 

LICENSED PREMISES QUESTIONNAIRE 

STAFF 

SURNAME 

~ ^ ^ 

------------------- -------------------- ------- T* " 

FORENAME(S) < V j1 7 - 

ADDRESS 

AGE Q(-> DATE OF BIRTH SEX 

/ 

TEL. NO. HOME 

NAME OF PREMISES 

/•N

tc : u,a ;oyt>r o:» i ^ . u u , : i i : 4 / No . UU4 F i 05 

QUESTIONNAIRE 

THIS QUESTIONNAIRE IS TO ASSIST LORD JUSTICE TAYLORS' 

JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO THE HILLSBOROUGH FOOTBALL DISASTER 

ON SATURDAY 15 APRIL 1989. 

1. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AT THIS PUBLIC HOUSE? 

a 2. WERE YOU WORKING AT LUNCH TIME ON 15 APRIL 1989? 

I 

3 DID ANY FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS FREQUENT YOUR 

PREMISES? 

IF NECESSARY CONTINUE ANSWERS ON REVERSE OF THE PAGE 

AND USE BLANK SHEET PROVIDED AT THE END. 

-I-

WERE THEY LIVERPOOL OR NOTTINGHAM FOREST 

SUPPORTERS OR BOTH? 

WHAT TIME DID YOU RECEIVE YOUR FIRST SUPPORTER1? 

f ) L o < 

DESCRIBE THE BUILD UP IN YOUR PREMISES BETWEEN 

11 AM AND 3PM 

c T " o f iS o t y f ' 

• S jt & ’ & s

7. STATE THE TIME THE LAST SUPPORTER LEFT YOUR 

PREMISES AND WERE THEY LIVERPOOL, NOTTINGHAM 

FOREST OR BOTH? 

/*>W & 

PiScKyT" 

2 . 3 0 P r i . 

8. HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE TO WALK FROM YOUR PREMISES 

TO THE FOOTBALL GROUND? 

o f i H o o 2 

9. HOW LONG IF A CAR WAS USED? 

/ O . 

-5

NECHELLS TEL: 0213596735 12,06.89 15:4? No.004 P.06 

10 WAS THERE ANY TROUBLE IN YOUR PREMISES FROM 

SUPPORTERS BEFORE 3PM? BRIEFLY DESCRIBE. 

a / o . 

11. IF YES, WHAT TIME AND DID YOU INFORM THE POLICE? 

12. DESCRIBE THE SUPPORTERS BEHAVIOUR IN YOUR PUB, 

BRIEFLY. 

' T r t & y

TEL: 0213596735 12 *06,89 £5:1? W o .004 P .07 

13 IF YOU WERE AT THIS PUBLIC HOUSE FOR THE SAME 

MATCH IN 19?6 CAN YOU POINT TO ANYTHING THAT 

MADE THIS YEARS EVENT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT? 

14. FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE OF FOOTBALL MATCH CROWDS, 

CAN YOU GIVE YOUR VIEW ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF 

A ) LIVERPOOL SUPPORTERS 

B) NOTTINGHAM FOREST SUPPORTERS COMPARED WITH 

OTHER FOOTBALL TEAM SUPPORTERS 

lf\J & d & 

a/o 

15 IF SUPPORTERS COACHES STOPPED AT YOUR PREMISES, 

CAN YOU NAME ANY OF THE COACH COMPANIES AND 

FOR EACH ONE, CAN YOU SAY WHAT TIME THEY ARRIVED 

AND WHAT TIME THEY LEFT? 

A-

NECHELLS T EU 0213596735 12,06,89 15:47 No.004 P.08 

16. WERE YOU THREATENED OR ASSAULTED BY FOOTBALL 

FANS ON SATURDAY 15 APRIL 1989? 

/ V o 

1? WERE YOUR PREMISES DAMAGED OR DID ANY OTHER 

INCIDENT OCCUR RELATING TO FOOTBALL FANS? 

N 

o 

18 DID YOU SELL ALCOHOL TO FANS FOR CONSUMPTION OFF THE 

PREMISES AND CAN YOU ESTIMATE A QUANTITY?

19. DID YOU 00 TO THE MATCH? (IF YES. COMPLETE A 

SUPPORTERS QUESTIONNAIRE) 

d o 

20. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WISH TO ADD WHICH YOU FEEL 

IS VITAL TO THIS JUDICIAL INQUIRY? 

^ < j£ $ fc > c > i_ . // > ) * { § 

^ T * * & ! 

T / ^ v / b f* * ) ^ o * / £ / f * f i t 

'T r t£ ;£ / ) s ^ > 

I a L J ' W 

C c o t p & r M 4 r t * j * 5 N ^ m 

V j6$£r 

'^ S o s? ^ 

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SIGNATURE OF PERSON INTERVIEWED....... 

g v 

NAME/RANK/NUMBER OF OFFICER COMPLETING (PRINT IN BLOCK 

CAPITALS)________ ^ ^ 

QUALITY OF WITNESS IMPRESSIVE □ 

(TICK BOX APPLICABLE) 

AVERAGE 

E P 

POOR 

Q

I|c i dent 105 

f 

060689 0P5012 

* 

TYPING SERVICE DOCUMENT 

'-:'-VV-'v" ■'-' ' 

. '■ 

STAT E M E N T NUMBER 

S45 

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Station 

i,ur name 

o renames 

TAYLOR 

G 

I ge 

A ddress 

Date of birth 

1 ccupation 

RETIRED SALES DIRECTOR 

| e 1e phone 

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Build 

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lumber of Pages 04 

Use 

Accent 

ated 050689 G. TAYLOR Signed 

I am a retired sales director and live at the above address with my 

wife. 

On Saturday 15 April 1989 (150489) I planned to play golf at Concord 

Gol f* Course in Sheffield, and had arranged to meet some friends there 

at 1pm (1300). The course is about 4 miles from my home, and my 

route there takes me past Hillsborough Football Ground. Knowing that 

the FA Cup Semi Final was being played at the ground on that day I 

set off early, in case of traffic congestion in the vicinity, leaving 

home about 11.45am (1145). I drove alone in my car, and was 

surprised to find very little activity near the ground as I passed. 

My route was from Mai in Bridge along Dykes Lane down Wynyard Road, 

left towards Leppings Lane traffic lights, up Halifax Road — passing 

along Leppings Lane, and past the ground entrance at that point. I 

f

PAGE 

S45 

passed there about 11.50am (1150) and saw very few football 

supporters and traffic was light. 

I saw that the Police had blocked 

off the side roads to protect residents* parking, and I saw, 

I think, 

about 50 policemen in that area. 

Hav i nq 1 1 me un hand— befn r e m eeting my friends, 

I stopped at the 

to pass time until I met them. 

I went into 

the pub and ordered a half pint of lager, and sat down in the bar 

ioung. 

I sat just to the right of the m ain entrance. 

There were 

approximat e l y fifteen people in the pub. 

The room has ’bays' around 

its circumference and I sat at the end of one of the 'bays’ nearest 

the entrance, with my back to the next ’bay*. Sitting behind me were 

three men, who were already there when I arrived. 

After a few minutes 1 became aware of their conversation. 

I cannot 

now remember the exact words, 

but I gathered first of all that they 

were football supporters, 

intending to go to the semi-final at 

Hi 11sborough. 

As I went to sit down I had noticed that these three men were as 

f o i l o w s :— 

1. Mid thirties, black or dark brown hair, cut slightly longer than 

normal, with a dark m o u s t a c h e . 

He was wear i ng black 1 eat he r hip 

length coat, dark trousers. 

£. Mid twenties, light sandy hair, cut very short, but not a crew 

cut, clean shaven, wearing red sweater, crew neck and a pink shirt 

collar worn outside, 

light grey trousers. 

3. Mid twenties, hair light brown and cut ear length, wearing a 

tweed sports jacket. I cannot describe this man as well as the 

others as he sat farthest away from me. 

As I listened to this conversation, 1 heard this older man (no. 1) 

talking to the others, saying that they should not worry about not

PAGE 

S45 

having tickets. 

They would meet up with "the others" outside 

Leppings Lane entrance. 

They would organise as many people as 

possible to cause whatever trouble they could. 

If enough trouble was 

caused the gates would have to be opened. 

I gathered that this had 

happened before, and this man seemed confident that this action could 

be forced. 

The sandy haired man (no. 2) asked how the "others" would know to 

meet up at the right time. (No. 1) The other man said if they got 

there for about 2.15pm (1415) he knew most of the other lads and they 

could quickly be got organised. 

He said " W e ’ve got to get as close 

to the turnstiles as possible." 

He said when the gate was opened, 

they would force their way through to "the back of the goal". 

At this point one of the three men noticed I was listening, and they 

glared at me in an unfriendly way. I hurriedly drank the remainder 

of my drink and left the pub. The time would then be about 12.20pm 

(1220). 

I was in the pub for about ten to fifteen minutes. I was able to see 

these men as I walked from the bar to my seat, and as I stood up to 

leave. 

I know that these men were Liverpool supporters because nos. 2 and 3 

had Liverpool accents. No. 1 had an East Midlands/Notti rig hams hi r e 

accident. 

They spoke of the Leppings Lane end arrangements as though 

they were well aware that this was their t e a m ’s end of the ground. 

I did not place too much importance on the conversation I had heard, 

and went to play golf. 

On my way home in the car I heard on the 

radio that there had been an incident at the semi-final, and 

thereafter the conversation became more significant to me. 

The 

course of the public hearings of the enquiry currently being 

conducted by Justice Taylor, 

prompted me to tell this to the Police. 

I must say that I gained the impression that the Police were being

PAGE 

S45 

unfairly blamed for this course of events. 

On the day after the Hillsborough tragedy, 

I discussed with a golfing 

friend, , what I had heard in the pub on the previous day. 

He suggested I tell the Police about it, but I did not do so 

immediately. 

G. TAYLOR SIGNED 

TATEMENT TAKEN 

PLACE; 

TIMEs 

D A T E : 0 5 0 6 8 9 

ITNESS TO SIGNATURE: 

A/INSP. CLEVERLEY 

FFICERS SIGNATURE: 

END OF REPORT

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r name 

F orenames 

MARJORAM 

PETER 

KEVAN 

STATEMENT NUMBER 

S48 

Stat ion 

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f 

Hai r colour 

43 Date of birth 

COMPANY DIRECTOR 

He i ght 

Bui Id 

^ i r type 

K es 

cial hair 

passes 

Us e 

Compi ex ion 

Accent 

Number of Pages 

Ji t ed 0 7 0 6 8 9 

P. K. MARJORAM Signed 

At 1*30pm (1330) Saturday, 15th April, 1 9 8 9 ( 1 5 0 4 8 9 ) I finished work 

at the above site and together with an employee, 

drove to 

to pick up some furniture 

for a neighbour. 

After collecting this, myself and 

travel led 

along Halifax Road towards an address at _______________ 

where 

we were to drop the furniture off. 

At this time we were in a Nissan Pick-up truck belonging to the 

company. 

As we approached the junction of Doe Royd Lane, on our left, I saw 

that the pelican crossing at that junction has turned to "red 

as 

there were people at the crossing waiting to cross. 

I pulled up at 

the crossing in the nearside lane, and the two elderly f e m a 1e

'PAGE ■- 

SA8 

pedestri.ans began to cross from left to right in front of us. 

Halifax Road at this point, the road is a dual carriageway road with 

two lanes on either side. 

As the two pedestrians passed in front of 

the van 1 became aware of a car approaching the crossing from behind 

in the offside lane. 

1 could see the vehicle clearly in the wing 

mirror and it was travelling at high speed with the driver apparently 

unaware that the lights had changed to red against him. 

The vehicle 

was within 50 yds of the crossing when it began to brake suddenly. 

There was no sc reaching of tyres but the vehicle dipped considerably 

onto the front suspension and came to an abrupt halt at the side of 

my van in the offise lane. 

At one point I was extremely worried 

that it would not be able to stop in time and put out my hand to try 

and attract the attention of the two pedestrians shouting to them to 

stop where they were. 

After the vehicle had stopped they managed to cross the carriageway 

and I looked down from the cab into the vehicle. 

It was a dark grey 

coloured family saloon either an Escort or Montego and contained 5 

mates, 2 in the front and three in the rear. 

They all appeared to be 

dressed smartly in casual clothing with no apiparent football favours 

or clothing on them. 

However I did see what appeared to be red 

scarves in the vehicle. 

All the occupants except for the driver were 

drinking what appeared to be Heineken lager from green Heineken 

cans. 

The driver was slightly obscurred from my view by the roof of 

the vehi c l e . 

As soon as I looked down the front seat passenger seemed to take 

offence and began shouting numerous swear words at me. 

I could not 

hear what he was saying due to the window being closed but it was 

easy to lip read words such as "Fuck off". 

I began to wind my window 

down to say something to him but the lights changed to green and the 

vehicle set off at speed pulling away from us quite quickly. 

I was

PAGE 

S48 

very annoyed with the occupants of the vehicle and it was obvious to 

me that they had been drinking heavily and displayed an aggressive 

attitude towards myself and 

I 

continued our journey, dropping 

I then returned to 

where I then called into the Pheasant Public House on Jaw Bone Hill. 

On my arrival there I saw numerous people both inside and outside of 

the pub. 

These people were clearly not regulars at the pub and due 

to their accents I took it that they were Liverpool supporters on 

route to the Semi Final at Hillsborough. 

It was 2.35pm (1435) when I 

arrived at the Pheasant public house and I would estimate that there 

were 25 Liverpool supporters present. 

I entered the bar of the pub and saw two colleagues drinking at the 

I joined them and 

bought me 

a pint. 

I then became aware of two men behind me who were drinking 

shorts. 

From their accents it was obvious they were Liverpudlians 

and I began to talk and joke with them. 

The time was now 2.45pm 

(1445) and I said to them something to the effect that they were 

leaving late to get to the ground for the 3pm (1500) kick off. 

One o? the two men then said to me "Don't worry about that, we know 

either a gate will be open or opened". 

At this, both men laughed to 

each other. This statement struck me as being very strange: I was 

puzzled as to how they could be so sure that they would find a gate 

or gates open at such a late time. 

Neither men made any mention of a 

ticket or showed me a ticket. 

I have attended numerous football 

matches at Hillsborough and other grounds and the statement from the 

man made me wonder how he could be so sure that they would find a 

gate open at that late time. 

After my initial thoughts on the matter 

I dismissed it from my mind and continued drinking with my 

colleagues. The two men then left the pub at 2.45pm (1445). As they

S48 

left they shook the hands of 

It was apparent to me 

I 

that 

ar r i va 1 . 

had also been speaking to the two men prior to my 

I 

Following the news reports of the disaster and circumstances of it, 

the statement made by the Liverpudlians in the Pheasant Public House 

I 

the day before came to mind again. 

It again struck me as being a 

I 

I 

very strange statement from a supporter attending a match at such a 

late time. It became apparent from the news that a gate at the 

ground had been opened to allow late comers into the ground and I 

conjectured that the statement made by the man and the opening of the 

I 

gate was connected. 

It was for this reason I contacted the Police 

I 

and reported what this man had said to me prior to attending the match. 

IATEMENT TAKEN 

PLACE: 

P. K. Marjoram SIGNED 

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TIME: 

DATE: 0 7 0 6 8 9 

ITNESS TO SIGNATURE: 

FICERS SIGNATURE: 

:)£} 

E!B) OF REPORT 

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S t a t i o n 

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address 

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QUANTITY S U R V E Y O R 

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>i gned 

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During the morning of Saturday 15 April 1 9 8 9 ( 1 5 0 4 8 9 ) I w a s working 

% 

at the above development until approximately 1 2 . 3 0 p m ( 1 2 3 0 ) when I 

I 

left and visited the 

which is situate at the 

I 

junction of 

and the main road leading to 

I had arranged tq) meet a friend called 

at 

I 

the public house, 

I 

I 

I 

When I arrived at the public house I saw the landlord, 

standing at the entrance and he was obviously vetting 

people before he allowed them access to the premises. 

I was aware that a semi-final football match was being played later

PAGE 

S47 

that day at the Hillsborough Stadium and the 

is positioned on the main road leading from Sheffield, over the 

Pennines, to Manchester and the North West of the country. 

This 

public house is regularly frequented, on match days, by football 

supporters. 

I went outside the public house and I would estimate that about 80 

persons were within the bar area, a mixture of football supporters 

and local people. 

I easily ascertained t h a t the football supporters were from Liverpool 

as I could tell by their accents. 

These people were behaving in an orderly manner and there was no 

trouble. 

The premises were very full and I was subsequently joined by 

my 

f r i end 

We had a couple of drinks and due to the 

we decided to visit the 

which is situated on 

and is a short 

distance a w a y from the public house. The reason we chose 

that public house is due to it being located on a quiet side road off 

the main highway and we assumed that football supporters may not have 

found it. 

and myself arrived at the 

public house at about 

1.15pm (1315) and we discovered that these premises were also being 

used by Liverpool football supporters. 

The premises consist of S 

rooms, the loung bar which is comfortably furnished and the public 

bar which is used for games etc. 

Outside the premises there is a 

terraced/paved area where benches and seats are used by customers 

wishing to remain outside. 

The terraced area was busy and I quickly 

ascertained that a large number of the people outside were Liverpool 

football supporters. 

We entered the premises via the front door and turned right into the

P A G E 

S 4 7 

lounge bar which was very b u s y and contained a large number of people 

which included the regular customers and Liverpool football 

supporters. 

The supporters were in the main well behaved although 

several were rather noisey but nothing unpleasant. 

I believe that I 

overheard the landlord 

say that several of the supporters had 

booked a table at the premises for a meal and that this was a regular 

occurrence whenever Liverpool were playing at Sheffield. 

and myself were enjoying a drink and we struck up a 

conversation with 2 Liverpool supporters who were standing at the bar 

next to us. 

ind myself were wearing our working clothes and it 

would be obvious that we had been working on a building site as we 

were covered in cement dust and other debris. 

They asked us what our 

occupations were and it soon became apparent that they were also 

employed in the building industry. 

The men are described as followss- 

1. Male, white about 3 0 - 3 5 years, medium build, 5*7 tall, light 

brown hair, 

collar length. 

S. As above. 

I cannot describe them further other than they both spoke with 

Liverpool accents. 

One of them stated that he was a 

At about 2 . 0 0 p m ( 1 4 0 0 ) my employer, 

arrived at the 

premises and he joined us in the lounge bar. 

We continued to talk to the 2 Liverpool supporters about the building 

industry and I believe the conversation related to payments of 

craftsmen as it is part of any duty to work our payments for subcontractors. 

At about 2 . 3 0 p m ( 1 4 3 0 ) 

I asked the men if it was about time they 

were leaving as it was a considerable distance between Oughtibridge 

and the football ground and I would estimate the distance at about

PAGE 

S47 

two and a half miles. ~ 

We told the men that they would have to park their car in the 

vicinity of the Texaco Filling Station, near to Middlewood Hospital, 

and walk to the ground from there. 

One of the men said words to the 

effect that they were confident of getting into the ground because 

the gate would be open or opened, 

I am not sure which word was used. 

(Open or opened) The 2 men did not appear to me to be potential 

trouble makers and they appeared to be decent people. 

I didn't hear 

them say that they had tickets for the match, nor did I see any 

tickets. 

The manner in which one of them said that the gate would be open or 

opened did not imply to 

me that they were going to attempt to force 

entry into the ground. 

The 2 men with whom we 

had been speaking left the public house at 

about 2 . 4 0 p m ( 1 4 4 0 ) and a t that time the public house was almost 

vacated by all the Liverpool supporters leaving only the locals inside 

As far as I can recall there was no trouble at the premises. 

I G N E D 

T A T E M E N T T A K E N 

P L A C E : 

TIME: 

D A T E : 0 7 0 6 8 9 

I T N E S S T O S I G N A T U R E : 

OFFICERS SIGNATURE: 

JD0, REPORT

APPENDIX 

HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER 1 5 m APRIL, 1989 

Schedule showing evidence that can be given from 

witnesses regarding Liverpool fans attending the 

match without tickets.

EVIDENCE REGARDING LIVERPOOL FANS WITHOUT TICKETS 

Report Time Officer Location 

No. 

Brief Summary of What the Witness Can Say 

4 11am DI Towell Leppings Lane 

7 11am PC Booth Leppings Lane 

17 11.15am PC Blackham Leppings Lane 

24 11.15am PC Fletcher Leppings Lane 

32 12 noon PC Pulfrey Leppings Lane 

34 2.35pm PC English Vere Road 

35 12.40 

3pm 

61 10.30am 

onwards 

63 10.45am 

onwards 

66 2.30pm- 

3pm 

PC Pratt 

PC Langley 

PC Punton 

PC Coulson 

Leppings Lane 

Leppings Lane 

Leppings Lane 

Leppings Lane 

69 2pm PC Musk Penistone Road 

74 12 noon PC Welch Penistone Road 

84 11am PC Robinson Leppings Lane 

136 2pm Insp. Selwood Leppings Lane 

140 2.15pm Insp. Millett Claywheels Lane 

150 11am- 

2pm 

180 11am- 

3pm 

198 12 noon- 

2pm 

PC Reynolds 

DC Lawrence 

PC Drury 

Leppings Lane 

Leppings Lane 

Leppings Lane 

Evidence of fans asking for spare tickets. 

Evidence of seeing hundreds without tickets. 

Evidence of a large number asking others for tickets. Also 

enquiries about a pub where they could purchase spare tickets. 

Evidence of being asked 50-60 times for spare tickets. 

Evidence that 20 youths asked officer for tickets. 

Evidence of fans jumping over barrier and asking for tickets 

of those arrested. 

Evidence of seeing fans without tickets - also saw youth 

auctioning tickets. 

Evidence of seeing large number Liverpool fans looking 

for tickets. 

Evidence of seeing large numbers seeking tickets. 

Evidence of seeing 100 plus ticketless fans. 

Evidence of numerous fans had come to the match expecting 

to buy tickets from touts. 

Evidence of being approached by fans wanting tickets. 

Evidence of being approached by fans enquiring where tickets 

could be purchased. 

Evidence of seeing numerous fans asking for tickets. 

Evidence of fans asking for tickets. 

Evidence of seeing numerous fans - no tickets. 

Evidence of numerous instances of seeing people without tickets. 

Evidence of fans asking for tickets.

EVIDENCE REGARDING LIVERPOOL EMC WITHOUT TICKETS (CONTP.) 

Report 

No. 

Time Officer location 

Brief Sunmary of What the Witness Can Say 

202 2pm PS Mozley Leppings Lane 

206 2.45pm PC Watts Catch Bar Lane 

220 10.45am- 

3pm 

237 12 noon- 

3pm 

PC Stubbins 

PS Whit lam 

Leppings Lane 

Leppings Lane 

246 2.15pm PC Lomas Wadsley Lane 

398 2.40pm PC Washington Leppings Lane 

QOR 121 1.15pm PC Ogilvie Halifax Road 

Evidence of fans having no tickets and also complaining of 

having them stolen. 

Evidence of being approached by 10 supporters for a ticket. 

Witnessed 200 persons asking for tickets - Previously on sick 

leave through stress. 

Evidence of seeing over 100 supporters without tickets. 

Evidence of hearing people saying they could get in without 

tickets. 

Evidence of seeing stubs of tickets being thrown back into crowd. 

Evidence of arresting six fans on the way to the match, three 

of whom were not in possession of tickets.

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OVER 21 

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR 

SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE 

I am a D e te c tiv e In sp e cto r in the South Y o rk s h ire P o lic e , a t present 

s ta tio n e d a t Hammerton Road P o lic e S ta tio n . 

On Saturday 15 A p r il 1989 I was on duty in connection w ith the F.A. 

Cup sîTii —f i n a l between L iv e rp o o l and No u tin g han’t i- or es t a t the 

S h e ffie ld Wednesday fo o t b a ll ground, H ills b o ro u g h , S h e ffie ld . I was 

in charge of the CID o f f ic e r s in sid e the ground. They consisted of 

fo u r o f f ic e r s based in the gymnasium to take re p o rts of crime and 

also deal w ith persons a rre s te d fo r cirne, and e ig h t o ff ic e r s form ing 

a ’ P ic k —pocket Squad*, who were deployed a t the Leppings Lane ena of 

the ground, both in s id e and outside the t u r n s t il e s . The d e ta ils of 

one o f f ic e r s in vo lve d are as o u tlin e d in Appendix F o f tne 

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O p e ra tio n a l Order. 

O u tlin e d below is a resume of the events of th a t day, 

rny re co l le c tio n : 

10am B r ie fin g at H ills b o ro u g h 

to the best of

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• Followed by b r ie f in g fo r CID o f f ic e r s

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S uperintendent McKay- S h o rtly a fte rw a rd s 1 accompanied Det. Supt. 

McKay to the P o lice C o ntrol Bax in the ground where we spoke to 

D e te c tiv e C hief S up e rin ten de n t Addis. 

He then accompanied us back to 

the 

gymnasium. 

i 

then made arrangements fo r the frie n d s and relat-ives of the 

deceased and m issing persons to be tra n s p o rte d to Hammerton Road 

P o lic e S ta tio n . Some time la t e r I tr a v e lle d w ith the f i r s t coach 

load of persons to Hammerton Road. On a r r iv a l , arrangements had been 

made fo r them to be accommodated at H ills b o ro u g h Boys Club. 1 then 

re tu rn e d to Hammerton Road and lia is e d w ith b et. Supt. McKay and 

other' of f ic e rs 

etc. 

Approx. 9.30pm I returned to the fo o t b a ll ground w ith D e te c tiv e 

S up e rin ten de n t McKay and examined the te rra c in g at 

the Leppings Lane 

end. The C hief Constable, H.M. Coroner, and others were present at 

th is tim e. 

Returned to Hammer ton Road P o lic e S ta tio n .

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S ,YORKS.POLICE, 

POL PC611 

270489 

ECCLESFIELD POLICE STATION 

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POLICE CONSTABLE 611 BOOTH 

FH SUB DIVISION, ECCLESFIELD POLICE STATION 

FA CUP SENI FINAL SATURDAY 15 APRIL 1989 

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At 9am on the above date I reported to E c c le s fie ld P o lic e S ta tio n 

where tra n s p o rt was w a itin g to take o ff ic e r s from I-2 to H ills b o ro u g h 

Stadium. At H ills b o ro u g h I was b rie fe d along w ith a l i other o ff ic e r s 

on d u iy . I was one of ten constables •in s e r ia l 19 under the d ir e c t 

s u p e rv is io n of PS 323 P ro c to r. Our d u tie s on th is oate were outside 

tne ground in Leppings Lane near to the t u r n s t il e s which were to be 

used as access poin ts in to the ground fo r a l l L iv e rp o o l S upporters 

w ith the c o rre c t t ic k e t . Our b r ie f was to receive fans at that 

lo c a tio n and to m a in ta in order and also to a s s is t where possible and 

i f needed, s e ria ls w orking on the t u r n s t ile s at Leppings Lane, I w«*s 

in possession of my personal ra d io. 

At 11am th a t date we received a fu r th e r b r ie f in g at the rear of the 

West Stand which is a t the Leppings Lane end of the ground. 'i his 

b r ie f in g was c a rrie d out by Inspector Sykes who ensured tn a t a ll 

■/ "•.

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R7 

o f f ic e r s were aware of s p e c ific d u tie s under his 

command o utside the 

Leppings Lane end of the ground. We were in s tru c te d to ca rry out 

s e le c tiv e searches 

of fans o utsid e the ground and to search any 

v e h ic le s th a t were c a rryin g L iv e rp o o l supporters arm d e p o s itin g them 

a t the ground. S e ria l 19 then went o u ts id e the ground to the area of 

Leppings Lane adjacent 

to the t u r n s t il e s and the mouth of the 

o f f i c i a l car park at the rear of the South Stand. I t was evident at 

t h is p oint th a t large numbers of L iv e rp o o l fans were a lre a d y in the 

area, many of them asking i f t ic k e ts were a v a ila b le and also asking 

f o r d ire c tio n s to any lo c a l pubs th a t might be open. At 12 noon the 

t u r n s t i l e s 

in to the ground were opened and some fans began to enter 

in an o rd e rly fa s h io n . Other fans were not in te re s te d in e n te rin g 

the ground and were m illin g around in Leppings Lane in q u ite large 

numbers many of them d rin k in g from lager cans e tc . Up u n t i l about 

1.30pm there d id not appear to be any serious problems in Leppings 

Lane d espite the fa c t th a t many fans (hundreds in my e s tim a tio n ) did 

not have t ic k e ts and were d rin kin g *. 

From 1,30pm onwards m a in ta in in g 

any s o rt of order e ith e r at the t u r n s t il e s or in Leppings Lane i t s e l f 

became very d i f f i c u l t . O ffic e r s from s e ria l 19 were c o n s ta n tly 

t r y in g to remove fans w ith o u t t ic k e ts from Leppings Lane. ih is task 

was q u ite im possible as droves of L iv e rp o o l fans w ith t ic k e ts were 

a r r i v i n g . The pavements and the road way were com pletely blocked and 

I was made aware 

Leppings Lane. 

th a t t r a f f i c was to be stopped from e n te rin g 

S h o rtly a fte rw a rd s a s p e cia l t r a i n c o n ta in in g 

L iv e rp o o l fans was a r r iv in g and the fans would s h o r tly be a r r iv in g in 

Leppings Lane. 

By E.30pm the s it u a t io n in Leppings Lane haa 

d e te rio ra te d to such an extent th a t 1 would say i t became everyman 

f o r h im s e lf. There was so much nastyness from some fans towards the 

P o lic e th a t a colleague of mine PC 21530 Lockley commented th a t he had 

never seen a s it u a t io n q u ite lik e i t . F ig h tin g broke out in Leppings

PAGE 

R 7 

Lane at about ,2.35pm some fans were a rre s te d . People were coming up 

t o me and s howi ng obvious forged t i c k e ts » some of them were trie re 

p h o to s ta t copies of o r ig in a ls and th is had created a lo t of 

antaqorii srn amongst suppo rte rs . At about eL. 45 pm the douDle gates, 

s it u a t e to the l e f t (as you look from outside the ground) of 

t u r n s t il e s number one were opened to ease what ‘was o b v io u s ly a crush 

a t those t u r n s t il e s . 

Myself and PC 3135 Burnlees went w ith Inspector 

Sykes and other o f f ic e r s and e v e n tu a lly closed these gates to 

prevent 

any other persons from e n te rin g the ground using th a t method. I was 

then aware th a t problems were being encountered a t t u r n s t ile s A to G 

and the crush there was u n b e lie v a b le . 1 went to the perim eter gates 

s it u a t e f if t e e n yards in fr o n t of the t u r n s t ile s and t r ie d to close 

one of them to prevent any more persons from g e ttin g near to the 

t u r n s t i l e s . 

These gates were fo rce d open by fans w anting to get to 

the t u r n s t i l e s . The gates were pushed wide open and fans began to 

scramble through towards the t u r n s t il e s . Double e x it gates ju s t m 

the o f f i c i a l car park were opened to ease the pressure of the crush 

outside? 

one young male fan had a lre a d y been l i f t e d from w ith in the 

crowd and handed over the top to 

p o lic e o ff ic e r s and fans were 

scram bling up the outside w a ll to get in to the ground. The opening 

of these gates caused many people to rush through and lo ts of people 

in Leppings Lane saw the o p p o rtu n ity to gain e n try and d id so. 

I 

then heard a loud speaker announcement t e l l i n g fans to get o ff the 

p it c h . (I thought a p itc h in v a s io n had taken p la c e ). A radio 

message was passed fo r a l l a v a ila b le o ff ic e r s to go onto the p itc h . 

I a id so and a s s is te d at th a t lo c a tio n . 

REPORT

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POL PC£35 

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27G489 

Signed 

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P.C 235 BLACKHAM 

A2 ROSSINGTON 

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S aturday, 15 A p r il 1989 H ills b o ro u g h S e ria l 31 

PHASE 1 

Duty Leppinys Lane Roundabout, segregate supporters and keep 

roundabout cle a r of t r a f f i c 

PHASE* 2 

S t a n d fc y L e p p i n g s L a n e a n d m e a j. . 

PHASE 3 

Leppings Lane Roundabout c o n tro l t r a f f i c in to Leppings Lane. 

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S.15am 

On duty to Doncaster DHQ fo r b r ie f in g and tra n s p o rt. 

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8.45am Depart Doncaster DHG fo r Hillsborough. 

9 . 45am B r ie fin g a t Hi 11sborougn. 

'iQ.EOam Packed lunch in grounds and f u r t h e r b r ie f in g by s e n 

ci i. 

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s e r g e a n t . 

1 "i . 15am Foot p a tro l to Leppings Lane Roundabout ju n c tio n wi u h 

Peni stone Rio act. iook up po; nl w ith PC e. / wade.

From f i r s t taking up the p o in t, n o tic e d th a t there was a lre ad y a 

PAGE 

R17 

steady fla w of spectators e n te rin g Leppings Lane from th is 

roundabout 

and heading towards the ground. There were, throughout the time at 

t h is p oin t a large number of supporters asking other supporters i f 

they had any spare t ic k e t s . A large number of L iv e rp o o l supporters 

enquired about a pub near to the seven arches where they had been 

lo ld to meet to purchase spare tic k e ts fo r the match. 

We were also asked by a great number of supporters of a l l age groups 

where the nearest "pub" was th a t was open. They were a l l advised tha 

to the best of our knowledge a l l p u b lic houses in the area were 

closed. A great number of supporters were c a rry in g 4 packs w ith 

them. The m a jo rity of the people c a rry in g A packs and asking fo r 

d ir e c tio n s to the p u b lic houses were a l l in groups of 3 to ten people 

Throughout the tou r a t Leppings Lane Roundabout there was 

no 

a ggression shown by the supporters who appeared to be 

in good s p i r i t s 

and lo oking forw ard to the game. I t was n o tic e d th a t from about 

1.30pm a growing number of the 

persons w ith 4 packs were seated on 

w a lls in Leppings Lane close to the ju n c tio n w ith Perristone 

Road. There appeared to be no problems w ith these as there were a 

4k 

number of o ff ic e r s in the vie i ni ty -with them, and also a h ig h ly 

v i s i tile presence of of f i cers i n the area. 

The a t t it u d e of the supporters towards us was very jo v ia l in fa c t 

comments were 

passed to the e ffe c t th a t they were not used to P o lic e 

o f f ic e r s (B iz z y s ) s m ilin g and ta lk in g to them. 

D uring the tour at Leppings Lane Roundabout, 

w h ils t there had been 

c o n tin u a l flo w of s p e c ta to rs both towards the L iv e rp o o l siae of the 

ground and N o tts , f o r e s t end, as fa r as I am aware there were no 

problems w ith c o n tro l of the crowd and no aggression shown towaros 

the P o lic e or opposing su pp o rters. 

At a p p ro xim a te ly £ .3 0 pm I 

n o tice d th a t £ o f f ic e r s along w ith Sgt.

Pearson and 

In p e c to r t i i l i e t t began to stop t r a f f i c from e n te rin g 

Leppirigs Lane from the roundabout. 

At 2 . 40pm the same date myself and PC 2733 Wade re lie v e d the 2 

o f f ic e r s and stopped a l l t r a f f i c from e n te rin g Lappings Lane, 

to the 

annoyance of many m o to ris ts . 

In sp e cto r M i l l e t t ha’d informed us tn a t 

the re was problems at the Leppings Lane entrance to the ground and 

th a t due to the large volume of s p e c ta to rs in Leppings Lane no 

v e h ic le s could get through. S ervice buses were advised of the 

s it u a t io n and they took a lte r n a tiv e ro u te s . To the best of my 

knowledge the youths who had been sat on the w a lls w ith t n e ir 4 packs 

must have set o ff towards the ground a f t e r I took up t r a f f i c c o n tro l 

a t the end of Leppings Lane. 

'3.00pm The area seemed deserted of supporters so we began to waik to 

our Phase 2 p o s itio n . 

As I approached the ground there appeared to be a la rge number of 

supporters w a lking away from the ground towards Leppings Lane 

R oundabout. 

A lo t of lo c a l re sid e n ts were com plaining about the problems caused 

by t hg la rg e number of supporters th a t had been there and the large 

a m o Li n t o f c a n s a n d f i s h a n d c h i p w r a p p e r s t h r o w n i n t o t h e ir g a r d e n s . 

Upon reaching the Leppings Lane entrance I was inform ed tn a t there 

had been tro u b le in sid e the ground and th a t w ith other s e r ia ls , had 

to cordon o ff the Leppings Lane entrance to the ground. At t h is time 

th e re were a la rge number of 

su pp o rters le aving the ground and 

w a lking up towards Leppings Lane Roundabout, 

they were v i s i b l y shane n 

■■and upset and so me were snouting abuse to Pa a i ce o tf ic e rs . V if tu d i iy 

im m ediately our s e r ia l was c a lle d in to the ground io the rear of tsie 

West Stand, v e rb a lly as radio communications appeared in coherent as 

thougn a lo t of people were t r y in g to pass messages to g e th e r. 

I went in to the area at the rear of the West tJtand v ia *C* Gate where

PAGE 

R 17 

I im m ediately saw m edical s t a f f g iv in g a tte n tio n to a boy in the rear 

of an ambulance. There were a large number of in ju re d persons 

s c a tte re d about t h is area w ith P o lic e o f f ic e r s and c i v il ia n s 

admi n is te r in g f i r s t a id . The area was in t o t a l confusion as other 

su p p o rte rs were c o n s ta n tly running about c a rry in g c a s u a ltie s and 

searching fo r frie n d s and re la tiv e s . I was in s tru c te d to clear a way 

fo r ambulances to get through. Along w ith other o f f ic e r s the centre 

p a rt of t h is area was cleared to a llo w access fo r ambulances, I was 

then to ld to stand w ith other o f f ic e r s form ing a cordon around a 

number of bodies la y on the f lo o r at the perim eter w a i l « At th is 

tim e I had no idea a t a l l what had happened, a l l orders were given 

v e r b a lly as the radios were s t i l l unreadable. There were a large 

amount of shocked c iv il ia n s w alking about in the area, there were 

a lso a la rge amount of sp ectators shouting abuse d ire c te d towards the 

p o lic e o f f ic e r s and ambulance s t a f f t r y in g to give f i r s t a id and also 

towards the f i r e s e rv ic e o ff ic e r s who had a rriv e d . 

An in s t r u c t io n was given to clear everyone from th a t area, and the 

m a jo r ity of the youths were escorted out of 

the Leppings Lane 

entrance, these le a v in g under p ro te s t. I t was q u ite obvious th a t an 

in c id e n t of a, p a r t i c u l a r ly serious nature had occurred and i t was 

noted th a t a lo t of the o ff ic e r s there le t a lo t of the youths leave 

the area th a t would have been a rre s te d fo r 

p u b lic order offences 

under normal circum stances. 

1 was then d ire c te d by PS 2SE2 Kennedy from eC* D iv. to accompany him 

and o th e r o f f ic e r s in to the refreshm ent area at the rear of the 

sea t i n g a r ea in t n e 

1s t f lo o r of t h e We st S t and and t o t r y t o 

persuade s p e cta to rs who were m illin g about, to leave the ground and 

go back to th e i r 

re sp e c tiv e tra n s p o rt and do head counts to a s c e rta in 

i f any of t h e ir p a rty were m issing. The m a jo rity of the people I' 

spoke to were shocked and re a d ily agreed to do t h is . 1 remained in

company w ith PC £735 wade w h ils t i t was announced th a t the game had 

been abaridoned and fo r everyone to leave the ground. The m a jo rity of 

the people l e f t t h is part of the stand in s ile n ce others thanked the 

o f f ic e r s fo r t h e ir help w h i1st one or two continued to be abusive. 

Once the stand was cleared a lo n g 'w ith PC Wade I went in to the seating 

area and w ith other o f f ic e r s , conducted a search fo r p ro p e rty w ith 

negative result, 

I then l e f t the ground and met up w ith the re st of my s e r ia l outside 

the Leppings Lane entrance, where we were c a lle d in to the main stand 

fo r the d e - b r ie f. 

W h ils t a w a itin g fo r a d e -b rie f I heard an in spe cto r say th a t he had 

been kicked w h ils t g iv in g somebody mouth to mouth and th a t another 

o f f ic e r who had been checking for' a pulse had been kicked in his hand. 

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C o m m e n c e d duty at 8.15am from home station to parade for duty 8 . 4 5 a m 

a t Doncaster for transportation to Sheffield. 

Travelled to Sheffield 

in double decked S . Y . P . T . E . bus on hire. 

A r r i v e d at Hillsborough for briefing in North S t a n d attached to 

serial 29 with PS 1 5 6 1 Reynolds, PC 1 2 8 0 Hebdidge, PC 3 1 4 5 Punton, PC 

214 Caulson, PC 2 8 4 0 Pearson, PC 1 1 6 9 Kerr and PC 2 9 1 5 Severn. 

F o l l o w i n g the briefing engaged on duties at Eskdale Road and 

She n s t o n e Road off Leppings Lane, 

prevg,p*4i»fl unauthorised parking 

w i t h barriers arriving approximate 1 j C l l .Q 5 a m « \ At,that time Liverpool 

fans arriving, m a n y with packs of beer - Targier. 

R e m a i n e d in t h a t 

a r e a mostly in company wi t h PS Reynolds on foot patrol along Leppings 

Lane between the two roads above. 

As time went by the volume of 

s pectators arriving grew, many asking for directions to Public Houses 

and it was apparent to me that a large number of them did not have 

t ickets for the match. 

I must have been asked at least 50 — 60 times 

if I had any spare tickets.

PAGE 

R24 

There were groups of fans walking up and down Leppings Lane asking 

o thers for tickets, this went on from the time of my arrival at the 

point until just before kick-off. 

I saw several instances of 

s p e ctators purchasing tickets I think 

25 was the asking price. 

The m o o d of the f a n s arriving was generally h a p p y /boisterous/singing, 

o b v i o u s l y looking forward to the match. 

I did not see any bad 

b ehaviour as such but as time got nearer kick-off there were still 

m a n y asking for tickets. 

F r o m about 2pm I was with PS 1 5 6 1 Reynolds standing in front of a 

private garage area almost opposite Eskdale Road just after I think 

B i c k e r t o n Road. 

This was a result of a complaint from an elderly 

couple who were washing their car in the garage area regarding f a n s 

us ing the garages as a toilet. 

F r o m that point we could see down Leppings Lane to the bottom at the 

r o u n d a b o u t at Penistone Road, during t h a t time there was a continuous 

s t r e a m of fans arriving, 

causing problems for traffic on the road, 

one fan was spoken to by PS Reynolds for deliberately walking on the 

road in front of a bus. 

The mood was generally good natured and 

enthusiastic. 

There seemed to be no let up of numbers arriving and 

a b o u t 2 . 5 0 p m I m a d e the point to PS Reynolds t h a t there was no way 

could they get into the ground for kick-off, and for them to do so 

the kick-off would have to be delayed. 

About 3pm I heard on PS 

R e y n o l d ’s radio t h a t there was a large crowd at the turnstiles and 

a p p a r e n t trouble there. 

As a result together with PS Reynolds, PC Bradley and PC Severn we

went directly to to the turnstile area, large numbers of persons 

PAGE 

R24 

there, I saw some climbing up over the wall into the ground and many 

of them running up and climbing over the turnstiles themselves. 

The 

time then would be about 3.05pm just after the main bulk of them had 

been let in through the gate which had been opened. 

Not knowing at 

that time that the gate had been opened I prevented several youths 

from climbing over the turnstiles and moved others to the other side 

of the gates in front of the turnstiles. 

Remained there and several 

•fans' leaving the ground then informed me that there were serious 

problems inside, one described it it as being worse than the Heysel 

disaster. 

Many people leaving the ground now and the general attitude now was 

of anger and sheer hatred towards the Police, many threatening 

officers and calling us murderers, the main were very hostile towards 

us, so much so that I was afraid for my own and other officers 

safety. 

Many of them were in tears. 

About 3 .20pm I was in desperate need of the toilet, so I went into 

the ground and walked down the side of the North Stand to the toilet, 

there were large numbers leaving the stand by them, while in the 

toilet (alone) I was subjected to a barrage of threats and abuse from 

about 30 men, 3 or 4 told them to leave me alone as it was not my 

fault, if they had not done this I feel sure that I would have been 

assaulted. 

On leaving the toilet I walked around the back of the 

West Stand trying to find a way on to the playing area, but not 

knowing the ground could not get on. 

Unab1e to get on to the pitch I 

then had to return outside the ground and join other officers there. 

Ambulances and fire tenders were arriving now and a steady continuous 

* 

stream of people leaving the ground and the abuse and threats 

f!*-

PAGE 

R24 

continued. 

Some coining up and asking me where the nearest pub was. 

I remained there until we were stood down and asked to regroup in the 

North Stand. 

From there I walked with my serial to Claywheels for 

food and subsequent transport back to Doncaster.

tun,4 * 

PULFREY 

Police Constable 393 5- 

£ 

9.00 a.m. 

9.30 a.m. 

9.45 a.m. 

11.00 a.m. 

12 noon 

Meet at Ecclesfield. 

Hillsborough Football Ground. 

To North Stand briefing then meal. 

To Leppings Lane under control of P.S. *68 Whitlam and 

Inspector Sykes. No radios issued to PC's. 

Turnstiles open stead, streaB of Liverpool fans arriving 

Beer confiscated from youths on several occasions. 

A group of approximately 20 youths hanging around large 

blue entrance gates 'A' adjacent to North Stand turnstiles, 

when asked if they had tickets the, replied 'NO' 

and were moved on. 

1.45 p.m. 

Same youths returned with more 'non ticket holders' 

again loitering around gate 'A'. 

Bore beer being con- 

1.50 p.m. 

fiscated from youths entering ground. 

Arrest of youth for possession of cannabis. 

Room then clerical re arrest. 

To Police 

2.20 p.m. 

2-30 p.m. 

2.^5 p.m. 

Whilst in gym heard over Police personal radios 'trouble 

at Leppings Lane.’ 

En route Leppings Lane find two youths with tickets for 

terraces within North Stand. Both youths escorted back 

to terraces via Steward controlled gate.

- 2 - 

PULFREY 

Back of North Stand packed with men urinating against the wall when shouted 

at by myself, carried on regardless. 

At this time my attention was drawn to 

back of turnstiles for North Stand where Police Constables from my serial 

had come through the turnstiles. Entrance gates 'A' were shaking violently. 

Fans coming through turnstiles drunk and hostile shouting 'THEY RE GETTING 

KILLED OUT THERE, THERE'S GOING TO BE ANOTHER HEYSELS,' and screaming for 

gate ’A' to be opened. 

Gate 'A' opened and crowd surged forward through the gate. 

The gate was 

closed again only seconds later. 

Back on turnstile duty only a few Liverpool fans coming through suddenly a 

crowd appears at main gates to turnstiles which are closed. 

Only people now 

attempting to get in are very drunk Liverpool fans. Turnstiles closed 

scuffling breaking out between Liverpool fans and in one occasion a drunken 

Liverpool fan lashed out at a Mounted Officer with a broken bottle. Suddenly 

Special Inspector beckons wildly at me. 

I ran to gates 'B' where I saw an 

obviously dead boy being put in an ambulance, passed a near naked dead man 

at gate 'B' and into the area between gate 'B' and the tunnel for the 

terraces. 

In this area approximately 10 dead people were strewn about. 

I checked these to ensure they were dead then assisted with the injured 

people some of who were also lying in this area. 

I then, after seeing the 

arrival of ambulance crews, ran through the tunnel to the terraces where I 

was met by a wall of Liverpool fans, looking over them I could see the pitch 

had been invaded, people around me in the tunnel began moaning, I assisted 

to escort these people out of the tunnel where if they were injured, 

directed ambulance crews to them. 

Myself and Police Constable 809 carried the body of a young fair haired boy 

in a Liverpool shirt and light trousers in the lane running adjacent to the

PULFREY 

River Don, we then went onto the pitch. 

People were being carried away but no bodies were on the pitch. 

Attention called for Leppings Lane terraces where Liverpool fans were 

attacking another Liverpool fan who they say was picking up belongings from 

the terraces and putting them in his pocket. 

Called by another officer to go to Leppings Lane. 

On the way assist to 

remove bodies from back of terrace tunnel to lane running adjacent to the 

River Don then form cordon helping fans to leave ground, stream of urine 

running down from North Stand like a waterfall. 

Fans leaving ground violent and asking if the match is off. 

Ambulances convey bodies away. 

Liverpool fans leave, then instructed to go to North Stand for de-brief. 

Throughout these events I felt nothing, I just helped where I could. 

It seemed as though nobody really knew what to do but help with the dead and 

injured. 

I have worked at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club on numerous occasions and 

usually have policed the same turnstiles without any trouble.

I rB i dent 105 £ 1 0 6 8 9 0 P 4 0 G 1 



R34 

I 

Bur name 

iMl renames 

ENGLISH 

S la tio n 

/■e 

Add ress 

S . YORKS.POLICE, 

Date of b ir t h 

ECCLESfiELD POLICE S 1A I ION 

L U p 3 . t- j. c r> 

Iepnone 

POL PC£333 

270489 Signed 

Incident, at H ills b o ro u g h — S aturday, 15th A p r il 1989 

At 9.00 arn on Saturday, 15th A p r il, I commenced duty at E c c le s fie ld 

P o lic e S ta tio n , 

where tra n s p o rt was a v a ila b le fo r tra n s p o rta tio n down 

to the S h e ffie ld Wednesday F o o tb a ll Ground. 

A b r ie f in g was given by C hief Supt. D u cken fie ld in the N orth Stand 

and I was part of a s e r ia l to g e th e r w ith 9 other o f f ic e r s under the 

command of PS 323 P ro c to r. Our d u tie s were to be in -Leppings Lane. 

T: 

1 

■4 

€ i: 

P r io r to comrnenci ng our d u tie s , a f t e r the i n i t i a l b r ie f in g was 

com pleted, a fu r th e r b r ie f in g was given by Insp e ctor Sykes to our 

S e r ia l, o u tlin in g our o v e ra ll d u tie s . 

We then took up our p o s itio n on Leppings Lane, on the fo o tp a th wnich 

runs in fr o n t of the t u r n s t il e s . 

The volume of sp e cta to rs increased as the day went on. People were 

a tte n d in g a t th is lo c a tio n , re q uesting the lo c a tio n of p u b lic 

houses. One named the was mentioned in p a r t i c u la r . 

Many supporters were sat and stood arouna on Leppings Lane, 

who hau 

no in t e n t io n of e n te rin g the ground u n t il as la te as p o s s ib le , 

r-any were d rin k in q a lc o n o l f rorri both cans and large b o ttle r., noweve i- 

due to the number of people doing th is and the th in spread of P olice 

' ' - 3 Z

■ 

PAGE 

R34 

O ffic e r s i t was im possible to do a n y th in g about i t . I was 

c o n tin u a lly a tte m p tin g to keep both tne 

fo o tp a th and roadway clear of 

sp ecta tors who were ju s t in te n t on stan d in g around. 

A couple of 

coaches a rriv e d at the Leppings Lane end of the ground, 

which was 

unplanned ana these were emptied and the fans d e a lt w ith 

a c c o rd in g ly . Some alchohol was brought on one of these coaches and 

the d riv e r was immediate ly verbal ly ca utioned. 

A ssistance in c le a rin g the road and paths was given by mounted 

o ff ic e r s f r orn tim e to tim e . 

By about. 2 pm the amount of people in the area had grown and fay now 

many people were stood around d rin k in g and g e n e ra lly o b s tru c tin g the 

hi g hway. 

At £. 35 pH': a large 

f ig h t broke out on Leppings tane and tog e the r w ith 

PC Ji'lEO Thorpe we a rre s te d a youth each, who were f ig h t in g w ith each 

o t h sr. 

An attem pt was made to take the p ris o n e rs to the P o lic e Room v ia *A* 

Gate, however t h is was im p ra c tic a l due to the large crowds o utsid e 

the t u r n s t i l e s . We tnen went down Vere Road to the P o lic e Room. 

W h ils t we were going down vere Road, fans were jumping over the 

b a rrie rs and ask i no t o ' buv the t ic k e ts of those a ■" r f*c ^ p 1-1■ 

This had been the qeneral order of .the oay. hany fans were wanae r a ng 

around wanting to buy t ic k e ts , o b v io u s ly many people had at termed 

trie ground w ith o u t t ic k e ts . 

At one p o in t one fan approached w ith an obvious forged t ic k e t , 

photocopied, which he had paid £0 f o r . 

The p riso n e r was booked in and 1 then attended a t the Gym to do 

P -B p 0 r w o r k s 

At about 3 pm a l l a v a ila b le o f f ic e r s were requested. 

I attended in Leppinqs Lane, there was then a large s p i l l of fans 

coming out of *C’ gate. They looked red faced and on going to ' C

PAGE 

R34 

gate I saw fans la id on the f l o o r , d is tre s s e d . 1 a s s is te a as aest i 

could and then went towards the tunnel which gives access to the 

te r ra c e s . O ffic e r s were a t t h is lo c a tio n tending v ic tim s , I went on 

to tne te rra c e s and a s s is te d in the pul lin o back of the fen cin g in 

order to assist people to get out. 

1 saw many facsdies la id one upon another or; the te rra c e s . 1 he 

m a jo rity of which appeared dead I then a ssisted w ith other o f f ic e r s 

in p ic k in g up maybe h a lf a dozen bodies and passing them through the 

fen cin g to o th e r o ff ic e r s . 

1 do not know who I passed them to , nor can I describe any of the 

bodies I d e a lt w ith . A ll the bodies I moved were from the f lo o r on 

Vh e t e r r a c e s . 

1 r e g u la r ly work at S h e ffie ld Wednesday Fcotba.ii Club ana always in 

the same lo c a tio n , Leppings Lane on coach re ce p tio n . 1 worked the 

same s e m i-fin a l 

la s t year. 

E v e n tu a lly we were taken from the terra ces and resumed. 

REPORf

nK. dent 105 £10689 OP4001 DOCUMENT RECORD PR INT 

| _ OFFICERS REPORT NUMBER R35 

t a t io n 

Sjnan'ie 

I 

Fore 0 r name2 

1 

I 

PRATT 

ANDREW 

AB> D a t e o f b 1 r t n 

A r r e s t S. YORKS. POLICE, ECCLESF I ELD POLICE STATION' 

O.) C ccupation C 1 

POL PC 'i 1 tLh 

1I 

(■e p h o n e 

NBnber 

of Pages 

Dated 27U4&9 Siyned 

PC 11E 4- ANDREW PRATT FE SUB—DIVISION 

On Saturday 15 A p r il 1989? at 9 .00am I commenced duty at E c c le s fie ic 

P o lic e S ta tio n and was then tra n s p o rte d down to H ills b o ro u g h F o o tb a ll 

Ground where at 10.00am I attended a b r ie fin g fo r the S em i-Final 

F o o tb a ll Match between L iv e rp o o l and Nottingham F o re s t. 

My d uties 

fo r th a t event were on s e r ia l 19 and the o f f ic e r in charge of Chats 

e r ia l was PS 323 P ro c to r. At about 11.00am a ft e r the b r ie fin g 

to a e th e r w ith the re st of the s e ria l I went to the Leppings Lane end 

of the ground. Our d u tie s were outside the ground and were to 

s u p e r v i. s e t h & a r r i val o f t h e L 1 v e r p ool s u p p orte r s in

PAGE 2 

R35 

c a rry in g cans ana b o ttle s of beer and wine. These people were 

prevented from going in to the ground. The pavement areas around the 

Leppings Lane end were thronged w ith L iv e rp o o l 

supporters and 1 was 

c o n tin u o u s ly mov i ng supporters from the paved area and in the middle 

of the road. These persons were d ire c te d e ith e r in to t-he ground or 

away -from i t i f they diet not have a t ic k e t . 

At about 2 . 30pm the queuing area fo r the Leppings Lane end was 

packed 

w ith L iv e rp o o l su pp o rters. With other o ff ic e r s frorn our s e r ia l 1 

entered the crowd to t r y to ease what seemed to be becoming a serious 

congestion. 

By th is time t r a f f i c had been stopped on Leppings Lane 

as L iv e rp o o l supporters were approaching the ground in mass. Many of 

these people seemed obviously the worse fo r d rin k . I could see th a t 

mounted o f f ic e r s were try in g to ease the crowd s itu a tio n by 

in s t r u c tin g supporters to queue 

in an o rd e rly fash io n and t e l l i n g 

those w ith o u t t ic k e ts to get away from the crowd. Many of the 

su pp o rters d isp la ye d a h o s tile re a c tio n to these requests. I m yself 

entered the crowd to t r y to make i t more o rd e rly as by th is time 

there was a lo t of pushing towards the t u r n s t il e s . None of the 

P o lice a c tio n seemed to be able to a i t e r the a c tio n s of the crowd. 

As the time got towards 3.00pm there were s t i l l hundreds of 

su pp o rters w alking to "the ground from e ith e r end of Le pi pings L^ne. 

I t became in c re a s in g ly im possible to d ir e c t these p>eople and from 

where 1 was stood on the outside of the queuing crowd towards the 

roadway persons in the crowd, in c lu d in g Hoi ice O ffic e r s , w tr t having 

problems, I t r i e d on several occasions to get in to the crowd Lo 

s p l i t i t up but i t became in c re a s in g ly im possible to penetrate i t . , 

Among the crowd ju s t a few fe e t from me 1 saw one youth s e llin g 

t ic k e t s and 1 heard him s t a r t the bidd in g fo r a t ic k e t a t ED.UO and

w i t h i n seconds 1 h e a rd someone o f f e r him 3 i. 0 U and he moveu on 

At a b o u t.o r ju s t a ft e r 3.00pm, I saw th a t * A' Gate th a t gives access 

to the North Stand and e ith e r ’ B’ or Gates were opened and th is 

in s t a n t ly eased the d e n s ity of the crowd o u ts id e . These gates from my 

r e c o lle c tio n were only open fo r a few seconds. 

su pp o rters were s u h 

coming to the ground a fte r the normal k ic k - o f f time and there was 

s t i l l a crowd o u ts id e . The supporters th a t were o utside the ground 

p rio r to the gates being opened were in a very a g ita te d mood and were 

c le a r ly very annoyed th a t they couiu not 9 6 '- in on uinie. 

Some time a f t e r 3.00pm 1 received a radio message th a t requested a i l 

o f f ic e r s to a tte n d in sid e the ground at tne Leppings Lane end. i 

then ran through 'A' Gate and 1 nto the i>iO» wU wattu a.u. _ n 

p itc h . When X f i r s t entered the in s id e p la yin g area of the ground I 

saw a mass of people in c lu d in g P olice O ffic e r s on the tra ck behind 

the Leppings Lane end goalmouth and a c tu a lly on the p itc h . 

My f i r s t 

im pression was th a t there had been some s o rt of -pitch invasion. 

There were many supporters clim bing over the metal fe n cin g . As 1 got 

to the fr o n t of the te rra c in g i t became obvious th a t a serious 

in c id e n t was ta k in g place and I saw one nutu on --he pi ten wl.j 

being tre a te d by the St Johns Ambulance S e rvice . The man appeared to 

be dead. Supporters continued to clim b over the fe n cin g , many of 

whom were in a h ig h ly d istre s s e d c o n d itio n and some collapsed. X 

could see th a t the crowd in the centre pen were being crushed ana 

pushed r ig h t up to the fencing. People were clim bin g over each other 

to get out of the pen. The scene ra p id ly became cnaotic w nt. 

seemed to be hundreds of P olice and supporter-, cn the p itc h , 

co ntin u o u s ly g iv in g assistance to 

tnose who ii«d yet over 

and were in physical d i f f i c u l t i e s . At some tim e, probably around

PAGE 

R3S 

3.30 ana 3.40pm I saw that there were a t le a s t twenty apparently fleae 

v?/

cent 10i> 2•■0669 0P4Q0", DOCUMENT RECORD PRINT 

I 


R61 

S ta tio n 

LANGLEY 

Date of 

b i r t h 

epno ne 

U o n P0^_ PC 139 

stBr a 4-' Pages 

1 

28Q4S9 

AI 3. 15 arii on S aturday, Id A p r il 1989, 1 came on duty at Arm tno r pe 

Signed 

P o lic e S ta tio n fo r d u tie s at the F . A.. Cup Sen.i—F in s i ma -«c n at 

Ki i isDorougn. 

A f te r the b r ie f in g a t H ills b o ro u g h I was d e ta ile d to s e r ia l 31 urscer 

the s u p e rv is io n of PS 2861 Pearson. At a p p ro xim a te ly 1 0 . am x took 

f 

up my p o s itio n at the roundabout ju n c tio n of Leppings uane, rial i f ax 

Road, .Perries Road and Peni stone Road ana was m company w itn r'C -i 9^4 

Smi1h in f r o n t of an area of waste ground* 

At t h is lo c a tio n the m a jo r ity of people were L iv e rp o o l ta n s . On 

evera. G ccations i was approached by L iv e rp o o l fans wno wibnea i0 

know e ith e r where to go in the grouna, whether any p u b lic *;uuses wei e 

open and on occasions i f I hau tickets for sale 

v advisea them th a t no p u b lic houses were often and i f tuey u* u no v 

have a t ic k e t they should leave the v i c i n i t y of H ilis & o ro u g n . me 

m a jo r ity of tno fans th a t 1 saw had s i t n s r been d rin k in g or were 

c a rry in g beer cans and were d rin k in g out of t nem. i w u u a v ;;w t 

th a t the fans were drunk but were in ve ry high s p i r i t s . 

rroni app ro K im a te ly 1.30 pm I was aware of a large number of L iv e rp o o l 

tans lo o k in g fo r t ic k e t s close to where I was stood. 

i. s poke to a C h ie f In s p e c to r ana askea f; in: whs- to go auu u w the

youths who were c a rry in g a lc o h o l. He advised me to a llo w them 

X h rough as * they w i l l £>& taken o ff t he m at t n e t u r n s t i l e s '’ . 

At 2.00 pm a large number of' supporters past my lo c a tio n presumably 

from the tr a in . These were accompanied by only about 2U p o lice . 

From th is time onwards the volume of supporters g few to thousands ana 

1 notice d the fans who had been looking fo r tic k e ts walk down w ith 

m e s w e llin g numbers to H1 11 s bo r o ug h . 

At approxim ately 2.30 pm the t r a f f i c t r a v e llin g down Leppings Lane 

was h alte d by m yself and PC Smith on the order of PS Pearson. 

At approxim ate 1y 3.00 pm Leppings Lane was f u l l of supporters over 

a thousand in my e s tim a tio n and seemed to 

come from the d ir e c tio n of 

H a lifa x Road. At about the same time I overheard on a radio that 

some trouDle had s ta rte d in sia e the g round on the Leppings Lane sxae, 

an Inspector came past our lo c a tio n and to ld us to go to Leppings 

Lane and on a r r iv a l a t Leppings Lane I saw a large number of 

L i v e r p o o l fans who were upset and h u rlin g abuse at P o lic e O ffic e r s . 

As I went through gate C I saw several bodies w ith people try in g to 

render f i r s t a id . I then helped to move in ju re c people outs i ae trie 

gates* A young lady then came to me and asKSQ fo r h elp . i together 

w ith PC 1900 Kent fo llo w e d the lady in to the snack D ar. i ^nen 

nelped a young female w ith chest i n j u r i e s , as we c a rrie s her across 

the h olding area the L iv e rp o o l 

fans refused to get out of our way 

altho u qh we shouted at them we were forced to knock them out of the 

way. 

An Inspector attem pted to take charge of the s it u a t io n ana orasrea 

my s e 1 f arid other o ff ic e r s to form a. D a rn e r to - s h ie ld trie ueau,; .s. 

received a great deal of abuse from the L iverpo o l fans. 

A short w h ile la te r a fte r the a r r iv a l of f i r e and ambulance t e r v i c t- 

the dead and in ju re d began to be moved from the scene. 

A S uperintendent then deployed our s e r ia l on Leppings Lane and we

PAGE 

R & 

were di re.cted to move people away to a llo w the ground to clear and 

fo r access fo r emergency se rvice s. 

As the L iv e rp o o l fans l e f t the ground I received a lo t of abuse fo r 

what had occurred. We were in s tru c te d to remain calm and maKe no 

a rre s ts . Once Leppings Lane haa cleared we were t o ld to meet i~t> 

Pearson in the N orth Stand at H ills b o ro u g h . 

A fte r a d e b rie f S e ria l oi 

was re u n ite d and mealed before re tu rn in g to Doncaster fo r S .00 pm.


R63 

I 

i r rname n 

I narri e 

PUN 1ON 

S ta t ion 

Date of 

b i r t h 

PC314h 

■ Urfc 

iitiije r of Paqes 

ES0489 

Signed 

On s a tu ra a y , 13th A p r il 1969, duty commenced a t home s ta tio n where I 

tnen 

tr a v e lie a to Doncaster HQ» 

m k, u o .'ti am ir« e *-• u p w 11 n P S I f>61 Reynolds, S e r ia l Sergeant and 

s "IZb-j Heoiege, PC; 2668 F le tc h e r, PC 1169 K e rr, PC £ l4 Coulson 

i-'C Severn, P i i4 B ra d le y, F’S 2840 Pearson. T ransported by bus to 

H ills b o ro u g h F ,€ . to r Parade, B r ie f in g , 

hi 

:U.^rj am a f t e r b r ie f in g went to Leppings Lane ju n c tio n w ith 

ttk d c ii e H c- a a wnere w itn KC 

i S&U Hbd itige- and PC Severn were 

r tf ■=■ po n•=>i u i e t o r c rowd c o n tro l ar,c£ flo w of t r a f f i c up and down road 

re tu rn in g to re s id e n ts of Eskdale Road. 

rfui,; w! i i. s Lime ot i l i , 4b am there were crowds . of L iv e rp o o l su pp o rters 

passing up and cowrt the road on Leppings Lane. 1 ne tans appeared to 

be g e ttin g t h e i r bearings and once done a l o t re turne d back along 

ine road a sking d ir e c tio n s fo r d if f e r e n t p u b lic houses ma i n l y the 

Most of them were in good b o is te ro u s 

mooc -augni nc and jo k in g w ith us as to who m ight win tne match, 

i i was v:G\.-iceu tn = i w h ils t r.tost of tner?: were asking d ir e c tio n s fo r 

puijs tney s t i l l were c a rry in g either s in g le cans or m u ltip le packs of 

cans las i f brought, f r c m s upe rmar ke t packs) of a lc o h o l. 

A il of the tim e tn e re appear td to be a la rg e number of fans standing

PAGE 

R63 

about and moving backwards and "forwards w ith in the flo w of the 

general crowd asking fo r spare tic k e ts or tic k e ts to s e l l . O ffe rs 

were being made fo r ^ ^ ^ o j^ a ^ tr T T k e t from'âny o n e. w i l l i n g tjp—a-e41. 

Groups of youths began to gather at various times and money could be 

seen exchanging hands and someone jumping about as 

though they had 

won on th a t o cc a s io n . I f asked to move or break up the groups would 

ju s t disperse to a few yards fu r th e r down the s tr e e t. 

Very few fans 

seemed to pass by w ith o u t being in possession of cans of a lc o h o l. 

The flo w of fans along Leppings Lane never r e a lly seemed to ease up 

a t any stage in p a r tic u la r and although most had possession of 

a lco h o l at th a t stage they were w il l i n g to chat, pass time of day in 

g e n e ra l. 

Many appeared to queue at the chip shop ju s t down the road a l i t t l e 

and would walk back past us. 1 was asked on countless occasions to r 

the two pubs a lre ad y mentioned and i f we knew where the L iv e rp o o l 

fans were m eeting. 

i t was mentioned in passing by PC Hebidge th a t i f 54,000 tic k e ts had 

been sold then they a l l must be passing th is way as the crowd never 

s &emea. to end, 1 re ca l 1 a flo w of fans being escorted down the f oaa 

by P o lic e O ffic e r s and th in k in g th a t the Wadsiey Bridge t r a in 

ment ioned must have a r r iv e d and th a t the s t a r t of the match sriouiun I 

be long o f f although there s t i l l appeared to be a very large number 

of fans hanging about and asking fo r t ic k e ts . 

S h o rtly a fterw ards and w h ils t there was s t i l l a constant 

flo w I 

remember a male fan ru n n in g /jo g g in g down the centre of the road 

s in g in g to him se lf about "I'm coming, I ’ m coming11, I remember looking 

a i my watch and see i nq the time at S . pm and shouting Co mm tli

PAGE 

R63 

teams had come out onto the p itc h , I stood at some point thereabouts 

on one of the b a rrie rs on the road ju n c tio n I was at and remember 

th in k in g th a t there seemed an awful lo t of fans s t i l l to get in to the 

ground and th a t the lin e of P o lic e Horses d ir e c t ly in fr o n t of the 

gates appeared aggravated and th a t heads of the horses were bobbing 

up and down 1 coulu see fans clim bing up the fencing to the l e f t of 

the gates and tr y in g to get in . 1 again stood on the b a r r ie r and 

remember 

hearing a loud speaker message about go to the N orth and you 

w i l l get in , I do not remember the exact words but re c a ll th a t the 

mass crowd then seemed to th in out a l i t t l e . 

At 3.10 pm I was 

jo in e d at Eskdale Road by PC 214 Coulson and to ld 

th a t 

the re was tro u b le w ith in the ground and we were needed a t the 

ground. 

Went s tr a ig h t away to Leppings Lane entrance and looked fo r 

PS Reynolds unable to see him and then almost 

imm ediately w h ils t 

stood near 

Uniform ed 

to a group of other P o lic e O ffic e rs was to ld by a 

Inspector to go and then taken in to ground at Leppings Lane 

and t o ld to form a cordon to guard the dead and in ju re d fans from the 

remainder of fans coming out. Cordon formed shoulder to shoulder 

w ith o th e r o ff ic e r s to guard bodies and keep passage fre e fo r the 

* 

flo w of ambulances. 

Slayed a t th is point u n t il a l l the in ju re d persons had been removed 

ana the 

dead persons had been cordoned o ff w ith b a r rie rs and green 

sheets by f i r e s e rv ic e . 

Then sent w ith 10 other o ff ic e r s and to ld to t r y and cle ar o f f the 

fans from the bridge and Leppings Lane entrance in order th a t the 

1a r g e number of fans s t i l l i n the ground could be c le a r, 

w h ils t doing th is i t was noticed th a t fans were very abusive and 

aggre ssive towards P olice and most swore using words lik e : 

"F nek i ng P o lic e had Miners now had u s ."; " I t ' s a l l our f a u l t s . " 

"Get the fu c k in g press out of h e re ."

Fans wanted to hang about, near the entrance looking fo r frie n d s , 

PAGE 

R63 

re la tiv e s arm were very re lu c ta n t to move even a few fe e t fu r th e r . 

W h ils t in the ground entrance the cordoned fans were re lu c ta n t to 

move to a llo w in the ambulances and kept wanting to look behind the 

cordon and were very abusive towards both services ana in fa c t were a 

times o b s tru c tiv e . 

A fte r a l l the fans were cleared from the ground and nearby entrance,, 

was to ld to re tu rn to ground and take up seats as in b r ie fin g , which 

was done. N oticed then i t was 7.10 pm. Between E.56 pm and 7.10 pm 

was t o t a l l y unaware of time although a l l time was kept busy. Several 

fans wanted to make com plaints a g a in st P o lic e and were informed to 

contact t h e ir lo c a l force seemed very odd th a t in a l l the panic and 

confusion fans could even th in k of such a th in g . 

Fans even t r ie d o b s tru c tin g ambulances from g e ttin g m at the 

i_eppings Lane entrance and on a r r i v a l of each ambulance 4 ans had to 

be moved and a c tu a lly asked p e rs o n a lly to a llo w the ambulances in . 

I t appeared at tim es as though they d id n 't want help. 

Fans were seen to be a c tu a lly a tta c k in g P o lice O ffic e r s who were 

ca rry in g bodies both dead and in ju re d from in sid e the ground. 

O bservations frorn mvself» Each and every P o lice O ffic e r i saw acted 

% 

and did e ve ry th in g they possibly coulu to he i p the s itu a tio n . 

Large numbers of P o lic e O ffic e rs were t o t a l l y unaware of wnat was 

happening and radios should have been issued to a t le a s t every two 

o f f ic e r s . 

I t was not at a l l 

possib le to make any organised plans w h ils t the 

in c id e n t was ongoing and everyone d id what they thought p ossible to 

help, o ff ic e r s acted on own i n i t i a t i v e . 

I t was obvious from an e a rly stage w e ll before the maucn Inat tne 

m a jo rity of fans would have 

purchased and consumed a considerable 

sTsolin c ot s i coho i a

Also from the amount of fans asking d ire c tio n s to pubs i t appeared 

th a t they had no in te n tio n of being at the ground a t a reasonable 

tim e in order to make an o rd e rly entrance. 

. PAGE 5 - ■ 

R63 

Tnere was nundreas of fans w ith o u t tic k e ts hanging about the Leppings 

L_ a f i £ 

o V £ a b 

vast dfiiotiTiU of fans had made their awn way to S heffield and arranged 

to meet up w ith other frie n d s in va rio u s pubs and had not come as 

p art of any organised party or supporter groups. 

F in a lly , I f e l t th a t w h ils t stood outsid e a fte r the in c id e n t on 

Leppings Lane w h ils t 

the fans were going out they were very abusive 

and th re a te n in g towards a l l o f f ic e r s . On more than one occasion I 

f e l t th a t I was going to get a "smack in the face from a fa n ’ and 

having been to ld th a t we were to expect abuse, had to take i t . Had 

any o f f ic e r made the s lig h te s t remark re a fans verbal abuse then a 

separate in c id e n t could have been sparked o ff in seconds. I f e l t 

ve ry threatened and h u m ilia te d a t having to take such abuse a ft e r C* 

15 years in the P o lic e . 

Or 

REPORi

lident 105 210689 O P 4001 DOCUMENT RECORD PRINT 


R66 

S tat ion 

Jjrnarne 

COULSON 

f■ o r enames DAVID SIEVEN 

Date of' b ir t h 

O ccupation 

POL PC214 

l | i e pho ne 

iHih e r of Pages 

1 280489 Signed 

With reference to the request fo r account ot d u tie s performed at 

H iiis b o ro u q h 15.4.89 I report as fo llo w s : 

At 8.15 am Saturday, 12> A p r il 1989, I reported fo r auty a;- Arni-nur i-‘t 

P o lic e O ffic e and was subsequently t r ans pa r Led to Donca-hêt >.>r 

onward tra n s p o r ta tio n to H ills b o ro u g h F o o tb a l1 Ground. 

Around 9.30 am we a rriv e d at H ills b o ro u g h and a b r ie fin g was 

held in 

the N orth Stand. I was attached to S e r ia l 29 together w ith fC 3145 

Punion, 1£80 Hebdidge, 1169 Kerr, 2915 Severn, 114 B radley, 2668 

F le tc h e r ana 2840 Pearson, in charge of the s e ria l was PS 1561 

* 

r\ t? y n o i 0 ,in-« 

f o llo w in g the b r ie fin g I took a meal break and at approxiroately 

11.00 am the s e r ia l was deployed to our resp ective points 1 was 

a llo c a te d the 

road b a r r ie r at Leppings Lane ju n c tio n w ith bhenstone 

Road, to g e th e r w ith PC 1169 Kerr and PC 2840 Pearson. 

As the day progressed supporters walked along Leppings Lane towards 

Vne Leppinqs Lane entrance w ith the numbers incre asing as the time 

passed. Numerous supporters were d rin k in g from cans and were 

c a rry in g as many as fou r cans which I assumed they were consuming 

p r ic r to e n te rin g the ground w h i c h was approK /?> y«tt ds aw«y. 

A com plaint was received from a re s id e n t of Shenstone Road (b e lie v e a

No. 51) t'o the e ff e c t th a t youths had been u r in a tin g a g a in s t his 

house w all th e re fo re several walks along the road were made and 

several youths were prevented from w alking down the road. 

PA(jL 

K66 

As the a fte rn o o n progressed the amount of people passing towards the 

gates increased g r e a tly , the m a jo rity of people appeared to be in a 

good rnood w ith tne occasional sin ging and shouting group. At 2.3u pm 

appr o xim a te iy the suppo rte rs w alki ng past showed no signs of slowing 

down and se veral people who were sat on w a lls of lo c a l gardens had to 

be ushered towards the ground in an attem pt to get them in s id e p rio r 

to the s t a r t of the match because i t became in c re a s in g ly obvious th a t 

there was no way th a t they would be in sid e before 3 pm. Many people 

sim ply moved a few fe e t away and stopped again fo r no apparent reason, 

in fa c t many made no attem pt to get in to the ground u n t i l the ia s t 

minutes at £.45 pm people were s t i l l sat outside a nearby f is h shop 

e atin g and d rin k in g cans of b e e r/la g e r. 

i t was obvious th a t many had been d rin k in g although they were not 

drunk to the f a l l i n g down stage. 

From my p o s itio n at the road b a r rie r 1 saw numerous people clim bing 

over a w a ll near to the t u r n s t il e s , th is continued fo r about 1/4 of 

an hour u n t i l a P o lice O ffic e r who .1 believe was a S pecial Cons tabJ e 

(wearing a f l a t cap) appeared on top of the w a il, even then people 

continued to clim b to the top of the w a ll, th is in c id e n t occurred 

sometime between E * 30 pm and 3.00 pm. 

A large number of supporters were w alking away from the ground, 

m in g lin g w ith approaching supporters and asking fo r any spare 

t ic k e ts , I would estim ate tne t ic k e tie s s fans to be in excess of 

ICQ (the ones who pas sec me). 

App r o x i mat e 1 y 3 . 00 pm my at t e nt i on was ci rawn t o 

the Leppings i_ane 

entrance by a recjuest to a't tencl trie re regaf diny pulîic o* clef , i 

cannot re c a ll where the request o rig in a te d . I attended the entrance

.. . * , * < - 

'v ’ ' ■ PAGE 

R66 

to g e th e r w ith PC Kerr and PC Pearson, as I a rriv e d the majority of 

— M. 

the P o lic e present were e ith e r mounted branch on horseback or Special 

C onstables, numerous supporters were clim bin g over the t u r n s t ile s , i 

pul leu one youth back and was in s tru c te d by a P o lice In sp e cto r who I 

do not know to close the t u r n s t il e d o o rs , this was done and the crowd 

o f supporters present were moved back to the road side of the main 

gates which were then closed. I remained on the outs i ae of the main 

gates . On my a r r iv a l at the entrance; initially the large gates into 

the ground were closed. 

At t h is time 1 was unaware of what was happening in sid e the ground) I 

was not in possession of a personal ra d io . A fte r a sh ort w h ile I 

heard conversation r e la tin g to people in s id e the ground being 

in ju re d , an ambulance a rriv e d and. was d ire c te d in to the ground.. 

Nume rous people were s t i l l m ill i ti o around outs i ae tne gates wsie is 

f i r s tender a rriv e d ; conversation was then heard r e la tin g to o 

f a t a l i t i e s , people then slo w ly s ta rte d to leave the ground, fu rth e r 

ambulances then a rriv e d together w ith other f i r e tenders, 

by now 

people were 

leaving the ground in large numbers many were shouting 

abuse- at P o lic e O ffic e r s saying i t was our f a u lt fo r opening the gate 

a nci a c c us i ng t he P o lice o f k i 11 i ng pe o pie, t he atmos phere o u t -side he 

* 

orouna was so tense w ith the obvious signs ot h a ire d towatds the 

P o lic e th a t I was f u l l y expecting an a s s a u lt against me and other 

of f i ce rs. 

Word was now being 

passed around that there were numerous deaths and 

su p p o rte rs were ta lk in g about bodies being all over. Some of the 

su p p o rte rs were o b vio u s ly in ju re d and when o ffe re d help 

they re-fused 

i t ana ju s t became abusive towards the o ff ic e r s . 

1 remained outside the ground in an attempt to keep the road exeat 

fo r eme ruency v e h ic le s , 1 returned to the No f til Scand sometime lat %.r 

when the ground had beer: cleared.

PAGE 

R66 

I had no contact w ith any deceased persons a t a l l . 

1 cannot- say wnat time the t u r n s t il e s opened to the p u b lic but can 

say th a t I was not aware of any problems outside the Leppings Lane 

entrance whi ch I could see from my p o in t. 

I have performed d u tie s at previous major events at H ills b o ro u g h and 

have always been in tne l o c a l i t y of Leppings Lane there have beers no 

se rio us in c id e n ts at previous events I have attended. 

From my obse rva tion s I would say th a t the major cause of the in c id e n t 

was the fa c t th a t so many people a rriv e d la te and had no in te n tio n of 

e n te rin g the ground in good tim e. 

They had consumed large amounts of 

a lco h o l altho u gh only a few were obvio u sly drunk, 

and there were 

hundreds of supporters present w ith o u t tic k e ts who u s u a lly s t ili. try 

to gain e n try any way they can. 

I was also asked by supporters where tne nearest pub was.

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I 

Bur name 

MUSK 

S t a t i o n 

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F-B re names JONATHAN BTEPHEN 

Date of 

b ir t h 

|cupat ion 

POL PC2584 

ig| i e p h o n e 

Number of Page& 

l i t ed 2 8 0 4 8 9 Signed 

I 

At 0830 on Saturday, 15 A p r il 89, I commenced duty a t Doncaster hut 

and was a ttached to S e ria l 27 under the co n tro l ot PS Mosley, I was 

B to work in company w ith PC 2752 J o w itt and our au ly was to man one 

I 

I 

b a r r ie r a t Penistone Road ju n c tio n w ith F ie ld in g Road. 

A fte r a b r ie fin g a t the f o o tb a ll ground 2752 and 1 went to the 

b a r r ie r n e ith e r of us were in possession of a .ra d io and were to meal 

a f t e r the match s ta rte d one at a tim e. 

B Uie manned the b a r r ie r from 10.4b and were v is ite a cy PS hoz±ey dnci a 

S h e ffie ld D iv is io n Insp e ctor a number of tim es, both of those were in 

I 

I 

I 

1 

I 

possession of ra d io s. From Vi ,30 there was a constant s ir earn of 

p e opie comi ng d own tn e h i l l fro m waos iey b r i dg &. 

Tney were a 11 good humoured. 

At 12.30 there was a constant stream of people coming down the h i l i 

and we commented to the Inspector th a t i t looked lik e the t r a i n had 

a r r iv e d e a rly . 

Most of the people I saw were d rin k in g from cans, b o ltie s and c. l i t r e 

b o ttle s of c 1 de r « 

| A 1arQe p ro p o rtio n were very drunk anci some were faelny hexped diOny 

by fr ie n d s . By t h e ir clothes and chanting i t was apparent th a t th e y 

I 

we re Live rpoo1 f a n s.

PAGE 

R 6 9 

By E . 00 pm the pavements and roads were congested w ith fans 90 were 

c a rry in g a lc o h o l. 

Fans were asking fo r spare tic k e ts and com plaining th a t u n lik e la s t 

year there were no t ic k e t to u ts and th a t loads of them had corne 

expecting to buy t ic k e t s . 

The 

crowds were heavier and heavier and the hi 11 was a to ta l mass of 

bodies and as i t approached 3.00 pm people were running towards the 

Leppings Lane Stand. I heard i t said th a t the Vere .Road O ff Licence 

i'iad shut down due to no stock l e f t . 

A few fans had been asking where the tnd ano t he r pufa was as 

they knew the la n d lo rd and were meeting th e re . 

3 . OQ pm as the game s ta rte d tans were s t i l l pouring down the h i l l and 

running along the 

roads. 

People were asking to 

pass our b a r rie r and so 2 dozen old and young 

people were allow ed down the centre of the road. People were s t i l l 

running around tr y in g to get around to the West Stand. 

PC Stubfai ns then jo in e d us and said to fans th a t there was no 

point 

running as the game had s ta rte d and 2,000 were queuing to get in . 

People were coming out of the ground s ta tin g i t was chaos and th a t 

people were s i t t i n g in t h e ir seats (a p p a re n tly w ith t ic k e t s ) . 

The crowd in the ground were 'r o a r in g ' c o n s ta n tly and s t i l l tne re 

were people running down the Wadsley Bridge H i l l . 

I was aware of a large P olice gathering a t the end of F ie ld in g Road/ 

Leppings Lane but 1 was unaware what was happening. People were 

corning out saying i t s t e r r i b l e in there ’ people are dying* . Heard 

fans saying something had collapsed, an a we asked passing senior 

o f f ic e r s what we should do about the b a r r ie r and they ju s t to ld us to 

hang on th e re . 

• 

A rumour began th a t the match was o ff ana the p itc h had been invaaed 

by fa n s , I heard t h is from pas sing -spectators.

PAGE 

R69 

in e woman who liv e d 'a t No. 2 F re ld in g Hoad earns and to ld us sne had 

seen on T.V. th a t the w all in s id e had collapsed and th a t many were 

s e rio u s ly in ju re d . Other t r a f f i c mobiles then began to a rr iv e and i t 

was decided th a t 2752 would stay w ith the b a r rie r and 1 would go in to 

the ground to a s s is t. 

1 entered the ground at about 3.1b pm from trie; entrance between the 

i\;orth Stand and the Spion Kop. 

I. was d ire c te d to jo in a lin e of o ff ic e r s across the centre of the 

p itc h . In fro n t of me fans and p o lice o ffic e r s were in te rm in g le d , 

t no rna j o n l v of fans seerneu to be dazed but tnere was Ohe occasion 

when I saw fans shouting at o f f ic e r s and p o in tin g at them, but other 

fans t r ie d to calm them down and lead them away. 

The fans in the west Stand were p o in tin g and chanting and people were 

clim bin g from the stand in to the te rra c e . 

The fans behind us were f a i r l y q u ie t and seemed to sense th a t 

something was amiss. 

A s c u ffle began in the area below the P olice co n tro l box and as we 

moved forw ard i t appeared so did the crowd and a cry rose, so we were 

ordered back by one Senior O ffic e r in fr o n t of the lin e . 

Standing on the lin e , the ground appeared to be a b s o lu te ly packed and 

1. f e l t th a t the cheer from the Spion Kop would nave brougnl the tans 

out of the L ive rp o o l te rra c e s and onto the p itc h . 

We were then d ire c te d to leave the ground and deal w ith crowds 

le a vin g the ground. 

There was no tro u b le w ith crowds a ft e r the match at trie ju n c tio n of 

F ie id in g Road and Peni stone Road, although I received a number of

I S i d e n t 105 E10689 0P4006 

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S ta tio n 

r ore names i HEVOK NiLK0L.Ab 

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Hi Address 

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uc c u p a lio n 

1 e p h o n e 

Dati if bi r th 

Number 

of Pages 

. e a 

£80489 Si qned 

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- R E V O R NICHOLAS WELCH - POLICE CONSTABLE 174 

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r , 

r. iMlu. 

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On Saturday 15 A p r il 1989, I came or. duty a t 8.00 a.m. a t E d iin g lo n 

P o lic e S ta tio n , Doncaster and together w ith other o f f ic e r s , was 

conveyed to Doncaster P o lic e S ta tio n in a s e c tio n P o lic e v e h ic le . 

I 

AI .40 a.m. I paraded in trie car park -opposite D iv is io n a l 

•* 

Headquarters and there met- P olice Sergeant E6E7 Ashton who was 

in 

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r i i r Qe c»t h r-- f i a i. i.j c 0 t 1"! e r m e rn o e r s o t L j i i S e r i

PAGE 

R 74 

given a packed lunch which we consumed w h ils t m the stand. 

At 11.15 a.m. we took up out p o s itio n s a t the roundabout at the 

ju n c tio n w ith Lappings Lane ana F-'enistone Hoad Cmo r l h , 

outside the O 1 a 

Owl Service S ta tio n . Our d utie s were to keep r iv a l fans a p a rt. The 

Liverpool 

supporters a r r iv in g from the West ana the Nottingham F o re s l 

supporters coming to tne Spion Hop end. 

Close to the ground i t was f a i r l y q u ie t to begin w ith , but as lunch 

time approached more and more fans came to the ground. I was 

approached by a number of fans during th is time who were a l l looking 

fo r tic k e ts to buy. In S e ria l 30, there were two people who had 

personal ra d io s, the S e ria l Sergeant, P o lice sergeant Ashton had one 

a llo c a te d to him at the ground and P o lic e Constable 243 Landers, 

who 

is a Community Constable, had his w ith him. P o lice Constable Landers 

was on auty o nly fe e t away from me when 1 heard a message come over 

the radio th a t there was tro u b le at the P u b lic House which is 

near 

to the ground at the Nottingham Forest End. 

* 

i" O H) W n & r “ £ 1 W -3 S P O S I t- 1 O H & Cl i C O Li i u ’E- Cv Q U p 1 4 T O !! i U

1 '"./Vst 

PAGE 3 f': 

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of a group of about. IS to 15 L iv e rp o o l supporters who were beginning 

to argue 'w ith £ Nottingham Forest fans. 1 approacned the group ana 

t o ld ooth p a rtie s to move on. Althouhh the atmosphere between the 

rival tans was h o s tile , there was no tro u b le and everyone else had 

moved away. P olice Constable Landers ana P o lic e Constable K its o n at 

t h is time had gone in sid e the s e rvice s ta tio n to t r y and s o rt out a 

v e h ic le which had been parked on the fo re c o u rt w ith o u t 

perm ission. 

Thraughaut the 1 ate r par t of t h e mo r nx ng 1 saw a number of f -ans 

w alking about ca rry in g cans of alcoh o l and I indeed inform ed several 

o f them th a t there was a good chance they would not 

be allow ed in to 

the ground i f they were drunk. As the time got nearer to the kick 

o f f time I saw fans d rin k in g from cans of beer one a f t e r the other, 

as i f to be tr y in g to d rin k them a l l , so they d id n 't have to leave 

t h e rr; outside the ground when they went in . There were sliii fans 

e n q u irin g about spare t ic k e ts at this tim e. g; 

At about 2.50 p.m. I noted and indeed commented to P o lic e Constable j j 

Kitson th a t there were s t i l l a large number of L iv e rp o o l fans heading . 

towards the ground. At one p o in t' there were so many th a t not s i i of , 

tnem could walk on the pavement and they haa to s p i l i onto the roas. 

At adout 3 . DO p.m. the S e ria l gathered on the corner of the ju n c tio n 

Le ppi ngs Lane ana Peni stone Road. We were going to go in to Phase two - 

o f our d utie s which was to be on standby, 

but we heard over a radio 

th a t 

there was a problem a t the t u r n s t ile s at the Leppings Lane End. 

Over the raaio 1 could near a lo t of supporters sin g in g anci a P o lice 

0 f f i ce r *s v o i c e w hic h w a s s aying t hat a 1a r q e n umb e r of fa ns w ere 

outs ide the ground pushing a ga in st one of the gates.. 1 tnen heard

PAGE 

R 74 

4't 

soiiieene shouting ever the fans s in g in g , requesting the gams be he a d 

up fo r 15 minutes to a llo w the fans outsid e to get in . I believe 

th is request was turnsa down. I then heard someone saying th a t 

people at the f r o n t of the crusn were g e ttin g in ju re d and th a t one of 

the gates was becoming damaged. I then heard th a t i t was going to be 

necessary to open the gate in order to re lie v e the pressure a t the 

f r o n t « I the n heard the order to open the g a te . 

A fte r a few seconds 1 heard that a l l a v a ila b le o ff ic e r s were to 

a tte n d on the tra c k around the side of the p itc h , at which we s ta rte d 

to make our way to the Leppings Lane End. I never heard anything 

e-i.se on the radio a fte r th a t, but when we got to the Leppings Lane 

end t u r n s t i I e s , I neard th a t ambulances had been requested. We were 

t o la to form a cordon outside the g round. At th is time we hac no 

idea what had happened in s id e . There were s t i l l a number of fans 

o u ts id e , some of them d rin k in g , some of them had tic k e r s which 

they showed to us and asked i f they could go in . 

An ambulance then a rriv e d and stopped ju s t in sia e the gate. 1 then 

saw a youth beinq c a rrie d out of the ground to the ambulance. 1 saw 

* 

the ambulance man tr y in g to re s u s c ita te him, but they then ju s t l e f t 

him and went back to get another youth wno 1 saw w ith a r esus c it a to r 

on his face. We were a ll then to ld to go in to the Ground. As we 

walked past the ambulance, I could see the youth in s id e , he looked 

as i f he was dead. 

As we walkeci around, a w ail 

in to the yard behind tne wesi bi,ana we 

were confronted by the s ig h t of people ly in g on tne fio o r wi un otnei- 

people resus c i t a t i ng them and a t t e n d !r.g to in ju r ie s . m ere were a 

numbe r of fans also who were w alking a b o u t, swearing and snouting at

PAGE 

R74 

us and P olice O ffic e rs who were -already in the ground. 1 saw one fan 

pushing a Policeman about and shouting? 

‘’IT'S YOUR FUCKING FAULT11. 

As we 

neared to the tunnel which leads onto the te r ra c in g other fans 

wm.cn were coming out of the ground shouted at u s, i t ‘ s too la te now 

and started swearing. 

As 1 entered onto tne te rra c in g 1 saw th a t there was several hundred 

people m illin g about on the p itc h . I then made my way onto the p ilc h 

v ia one of the perim eter fence gates, I th in k i t was number 4. 1 

then saw people ly in g on the grass near to the goal. As I entered 

onto the p itc h I ran behind the goal to where I saw people passing 

bodies out through a hole in the fence onto the p itc h . F ur t her along 

1 then saw a large number of bodies p ile d up on top of each o th e r. i 

could not say how many there was as legs and arms were a l l tanglea 

up. I then saw th a t a man who was conscious was tr y in g to free 

h im s e lf from the bodies. Bo along w ith another o f f ic e r who had 

a r r iv e d w ith a p a ir of step ladders, I climbed up the fence and leant 

over the top of the fence. . Although 1 could reach the hands o f-th e 

man, I could not get a g rip of him and he could not move as hie was up 

c: limed down the fence and s ta rte d to a s s is t w ith making the hoi> 

As fans p u lle d a t i t from the in s id e , myself and a se nio r o f f ic e r who 

haa a w hite band on h is hat, kicked at i t from tne o u ts id e . On 

c c 1 t 1 t sg !■ n o h ole i a r o e r 1 h e i p e o. o carry a tan t r o m Cr se t e ■: a c. i t i y 

onto the p itc h . He was passed to us by fans wno wore on the 

1 saw several p o lic e o f f ic e r s on the te rra c in g behind the goal who

PAGE 

R74 

were being pushed about and hiTT ay some fans but i t was not possible 

to near what was sa id. The bodies I saw p ile d up were a l l ju s t 

behind the goal to the l e f t as you stood on the p itc h lo oking at tne 

stand and they were a ll r ig h t at the fr o n t of the te rra c in g , r ig h t 

under the top of the fence. 

The youth who I had been passed, I Helped carry to the side of the 

l e f t goal post, but there was no room to put him down so w h ils t three 

o th e rs held him 1 helped to take the goal net down which made more 

room. I then went back to the hole in the fence where I a s s is te d to 

c a rry another male youth on to the p itc h . rie was passed to me by 

fans from the te r ra c in g . The youth was m o tionless, but very warm and. 

was b lu e is h in c o lo u r. On fin d in g a space to lay him down m yself and 

ano t n& r F o i i ce o f f i ce r s ta r t ed 1 o t ry ano revive him « 1 sea r chea to r 

a pulse but could not fin d one. He appeared to be dead. Someone 

then came and took over from us. I th in k i t was an ambulance man. I 

was 

then asked by a woman P olice Constable to t r y and fin d some 

oxygen fo r a person she was re s u s c ita tin g , so I found a medical 

person who was going around. A ll the time I could see people, tans 

and o f f ic e r s a lik e , tr y in g to r e s u s c itte people, some in ju re d people 

covered up by c lo th in g because there was no more to be done fo r tne in. 

A ll the time people were running about shouting and c ry in g , tr y in g to 

fin d persons they had lo s t. I was then approached by a man who had 

1ost his young son so 1 to ld him where the in ju re d would be taken 

and p ointed out where to go i n order to f m u out more in fo rm a tio n . i 

then saw th a t a large part of the L iv e rp o o l supporters began to surge 

towards the Nottingham Forest supporters who had been ta u n tin g thjsrn, 

so I went to the centre of trie p itc h where i met o tne r rrierribe rs t roru

S e ria l 20. Uie then forme a a lin e across the p itc h and stepped any 

f u r t h e r L iv e rp o o l fans from going towards the kop. We stayed in the 

centre c f the p itc n u n t i l about :S.1L' p.m. when, in company wivh 

p D iic t Sergeant Ashton, we re tu rn e d to the roundabout on P enistane 

Rosa Nor th . 

W h ils t in the centre of the p: ten 1 saw se veral s c u ffle s crone cut 

cetween the fans in the seated area anti I saw H o iice u f f ic e rs 

r efiio v i nc oe r sons from the seated areas to prevent any t ut the f 

tr o u b le . Once o utside the ground 1 never saw any f u r th e r tro u b le and. 

tne L iv e rp o o l fans a l l l e f t tn& are a . 

At about 6»SO p.m. in our S e r ia l, we went to the Koad i r d f t i c 

De p a t n e r t b u ild in g near to the ground where we were given 

re f reshiTients. 

At about 7.10 p.m. we received in fo rm a tio n to stand down so we 

re tu rn e d to our T ra n s it van and re tu rn e d to Doncaster ar f ± v in y 

a t E d lx n c to n P o lic e S ta tio n a t about /» su p • rri. At S.Uu -?fs= * Wc,lw 

o f f duty and 

re turne d to my home address. 

1 nave p o lic e d a t Hi i i scorougn on ore o tn e r occasion when b! sevt i t i u 

Wednesday piaye d Newcast1e U n ited in the league. l aiu not P o lic e a l 

tne lo c a t io n 1 was at on m i s cay, flui i was on the o th e • ena u • 

Leppincs Lane near to a parade of snaps, where tne away suppor ter s 

were a r r i v i n g . There was very l i t t l e tro u b le on th is day d e s p ite .a 

i-erge tu rn o u t of .\ewcas t i e fane.

■ > * . - r - ; - . ■ 

r 

cirflent 1 0 5 2 1 0 6 8 9 0 P 4 0 0 1 D O C U M E N T R E C O R D P R I N T 


R84 

I 

uae 

ROBINSON 

ta t x on 

i 

i 

iames M 8 

S.YORKS.POLICE, 

Date of b i r t h 

EGOLESS IELD POuICE STATION. 

I 

ione 

PGL PC276 

270489 Si qned 

I 

Or; Saturday 15 April 1989 I 

commenced duty a t 9 .ODa;s> at Ec ciesf ie x d 

Police S ta tio n , from where I was transported w itn other O ffic e r s to 

| tne Hillsborough F o o tb a ll Ground, where a f u l l b r ie f in g subsequently 

I 

I 

took p la te , 

I was d e ta ile d to S e r ia l 19 to g e th e r w ith PS 323 P ro c to r and ten 

o th e r co n s ta b le s . Our d u tie s were i n i t i a l l y o u ts id e the ground, at 

the Leppings Lane e n tra n c e s , s u p e rv is in g a r r iv i n g L iv e rp o o l 

| s u p p o rte rs , re c e iv in g ana search! n g a r r iv i n g coaches, and ys*ne r a± 

public order duties. This duty was in fa c t t he same as a a. it a fl;a ny or 

I 

my colleagues perforn'i at most f cot Dai 1 rna wches at rtx a isDOf uugh, 

ha» 

I 

Deer', we 11 'tried anti t s s tec, anc my s e i f ane, i fin's sure, 

officers present , 

were we x x awa. re of wna t was reciuireu, 

ut.:cr 

| 1 a r r iv e d w ith my s e r ia l a t the Le ppi ngs Lane end of the ground at 

some time shortly a f t e r 11.00am. We were met by In s p e c to r Sykes who 

I 

I 

B rie fe d us on our p a r tic u la r d u tie s . We then went out in to i_e ppi ny» 

Lane and took up positions in the vmouth* of tne e n try to the ground 

ar*a t he ueppings Lane t u r n s t il e s , a i o n j i i u s t..e L>pi i;y ^ s-diis ‘ 

| On reaching -Le ppi ngs Lane 1 imffietixate xy n o tic e d ti-.at there were 

a lre a d y a is rq e nufiiCe r of L iv e r po o a su pp o rters i n tiie

PAGE 

R 64 

were not open at th is p o in t. From the outse t, i had cause to convene 

w itn many supp o rters, a i l of whom at th is time we re very am icable. I 

w a. s 

c o rt t i n u a I i y ap p r o a c: h ed t»y su p p o r t e r s w no n a d a r r 1 v e d e arl v a n d w h o 

were asking one of a 1im ite d number of question, namely - Wnere was 

the nearest pud or D e e r-o ff ? where could they get something to eat? 

Where a p a r tic u la r entrance to the ground was'7 Did 1 know where any 

t ic k e t s 

could be bought? 

A il One supporters were in good humour, and were d e a lt w ith 

a c c o rd in g ly . They continued to walk around or gather in groups, the 

numbers b u ild in g s te a d ily a l l the tim e. More and more fans a rriv e d 

and i t soon became n o tic e a b le th a t marry had been d rin k in g , many were 

in fa c t w alking around near to my lo c a tio n ca rry in g several 

cans or 

b o ttle s of beer, and openly d rin k in g from them. On “n o rm a l5 match 

days 1 am c e rta in th is in i t s e l f would not have been to le r a te d by my 

s e r ia l, but the p o in t was reached where there were sim ply too many of 

them a c tin g in th is manner. There was the occasional loud mouth who 

appeared worse fo r d rin k , but again as time went on, these became more 

and more n o tic e a b le . 

1 cannot re c a ll the exact time th a t the t u r n s t il e s were opened, but 1 

can re c a ll th a t when they were, there was no apparent rush by the 

su p p o rte rs in the area to get in to the ground. They were stood about 

in g roups of in cre a s in g s iz e , ana then they began ta k in g up p o s itio n s 

on nearby w a lls , s i t t i n g and d rin k in g beer e tc . There were many 

people who had o b v io u s ly a rriv e d w ith o u t t ic k e ts , 

they were openly 

approaching other people and asking to buy t ic k e t s . These people 

were in fa c t a co n tin u a l nuisance', and were being re p e a te d ly asked to 

move away from the entrance to the t u r n s t il e s . 

As time went on i t became in c re a s in g ly d i f f i c u l t fo r a l l o f f ic e r s , 

. . . . i 

even the Counted o f f ic e r s , to m a in tain good order in tne Leppings, 

Lane area. The crowds were too p le n t if u l and as the day went on tney

R&4 

; e e m e d less w il li n g to respond to any P olice advice. Very large 

q roups cont iriued Co e. 

nd around outside and refused to enter 


ground as advised. Because of tne numbers in volved , and the 

r e l a t iv e l y small number of o ff ic e r s present to deal w ith -them, t m s 

task soon became im possible. I t was not possible to c o n tro l the 

crowds on the road or at the entrances to the ground. Lven the 

horses were unable to c o n tro l the m a jo rity of the crowd, 

i th in k th a t the time would be about E.OOpm when Leppings Lane was 

closed to ve h icle s in the in te re s ts of s a fe ty . By t h is tim e, the 

crowds, many who were now c le a rly worse fo r d rin k , were f i l l i n g 

whole w idth of the road. I t remained an im possible task to co ntro l 

them. As the k ic k - o f f time got closer more ana more fans c t e . a ^ e u 

t o g a i n e n t r y t n r o u g n t ;he n Leppings l.ane u t ,|S“ ie 

I t 

soon be came 

uvious that w » y ^ » r . getting f r u s t r a t e Dy the slow movement into 

u 

the ground. 

As t n e .cro.d around the turnstiles increased they 

started to push ând shove, 

tempers «,r. fraying, myself ana other 

o ff ic e r s were being verbally abused. 

There seemed little we could 

do. At one stage, as requested by PS Proctor, 

I followed rum into the 

. i_ t ho t iirn= t •>'i hoping to advise the 

crowd and t r ie d to appf o«*ch the turn .,.,.---. i- 

A 

crowd to stop pushing before in ju r ie s u t t u r i t - . 

separated from PS p ro c to r by a p o lic e horse, •»» . i t ; L 

hi*. 

At this point 1 repeatedly shouted out at the crowo around me 

to stop pushing. This was useless, nobody took any notice, and most 

seemed to laugh off the advice or continue to verbally abuse me and 

other officers there. The pushing continued and intensified. 1 made 

„,y way nearer to the edge of the crowd, somewhere next to the road, 

could see th a t the crowd near the t u r n s t ile s w*s very u,.y..^y 

, . • , n s- v ho nr oand seemingly 

many were clim bing up onto the p e n m e n wci,l o. » - 

to escape the crush ra th e r than gain eaîe* - 

, . ifc worse not long before 3 . 0 0 pm. 

neve rth ele ss continued anu was i t - wor.

S-'Aut;, 

R 84 

I c a n r e c a li a P o lic e o f f i c e r s h ou'C i n g out ov e r a v e h i c 1 e 1 o udsp e a k e r 

to tne crowd, a d visin g to stop pushing, but the advice was ignored, 

i r e c a ll th in k in g th a t there was soon going to be in ju r ie s i f the 

pushing d id n 't step, although from my p o s itio n I c o u ld n 't see i f 

there were any persons being in ju re d nearer to the t u r n s t ile s . 

^ r t: l 'lv. 1 i l- i i o. L- >_■ i! e ! w ■ r> p o i n L w i~\ e n i.- h e t tv w a s a s u g d e n s u. r q tv 

forward by the crowd, obviously by movement near the t u r n s t il e s . I 

could not see what had caused tin s Out I assumed th a t a gate had been 

opened to re lie v e the pressure. Had th is not been done, I do believe 

th a t serious in ju r ie s or damage would have occurred outside the 

entrances. Also at th is point I can re c a ll large numbers of 

Li £'-■ f —- 1' Li -• h * T1y i O Cn £' 0 ii h r a Ti C. E S t tr O!Ti i & p p I Ti Qr:- L_-r2.Ii £■ c i. S a W LI**) S?fTl 

run across the road from a w all where many were s i t t i n g or stood near 

by. tty own b e lie f is th a t these people did not have t ic k e ts , and 

■that on seeing the sudden rush in to the ground, re a lis in g th a t a gate 

had been opened, they too jo in e d the rush. This o bviously added 

co nsid e ra bly to the numbers ente rin g the entrance at the same tim e. 

S upporters continued to enter the ground, but s h o r tly a fte r 3.00pm; on 

h earing radio m e s's a g e s requesting urgent assistance in the ground, I 

went w it h othe r o ff ic e r s into the ground, o n to t n e p i t c h , rtea r t in & 

Leppings Lane te rra c in g . 

1 f i r s t of a l l thought th a t a p itc h in vasion had taken place, but i t 

was soon apparent th a t the in c id e n t was much more s e rio u s. As soon 

as i t was apparent th a t people were g e ttin g s e rio u s ly in ju re d in the 

crush on the te rra c in g , w ith other o ff ic e r s and supporters, I f i r s t 

of a l l r e c a i 1 t r y i n g to break down a s t r i p of t he p e r imever fencing 

la tne r ig h t of the goalmouth in order to get to a person who, i f not 

a lre a d y dead, was very s e rio u s ly injured., This was e v e n tu a lly done, 

tne man l i f t e d througn the broken fence. He was c a rrie d onto the 

p itc h and attended to by other o f f ic e r s . I b elieve he was dead at

p ACjb 

r\ fci "i 

nis 

time 

rom th is poin lis te d in helping a l l present in l i f t i n g obvious 1 

dead people 4 ram the te rra c in g , and also a s s is tin g in ju re d people 

um,o trie p itc h . i. cannot say now many dead bodies I helped remove 

■from the te rra c in g , but I believe i t must have been in double 

o! three occasion- s is te d other o ffic e r s who 1 could 

nou name, in atte m p ting to resuscitate three people, two young boys 

ana a man of about £5-30 years. I can re c a ll th in k in g th a t they were 

a lre a d y dead but e f f o r t s , nevertheless, continued u nsu cce ssfu lly to 

! e V i v e c j iein. i e v e n tu a lly assisted other o f f ic e r s , and also 

suppar t e r s , i n ca rryin g three app a ren tly dead young men from the 

f;U c n at tr-e Leppings Lane end, to the area near to tne gymnasium. I 

ui.u nut stay w ith any of these bodies, other o ffic e r s remained, arm 1 

could not id e n t if y any of them. 

I remained InsjQ ^Lihe-ground, on the p itc h , u n t i l most of the 

s u p p o rte rs -..;had- l e f t the ground. I was com pletely stunned by a l l th a t 

had happened and could not i n i t i a l l y understand how i t could have 

happened. i was not in the ground when the in c id e n t began, but i t is 

my o pin io n th a t, being present outside tne Leppings Lane entrances, 

i t was extrem ely lucky that no serious in ju r ie s had occur red o u ts id e . 

OF 

REPORT

n c id e n t 105 10689 OP4001 DOCUMENT RECORD PRINT 


R136 

S t a t i o n 

J r n a m e 

^■■rename 

SELWOOD 

IAN 

('-Tue 

Date of b ir t h 

r ess 

f £- u pa U q n 

POL INS 

T eiephone 

I 

mber of' Pagei 

Ua. Dal i e d 

P Q T j j£j.3 Q 

Signed 

I 

At 6.45am on Saturday 15 A p r il 198V I commenced duty at Woodseats 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

i 

p d ! i ce S tat i on, Shef f i e i. d , f r orri whe r e myse i t ano. o %,11e of t a c& f i» w& i e 

taken b y a h ired PSV to tne S h e ffie ld Wednesday i- o o tc a ii Suaaium to r 

a 

1 0 . - 0 0 am 

I was in chardB s e r ia ls , - 26 to H9 in c lu s iv e , these comprising of 

4 sergeantsând 32 constables, a l l from A1 bub D iv is io n , none of whom 

were known to me e ith e r by name or s ig h t. 

We were responsible to S uperintendent M arshall who was in Ctiai ge of 

the L iv e rp o o l end of the ground.. The d uties of my s e r i a i s .were as 

fo llo w s •- 

pat r o 1 1 i nq Pa r k side Road ana. Cat c hba r Lane ; 

manning b a rrie rs placed across the mouths of 

Peni stone Road No rth/Ve re Road; 

Penistone Road N o rth /F ie ld in g Road? 

Leppi ngs Lane/Vere Road; 

Leppings Lane/F ie ld m g Hoac; 

Penislone Road N o rth / B icke rto n Road? 

Leppings Lane/8 ic k e rto n Road; 

Leppings Lane/ Leake Road; 

Leppings Lane/Farndale Road;

PA Lib. 

R 13 fo 

Leppings Lane/Shenstone Road; 

Leppings Lane/Eskdale Road. 

hy s e ria ls were m p o s itio n s h o rtly before 1 's. QOarri th a t day. 

AHnougn not ma ny fans were bui Iding up in these areas at 

th is time, 

g ath ering m ainly around the 

chi p shops and sandwich shops which were 

open in the area. 

Lven at this time 1 saw tans cr in icing from Dottles 

whi ch appeared to be of beer or cider anti many were seen to be 

d rin k in g from and ca rryin g cans of beer and la ge r. During the course 

of the day I was asked by several fans d ire c tio n s to nearby public 

houses whi ch we re open and in p a r tic u la r The Fox P u b lic House, 

F o x h i 11 Road, which received p u b lic it y la s t year in r e la tio n to the 

amount of a lcohol consumed by the fans. 

One incident s pr i nqs to rni nd reqardi n 

i re c a ll one message being passed e a rly in the day 

re la tin g t-o Mas 

o.n qreqatin q outside these licensed premises 

demanding, access which was refused by the licensee as l believe he 

was closed fo r the day. However, a short time la te r I was approached 

by 4 youths from L ive rp o o l who asked d ire c tio n s to 

I to ld them not to bother as he was closed but 1 wa's 

•;y L'.!r:-f-f r j 0 y";q c: q r 1 1"!0 i.i c e ti e e a tici w e r e- e k p e c we u ~'to, y h i *:- 

The b u ild up of fans in the Leppings Lane area o bvio u sly increased as 

the kick o ff time approached and numerous 

persons were seen in 

possession of a lcohol m ainly cans of beer and la g e r. Requests fo r 

d ire c tio n s to p u b lic houses continued during the a fte rn o o n . 

I re c a ll tha t at the pre-match b r ie fin g we were to ld th a t the t r a in 

•? ram Liver pool was due to a rriv e at Wads ley bridge S ta t ion at e.. Gc.pm 

th a t day. However, i t did in fa c t a rriv e about 1u minutes e a r ly . 

Leppings Lane then be came blocked ey the masses ot 1ans raaKinc s-ne 1 1 

way to the ground and although many were d rin k in g and c a rry in g 

c^nis 

of alcoh o l the banter between myself' and the fans was f r ie n d ly and

gooa humoured and I saw none of the obvious signs of drunkenness. 

A lthough towards k ic k o ff time the masses thinned co nsice ra b iy there 

were s t i l l fans w alking and running along Le ppi ngs Lane to the 

crouna. I believe: th a t at sometime a fte r S.OOprn an in s tr u c tio n was 

given, though I do not know by whom, to close Leppm gs Lane to 

ven j. cu iar t ra f f i c . 

During tne a fte rn o o n I was asked by p o ssib ly ? or 6 fans i f i knew 

! 

the lo c a tio n of any t ic k e t touts fo r them to buy tic k e ts . I was not 

; 

aware of any in the area. This seemed strange in so much as the 

previous year when the same two teams played at Hi Iisborougn I saw 

numerous t ic k e t to u ts , 

who as the k ick o ff approached were almost 

g iv in g tic k e ts away to the fans. This year 1 also saw numerous fans 

asking other fans i f they had any spare t ic k e ts . On each occasion 

the answer was no. 

As the 'kick o ff ;;ap_prcached 1 was not near the Leppings Lane 

t u r n s t ile s ft'hich we were to ld at the b r ie fin g would be opened at 1 2 

n o o n . 

Once t he fans had cleared in Le ppi ngs Lane l began making my Wc&y to 

CI aywîe e 1 s Lane fo r a meal, when I was deviated to go to the Le pping* 

Lane t u r n s t ile s . This would be s h o r tly a fte r 3 . DOpm tn a t day. 

On my a r r iv a l at th a t lo c a tio n a short time la t e r , I saw numerous 

o ff ic e r s in th a t area but few fans. 1 found radio transm issions at 

th a t time from ground co n tro l almost unreadable due 

to the noise 

being made by the s p e c ta to rs . In a d d itio n to t h is , constables were: 

not issued w ith radios and had to re ly on su p e rviso ry o ffic e r s to 

on messages to them. 

A short time a fte r th is 1 was to ld to go to the rear of the west 

Stand. I do not recal 1 whether th is in s tr u c tio n came f t on* groanci 

c o n tro l o r another o f f ic e r i n Loppings L-ane. 

: 

On my a r r iv a l in the area behind the West Stand 1 saw numerous

P AGh 

H 13 6 

persons in the area g e n e ra lly m illin g about. I saw some were 

d is tre s s e d , gasping fo r breath,, others e ith e r s i t t i n g or ly in g on tne 

■fioor in ju re d arid u n t il i heard of a f a t a l i t y the seriousness of the 

s i lu a lio n did not become apparent, to me. 

1 saw o ffic e r s ass l s tln g w ith c a s u a ltie s and g ivin g mouth to mouth 

re s u s c ita tio n to p erscns on tne f lo o r . 1 assisted othe r o f f i c: e r s 

Witii tne removal of tne in ju re d to outside the ground and in to the 

ci; ea behind 

the Uiest Stand which jo in s Leppings Lane and Peni stone 

noad North. h y s e lf and other o ff ic e r s gave comfort and what other 

assistan ce we could u n t il a fle e t of ambulances began a r r iv in g at the 

scene. i re c a ll d o c to rs , nurses ana f i r s t aiders a r r iv in g in the 

r ea I a a s s is t. j. helped w i 1 h t he p lacing of' t !ie i n j ur ed i nto t he 

ambulances. During the course of events I saw about 10 dead oodles 

i >'1 r,9 b'y the r a ilin g s guarding the r iv e r and protected from pub lic 

-V-iew by a .lin e of police o ff ic e r s . 

Although ambulances were wanting to get in to the area behind the West 

Stand th is was im possible as the crowds in th a t area would not 

d ispe rse . Feeling amongst, several fans were running high and 1 was 

v e rb a lly abused on several 

occasions as were other o ffic e r s w ith in my 

* 

hearing. Because of the fe e lin g of the crowd in th a t area I was 

f e a r f u l of a serious public order s it u a t io n a r is in g thougn th a n k fu lly 

th is aid not happen. During the course of events I did not handle 

any bodies. 

Sometime a fte r 4.00pm tne crowds began to leave the ground many in a 

sombre rriood, many v e rb a lly abusing the p o lic e . Once they had cleared 

J. went onto the te rra c e at the Leppings Lane end of the ground and 

a s s is te d in the removal of a small number of spectators who were 

s t i l l re m aining. This was to f a c i l i t a t e the taking of photographs of 

the area. 

1 have policed two other s e m i-fin a ls in recent years. In when

PAGE 5 

R ' i Lf £ ? 

the same two teams took part. On th is occasion 1 spent much of my 

t ime before the kick o ff in the area of the Le pp i ng s Lane 

t u r n s t il e s . I do not re c a ll any serious public order s itu a tio n on 

th is occasion at th a t lo c a tio n . I re c a ll several t ic k e t touts being 

in the area who were almost g ivin g tic k e ts away as; the kick oft 

approached. 

M yself arm ether o ff ic e r s were also handed tic k e ts by 

•Pans to pass on to others wisning access; to the game • 

in 1987? I was on duty at the sem i-f i nal between Leeds arid Coventry. 

I was p o lic in g the area behind the South Stand between Leppings Lane 

ana Peni stone Road North. Again, on th is occasion 1 do not re c a ll 

arty 

problems. 

PORT

GRAHAM MILLETT 

R1**0 

Over 21 

Police Inspector 

At 8 .... Saturday 15 April 1989 on duty at Doncaster Police Headquarters. 

Ensured all serials from Doncaster present and at 8.50 a... set orr for 

Sheffield. 

10 a.m. all at briefing in North Stand. I was in charge of serials 30. 31. 32 and 

33 and at 11.15 a.m. they all took up position as follows: 

Serial 30 

PS 2627 Ashton plus 8 PC's. 

Leppings Lane roundabout/Penistone Road North and 

Herries Road. 

Serial 31 

Serial 32 

PS 2881 Pearson plus 8 PC's. 

As Serial 30 p l u s ensuring traffic island remains clear. 

A/PS 2895 Thomas plus 7 PC’s. 

Penistone Road North from island to the Travellers Rest 

public house. 

Serial 33 

PS 2228 Atkin plus 8 PC's. 

Penistone Road North from Travellers Rest public house 

to Wardsend Road North. 

Our serials were responsible to Chief Inspector Purdy. 

From 11.15 a.m. in position. 

Noted Travellers Rest - closed. 

public house - OPEN (side door to locals only). 

We were directing coaches down Claywheels Lane and during the first few hours the 

seen. 

There were a lot of people (maybe 20 in total) asking for 

which I


-2 - R 1»»0 

4 th.r-e was a gradual increase of people coming from 

did not know where it was and 

_ c^mp Liverpool fsns did set in^® 

the ground side asking if any pubs were open. 

W i c house through the side doors (door men on duty). 

x-1 • ho„KPS were closed for the day but those 

All who enquired were told most pu ic 

who 

, ^ W.v away fron, the direction of the ground and up 

enquired still made their way away 

Penistone Road North. 

• d at Wadsley Bridge at 

The supporters’train arrived at Wadsley 

1.50 p.m. ( s o m e 15-20 minutes 

earlier than expected). 

n their way under separate escort down 

About 800 - 1000 supporters who all 

. Thl, crowd was orderly and 1 saw no incidents at 

Leppings Lane to the grou 

all. Little singing - well behaved in general. 

j was noticed a lot of the spectators were 

Traffic was now building up an 

. 2 10 p m. Some were drinking from 4 packs and 

carrying drink. The time now about 2.10 p.m. 

others f r o m large bottles. - 

Pedestrian traffic now was fairly 

heavy and r.,1 a » lot were 

sat on the walls drinking 

before making their way to the ground. 

^...•ved via radios to close Leppmgs 

At 2.15 P.m. approximately instructions recei 

Lane to vehicular traffice - DONE. 

Coaches were still 

new Darking on Halifax Road as 

• • these were no* pa^Kint, 

arriving but these 

Clavwheeis Lane was fui, Very few cars. Pedestrian traffic now very heavy.


-3 - 

RlÔ 

The general behaviour I would describe as good. Some had been/were drinking, many 

.ere not. By this time all making towards the ground. Could hear over the radio 

of problems at Leppings Lane end and at a certain time, I believe after t 

had started, an instruction "ALL AVAILABLE OFFICERS TO THE GROUND". 

Hy few 

serials were soon gathered together and we made our -ay to Leppings Lane aide of 


.._ 

On arrival could see a large 

Pol -ice Officers and argument taking place 

group of Police u i n c 

with supporters. I thought this was a public order situation and I formed a 

cordon across the turnstiles to keep spectators away. 

The turnstiles were closed 

1-irVpts and were demanding entry. 

but people were arguing that they had tickets ana were 

These 

inter when people were leaving the ground, 

were kept back and it was some minutes later wh pe p 

directing 

wrong. 

. _ ,. tV,nt T realised something else was drastically 

abuse to the Police, that 

I entered the ground itself behind the West Stand. A large number of people were 

injured, some were obviously dead. Others were in a state of shock. 

People were 

tending to the injured. After the initial shock, I remember giving first 

youth who had obvious i n t e r n a l 

injuries. 

1 cannot remember if the radio was working at this time - but I do not recollect 

hearing any transmissions. 

Together with another officer I moved the injured youth, who was conscious, to 

the sterile area behind the West and South Stand. 

I remember a doctor arr>vlng


R1*»0 

, < This he did. I noticed another 

and I said I -anted the injured prioritising. 

doctor c e r tify in g the dead. ^ ^ 

i n i t i a l l y , the ambulances -e re s lo « . Th 

t r a f f i c and p ed estrian s . ^ ^ ^ ^ tt]eyj 

the in iu re d near the tu 

overcoroe and with ^ 

-e re not the -o re urgent cases. This . « 

ambulances no- a r r iv in g a l l the in ju re d -e ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

The dead -e re then removed and the o f fic e r

id e n t 105 2 10689 0P4001 


OFFICERS REPORT NUfrBER 

R150 

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S ta i ion 

name 

REYNOLDS 

: rename ■ 

Date of birth 

HQdress 

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POL PS 

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iepn one 

Number him of Pages 

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290489 >ig ne q 

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'Twenty ni tie years service and a P olice Dog Handier fo r seventeen 

years until 1982. As a result, i nave attendes a great number of 

footbail matches and most of the recent semi-finals at Hillsborouqn, 

Last year, i 9S8, I was on duty at the L iv e rp o o l - Notts Forest semif 

i n a l a t the":sair!ej:yenue and. on tha t occasion I was in charge of a 

d e t a il in .the v i c i n i t y of Leppings Lane/Penistone Road/ClaywheeIs 

Lane juneti-em where tne L iverpool supporters were approaching the 

u r" O L i T i 0 . b 

At S. 15 a.m. on Saturday, 15th A p r il, I commenced duty a.t my home 

s ta tio n and paraded fo r duty at Doncaster at S. 45 a.m. I was in 

charge of s e ria l £9 which consisted of P olice Constables £669 

F le tc h e r, 1280 Hebdige, 214 Couison, 2840 Pearson, 1169 K err, £915 

Severn, 3145 Panton and 114 Bradley, a l l of whom are from Thorne Sub- 

D iv is io n and whom I work w ith re g u la rly . My s e ria l tr a v e lle d 

tog e the r in a double decker bus to H ills b o ro u g h , a r r iv in g there ju s t 

before 10 a.m. and paraded fo r duty in the North Stand in row £0, 

seals 1 9 4 . A fte r the b rie fin g my s e r ia l went to Loppings lane at 

approxim ately 11 a.m. There we took up cuty moving b a rrie rs at tne 

end of Snenstone Road and Eskdaie Road and 'general p u b lic oraer 

p a tro l We had ONE radio between the nine of us and I kept th a t.

For ine f i r s i hour or so i t was g e n e ra lly q u ie t w ith the L iv e rp o o l 

PAGE 

R 150 

fans in a b o is te ro u s fcut w e ll behaved mood. One or two spoken to res 

jd a g language and fans w i 1 n out tic k e ts walking a gainst trie f 1 ow 

causing mi nor problems over blocking the pavements. 

As 'one crowds dux I t up i t was obvious that numerous tans had. no 

tic k e ts and the most asked question heard was "ANY SPAkES'1 and i ana 

my colleagues were 

even sked i f we had any. 

£ H . h . ONWARDS 

Large b u ild up of crowd s t i l l b a s ic a lly in a no i sy but boisterous 

mood but no serious public order problem. One youth spoken to 

severely fo r dancing in the middie of the road in fr o n t of an 

oncoming double decker. There were an extemely large amount of fans 

passing e ith e r d rin k in g from or c a rryin g beer’ cans and several 

appeared w e i jr u rtd-g r the in flu e n ce but no immediate problem. 

£.30 ft. ONWARDS^ 

very large amount of supporters s t i l l walking up Leppings Lane 

towards the ground and also 

l i t e r a l l y hundreds of other fans asking f 

spare tic k e ts although I did not see many changing hands. b i l l I a 

large* number of fans passing ca rryin g cans and d rin k in g trom same. 

£ . 55 APPROX. 

Heard a loud cheer from the ground which i. to ok to be the teams 

comma out onto the f ie ld and at th is time there were s t i l l l i t e r a l l y 

hundreds making t h e ir way towards the ground. 

S h o rtly a fte rw a rd s I heard over the radio th a t there were problems at 

Leppings Lane entrance but by the time my s e ria l a rriv e d there, the 

tro u b le appeared to have been resolvec. 

APPROX. 

3.£0 P.M. 

Saw one or two people being ca rrie d out of the ground and as a re s u lt 

of a request fo r assistance inside 1 went down the side of tne iso r vh 

Stand past the gymnasium and onto the p itc h .

PAGE 

R 130 

Saw in tne f i r s t few yards onto the p itc h three people being c a rrie d 

out a p p a ren tly dead or near dead. 

A s s is te d in tre a tin g one person near the centre c ir c le who was la id 

on f lo o r but ne was s e rio u s ly h urt and arranged fo r a c i v i l i a n to 

take him fo r treatm e n t. Then formed in a lin e across the centre of 

t n e p 1 1 c: h to p r e v e n t two to three n undreci L ive rp col suppo r t e r s 

charging down the ground to the N otts Forest supporters end. 

Af x er th is had been so rted , ass i sted one more person or; the f i e l d wno 

wasn’ t s e r io u s ly .in ju r e d and then one who was at side of w a ll 

near 

gymnas i um. He was complaining of r ia pains but a fte r g e ttin g Him a 

cup of water from an ambulance he appeared okay, so l e f t him and 

re tu rn e d to outside of ground at Leppings Lane entrance and re jo m e o 

s e r ia l. 

Engaged in a s s is tin g ambulances access and f unrte i 1 i rig 

sp e c ta to rs out of ground. 

TYemendousTaMQiiiite^f hatred and abuse hurled at us the most 

common 

being,' -'fuckrrtg m urderers" and “al 1 yo u ’ re fucking good fo r is 

k i ck i ng mi ne r s*‘. 

A p p r ok im ately 5 p.m. to North Stand fo r d e - b rie fin g . 

7.15 p.m. to D oncaster. 

8.15 p.m. o ff duty. 

OBSERVATIONS 

Having worked th .e same match la s t year (1988) and on the L ive rp o o i 

s uppo rte rs:;app roach to the ground on both occasions, 

the fo llo w in g 

th re e p oin ts were evident th is year 

before the game:— 

( 1 ) Very large amount of people a r r iv in g la te . 

(2) L i t e r a l l y hundreds w ith o u t t ic k e ts . 

(3) Large amount of fans, e s p e c ia lly in the la s t hour, en route 

to the ground e ith e r d rin k in g from cans or ca rryin g cans of 

beer, and many of these already under the in flu e n c e . 

(3) Large amount of fans, e s p e c ia lly in the la s t hour, en route

0 F R r 0 K i

le'nt # 105 

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150689 0P2194 


_______________________________ 


R180 

Stat toftlame 

L A W R E N C E 

?r«iTies 

AN D R E W 

Date of birth 

Lipgt io n 

POL DC2812 

s r | | o n e 

^ of Pages 

3 0 0 4 8 9 

Signed 

At 9.00am (0900) on Saturday, 15th April, 1989 (150489) I commenced 

duty at Ha m m e r t o n Road Police Station, my duties on that being one of 

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a number of CID officers, who were to work under the direct control of 

Det. Insp. Towell as part of a Pickpocket Team. 

At 9 . 45am (0945) that same day I attended the Sheffield Wednesday 

Football Ground and together with other officers I was briefed in 

relation tc the forthcoming Semi Final football match between Liverpool 

FC and Not t i n g h a m Forest FC. 

At 11.30am (1130) that same day, I commenced observations regarding 

the pickpockets in the Leppings Lane turnstile area along with Det. 

Sgt. McSloy, Det. Con. H a 11am, Det. Con. Locking, a further team was 

also operating in that area, those officers being Det. Sgt. Smith, 

Det. Con. Lilley and Det. Con. Lindsay. 

At that time our brief was to identify travelling pickpockets and if 

possible to carry out a surveillance on those persons. 

Due to this Det. Con. Hallam was in possession of a wallet alarm, and 

the remainder of the team were to be in a position in order to 

respond to a signal to be given by DC Hallam. 

On taking up our positions in the area of the Leppings Lane turnstile 

and paddock area, the area was very quiet and the crowd being sparse. 

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PAGE ' '2 

R180 

Uniform Officers were on duly in that area, officers were at each 

turnstile entrance gate, and officers were on duty at a barricade on 

the driveway to the rear of the South stand. 

Further officers were on duty as a coach reception party in the area 

immediately in front of the turnstiles. 

It appeared at that time the 

number of uniformed Police officers was in the region of AO. 

At this time the crowd which had started to gather was mixed with 

many families being present. The behaviour of the fans was good 

humoured. 

As the afternoon wore on the crowd steadily built up and the mood 

became fairly hostile, because numerous fans were milling around 

without tickets, at this time I lost count of the number of peole who 

approached me and asked whether I had either tickets to sell or just 

spare. 

I personally saw a number of men selling tickets with large groups of 

people stood around them, j*ho êre obviously trying t0;:buy-tickets 

for the game. 

Due to this the area around the corner .shop which is 

directly adjacent to the football stadium became particularly 

congested. 

The vehicular traffic-along Leppings Lane itself appeared to grind to 

a halt, with the odd vehicle passing, although it should be said that 

numerous coaches and Public Service Vehicles came along that road 

under Police motorcycle escort to the reception area. 

The uniformed officers in that location a t t e n d e d those vehicles and a 

search of persons leaving the vehicles was undertaken. 

I recall seeing two coaches arrive at the same time, two officers 

approached one vehicle and the remainder of the serial 6 or 8 

officers approached the other vehicle. I recall thinking that there 

was less officers in that area, than there had been in previous 

years. 

However I must say that I had several arrests take place

. PAGE 3 

R180 

and believe that this may have drawn strength away from the reception 

party"! ' ~ ' — — — 

— At this time there were no problems and no real cause for concern 

involving public disorder. 

| It should be pointed out that Mounted officers were operating in the 

Leppings Lane turnstile and paddock area, 

the number of officers 

| being two sergeants, one of those being a South Yorkshire Officer, 

_ 

four Police Constables, two of those being male Merseyside officers. 

" The Me rseyside officers operating in the area directly in front of 

I the Paddock and turnstiles. - 

At aro u n d 1.15pm (1315) together with the other members of the 

Jj. Pic k pocket Team, I wa l k e d along Leppings Lane, due to reports of 

- pickpockets operating further along the road, at this time numerous 

" people just hanging about, sat on the pavement leaning against the 

■ walls, sat on the parapet of the bridges, many of these people were 

drinking from cans and bottles-of assorted intoxicants. 

| I even recall seeing a v e r y attractive young lady with two friends, 

d r i n k i n g from c a n s of-lager. In the space of approximately half an 

■ - hour I saw this one girl open and drink four cans of lager. 

■ At ar o u n d 1.30pm (1330), together with Det. Con. Hallam and remainder 

of team, 

I walked down Leppings Lane in the direction of the 

^ roundabout, the observations went as far as the chip shop situated at 

the junction of Leppings Lane and Bickerton Road, at this location we 

■ loitered. The crowd at this time was quite dense, still numerous fans 

I 

app r o a c h i n g people including myself and asking to buy tickets, many 

of the fans in the area the worse for drink, 

quite a lot of litter 

| ma i n l y beer cans. 

Whilst walking back to the original observation area in front of the 

■ Paddock area, I identified one particular fan as being a ticket tout, 

| I app r o a c h e d him, enquired how much he was selling the tickets at

PAGE 

R180 

A 

which he replied thirty pounds. 

I immediately approached Inspector 

Sykes and informed hi m of the situation. 

I believe that that man w 

arrested. 

Due to the d e n s i t y of the crowd, observations regarding pickpockets 

be earns e centred a r o u n d the area immediately in front of the metal 

fencing in front of the Paddock turnstile area. 

The observations 

team loitering ar o u n d the corner shop and the entrances to both the 

Nor t h stand and the Leppings Lane end standing entrances. 

Whilst at this location I 

recall moving numerous bottles of both 

alcohol and soft drinks which had iieen d i s c a r d e d underneath the 

fencing and behind in order that they would be out of harms way. 

The Merseyside M o u n t e d officers together with one South Yorkshire 

officer 

(female) were constantly moving the crowd on who were just 

standing about, these people obviously had no tickets. This was 

interferring w i t h the operation to c a t c h offenders so much so that 

several 

likely suspects were moved on by the officers. 

At 2.20pm (1420) or thereabouts the crowd became very dense, so much 

so that the observations team i n c l u d i n g myself was forced to move out 

from the area adjacent to the metal fencing to an area of relative 

calm beneath the signs on the metal fencing further along towards the 

entrances to the West stand. 

Whilst at that 

location repeatedly asked for spare tickets or tickets 

for sale, 

those persons obviously now getting very worried about 

seeing the football match, the majority of those persons having 

enquired about tickets, moved into the paddock area and towards 

turnstiles which by now had large queues. 

At the present location I liaised with Det. Sgt. McSloy, who reported 

seeing an Asian wearing glasses and sheepskin coat plus one other, 

constantly moving in and out of queues in the paddock area. 

It 

a p p e a r e d that these me n were pickpockets, 

the two men had disappeared

PAGE 

R180 

from view having come out of the paddock area, therefore it was 

suggested that the entire pickpocket team would split up -and search 

j 

for the two males. -! 

£ 

f 

Det. Sgt- McSloy, DCs Locking and Askew moved off from the area which 

we had now taken up, which was directly adjacent to the roadway and 

is on a lip w h i c h affords a view which is slightly elevated and looks 

down on the heads on the persons queueing to gain entrance to the 

football stadium. 

After a short time, 

the entire observation-team.-re-joined in the 

afo r e m e n t i o n e d area, the crowd at this time now being very dense and = 

it seemed that from the area near to the shop some considerable *j 

distance away right up to the ground was totally blocked by people 

moving towards the ground. 

By this time vehicular traffic had ceased 

and the entire carriageway was blocked by people. 

Whi l s t stood w i t h DCs Hallam and Lilley and looking down into the 

paddock area w h i c h was now totally full with people and still more 

wal k i n g towards the g r o u n d , I s a w groups of young men pushing into 

the c r o w d , the m a j o r i t y of these being the worse for drink, I saw 

several 

carrying and drinking from large 2 litre bottles of both 

lager and b e e r . 

At this time I 

noted that the Police horses were moving amongst the 

dense crowd in front of the paddock area to alleviate the situation. 

M y impression of the situation was that the crowd was becoming 

desperate due to having no tickets and with no hope of getting 

tickets, also the fact that the ones who had tickets would miss the 

start of the game due to large amount of people trying to gain entry 

to the stadium. 

I cannot recall the time, but whilst stood at this location a Police 

Landrover came along the Leppings Lane, with blue light and two tone 

j 

j 

horns operating, the vehicle stopped near to where we were stood.

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I looked both down and up Leppings Lane and the area was totally 

PAGE 6 

R160 

blocked in both directions with people moving towards the football 

g round. 

I was now stood to one side of the Landrover with DCs Hallam and 

Lilley, and whilst there we were joined by a uniform Inspector, 

identity unknown. 

PC Buxton the driver of the vehicle, alighted and stood on the body 

of the vehicle and whilst doing so he was using the vehicles PA 

system, repeatedly stating 'Please stop pushing there are people at 

the front being crushed*. 

I noted several large groups of young 

Liverpool fans, who were pushing into the crowd and making some 

headway towards 

the turnstiles, these fans pushing others out of the 

way. 

I spoke to several fans saying ’Don’t go forward, stay back’. 

Many 

i gnor ed this. 

At this point I saw several people climbing o r v the fences around the ■ 

paddock area. 

Once climbing into that position those people were then 

helping others up onto the fence tops. 

I then saw one fan climb over 

into the actual ground, he was then followed by others, I then saw 

Inspector Bennett appear on the roof of the turnstile area. 

I saw 

the officer assist several fans to climb into the ground area. 

It was obvious at this stage that many people were being crushed at 

the turnstiles, people were not moving through the actual turnstiles 

and I recall thinking that I couldn't see a n y Police helmets at the 

turnstiles . 

Both PC Buxton and the unknown uniform Inspector were now using the 

PA system, repeatedly asking the crowd to stop pushing and that there 

»as people being crushed. 

I recall one of the officers stating that 

game was going to be delayed. 

The people still approaching the 

ground and turnstiles were taking no notice whatsoever and were

PAGE 7 

R18Q 

continuing to push forward. 

The Mou n t ed officers strength had been increased, and saw that those 

officers were attempting to get nearer the turnstiles to enable 

people to gain entry to the ground. 

Still no one taking any notice 

and still more people pushing forward. 

At this time there was no 

other obvious Police manpower deployed in that area. 

I observed the Police Mounted Inspector, 

obviously shouting at the 

crowd, 

I noted that his horse seemed to be going under due to the 

people pushing against it,the front of the horse started to rise with 

the rear end disappering from view, 

it appeared that the officer was 

falling backwards, however, somehow he regained his footing. 

The mood of the crowd was now very desperate and becoming more and 

more hostile. 

The anger of the crowd now being directed at the uniformed officers 

present, 

I noted several people coming towards both PC Buxton and the 

Inspector, 

pushing at those officers, saying do something, stop the 

pushing, 

some of these men were crying in what I believe was 

fr u s tration at the situation. 

PC Buxton who was continually using the PA system then directed the 

Mounted officers to form a line in front of the Paddock area, 

this 

was partially successful, five Police horses completing the line, 

however as the crowd pushed forward the horses were pushed towards 


PC Buxton still attempting to reassure the crowd stating that they 

would all get in and to stop pushing. 

I recall seeing Inspector Bennett who was still on the roof of the 

turnstiles and was still pulling people onto the roof. 

By now I 

c o u l d n ’t actually see the turnstiles due to the vast sea of 

people and still no sign of Police helmets. 

PC Buxton still 

attempting to reassure the crowd.

PAGE 8 

R 180 

Whilst stood at that location a large roar from within the ground, it 

ap p e a r e d to me that the football teams had come onto the pitch, 

this 

being around 2.55pm (1455) the mood of the crowd being desperate, 

more and more fans pushing forward, 

still many carrying both cans and 

bottles of d r i n k . 

Together with the other officers of the observation team knowing that 

we c o u l d n ’t help the situation I moved off down Vere Road. 

Whilst walking down that road another large roar from within the 

ground was heard. 

I noted that football fans were running up that 

road in the direction of the Leppings Lane end, those fans obviously 

coming from Liverpool. 

Ha v i n g walked down that road and into Penistone Road, 

I noted that 

there was very few spectators 

in that area, together with the other 

officers I then went into the gyff;. 

At 3. 0 5 p m (1505) or thereabouts whilst in the gym having meal, 

information was received that the crowd was on the 

pitch and that all 

available uniform p e r s o n n e l to attend that area. Together with both 

DC's Locking and Askew left the gym and took up a position near to 

the entrance to the pitch, 

however, having been there only a snort 

time, 

together with the other officers 1 was instructed to return to 

the gym to await casualties. 

Whilst 

in the gym I was informed that there had ueen deaths in the 

ground and was told to clear the gym by Chief Inspector Beal and to 

make 

it ready to receive corpses. 

The bodies then began to arrive within the gym, 

the first person 

having been carried into that area was thought to be dead however it 

was found that he w a s n ’t dead and therefore was moved to one side. 

The area within the gym was now ready to receive the bodie- a.iu tho.e 

that were brought in were blue in the face, many obviously dead, 

some 

of which were still being attended by first aid personnel. 

I notes

PAGE 

R 180 

that several of the bodies (deceased) had vomitted and soiled 

themselves and I recall seeing one which had blood coming from his 

head body orifices 

All the deceased which were brought into the gym were accompanied by 

Police officers, some being carried in on makeshift stretchers and 

others actually being carried. 

I recall seeing one female Folice 

officer and some spectators struggling with the body of a small young 

male, I went to her assistance and took hold of the boy and carried 

him into the main hall and placed him on the floor along with the 

many others, the female officer then stayed with the deceased. 

Many of the bodies I saw obviously had broken limbs and many were in 

some form of state of undress. 

Together with other officers mainly CID F1 personnel, I moved amongst 

the bodies and Police officers, instructing the officers to stay with 

the deceased and to make a brief description of the body and to 

search the body for both personal effects and identification, I 

handed the officers plastic bags and labels. 

Having completed this task, again together with other F1 CiD 

personnel, 

I searched several bodies placed them into body bags, 

making sure that the head was the first thing to be seen once the bag 

was opened, the bodies were then lined up m rows of twelve, the 

attending officers were again instructed to stay with the deceased. 

I cannot recall the time but it was some consicerable time later 

certainly after six o ’clock (1800), I was instructed to convey the 

very distraught relatives and friends of the deceased to Hammer ton 

Road Police Station, 1 did this by using a coach ana together with 

other officers, D.Insp. Toweii and DC Locking, on arrival at 

Hammerton Road Police Station the 

relatives were asked to remain in 

the care of the social services who were by 

now in the Hilisborcuyu 

Boys Club.

PAGE 10 

R180 

From that time until 8.00pm (2000) on Friday, 21st April, 1989 

(210^89) I was a member of the Exhibits Team under the direction of 

Det. Sgt. McSloy dealing with all the personal effects clothing and 

other exhibits, at that time state the entire exhibit side of 

disaster was handed over to the West Midlands Police enquiry team. 

With regard to the day of the disaster I cannot recall the time of 

the turnstile being opened but I recall being told that the gates 

would be open at 12 noon in order for spectators to gain entry to the 

ground.

1 

-nt lu b 21U6S9 O f4001 DOCUMENT RECORD PKlwT 

I 

3u urr name 

DRURY 

OFFICERS REPORT NUhBER 

RWts 

S la t ion 

I 

e names 

Art I Hurt 

Date of birth 

^ iM resi 

u pa t ia n 

POL PC2G42 

e phone 

i. iie ! of Pages 

e a 

iVLi'toV 

Signed 

At 6.40 a.m. on Saturday, 15th A p r il, 1989, I was on duty a. 

I,0ncasur Police O ffic e and was on Police Sergent K oze ie y’ s detail 

- ■jw h ix h included the duty of manning barriers on the road junctions on 

T ^S p li-n gs Lane. I took up p o s itio n on the b a rrie rs at Vere Koaa/ 

•’ Leppings Lane aDout 11.15 a.m. after briefing and meal. 

" A t t h is time there was a fair number of supporters about, who appeared 

to be generally good humoured. As time went on from about 12 noon 

this date, it was evident that a number of Liverpool supporters had 

arrived at Hillsborough without tickets. 

Being at this location u.b 

supporters who hadn't got tickets were filing past me at reguiat 

intervals, asking both Nottingham Forest and Liverpool supporters 

they had any 'spare* tickets. I t appeared that very few of them were 

getting any positive result from their requests as the same faces 

were passing over a large number of limes. 

Crowds were growing all the tin,, outside tne Lef.pings L » , entrance, 

a,id large groups of supporters were stood on m e opposite paver.rer.t to 

lh* entrances as well as on the pavement next to n . 

■Towards i:. C,C p.m. tr.it oate at my p a r tic u la r lo c a tio n =.l was oovibus 

th a t the numbers a r r iv in g a t the ground w ith o u t t ic k e ts was growing 

c ...u. ra p id ly and croups o, these were spread on notn pavements nea-

to 'the Leppings Lane ent ranee.' The re appeared a lo t of confusion 

PAGE 

K1V8 

w ith both sets of 

supporters as to which entrance they should be 

going in and in v a r ia b ly , I was being asked to whicn entrance tney 

snouid be going. As the t ime fo r the ki ck o ff closed in the crowds 

o'uts i de the Leppings Lane entrance grew rapi d ly and from my lo c a tio n 

I could see j o s t lin g amongst the crowd try in g to gam e ntry through 

the t u r n s t i le s . Many olde r people were passing me and s ta tin g tha t 

they had no i ntent ion of try in g to get 

in through the Leppings Lane 

entrances a s.th e y were being pushed and jo s tle d and made very 

u nco m fo rta b le . A ll these persons appeared to have tic k e ts fo r the 

game. I continued to man the b a r r ie r to th is ju n c tio n and th is 

pa r t i c u l s r duty was be com i rig more and more d i f f i c u l t due to the 

volume of persons running from what appeared to be other entrances to 

the ground down Ve re Road to the i... eppings Lane t u r n s t il e s . None of 

these 

persons -seemed to. have the s lig h te s t knowledge of where they 

should be going fo r th e ir p a r tic u la r entrance shown on the tic k e ts . 

Many were approaching m e.placing th e ir tic k e ts 

in my hand and asking 

me v-,1he r e they s ho u 1 d be gai ni ng e nt ry « At the same time t he c r owd 

o utsid e the Leppings Lane 

t u r n s t ile s had swelled d ra m a tic a lly and was 

* 

becoming more v o ic ife ro u s and pushing towards the large gates 

s itu a te d at th is end of t he y rou n d . The s up p orte rs at th is end 

appeared to be predomi n a n tly L iverpo o l supporters who m the main 

were s p o rtin g L iv e rp o o l m o tifs . Things quietened down ju s t a fte r 

k ic k o ff t.imb and the crowds which had been pushing appeared to get 

j 

' ; ' - ! ' 

sm a lle r but -’there was an atmosphere of a g ita tio n o u ts id e , 

j u s i a fte r 3 \ 10 p.m. th is dale there were s t i l l a f a i r number outside 

the ground- or; Leppings Lane, but i t was evident th a t something naa 

occurred inside the ground as there was a strange s ile n c e . 

T e n ni i n u t e s or so elapsed and i could see e’m e r g e n c y v e h ic le s « y r i v i n g 

a t tne ground (F ire Service and Ambuiance). !nese continued to

a r r iv e fo r the next twenty to t m r l y minutes ana in a ll t m s peri 0 0 . i 

had heard no communi ca tion at a i l from in s id e the ground as to wnai, 

had occurred. Only the Sergeant on our d e ta il had been is sue a w ith a 

radio and because of the a c t i v i t y at my lo c a tio n during tne Dusy 

period im m ediately before the s ta r t of tfie game, j. was unaoie Io 

j. o cate n 1 m to t 1 nd out w!"ia t na0. nappeneci. 

About 3.50 p.m. th is d a te , supporters began to leave the ground by 

the Leppings Lane gates. At th is t irne m yself and other off i cer s 

stood nearby were subjected to numerous verbal re to r ts of acuse from 

L iv e r pool supporters in re la tio n to being responsible fo r wnat haa 

occurred inside the ground. T orrents of abuse ana disparaging 

£■- £ rr; ^ k- 5 u; p ;■ p dir'ffcicd at m e ij \ Li vs poo i s u p p o r t e r s wai k i nu y i~ - 

Remark? such as i!i hope you are proud of y o u r s e lf , you lo t are g u il t y 

■jc rf murder in tnere . 11 As w ell as the usual, "Black b a sta rd s -1 and 

ma ite r -of seconds as i t was obvious th a t my attendance there would 

P AGE. 

R 198 

oniy cause more; problems fo r the persons perform ing d uties w ith the 

dec easea and in ju re d . I obtained d e ta ils fo r the persons who had 

requested my a ssistance and when I 

returned to them they had already 

been re -u n i ted w ith th e ir r e la tiv e s . I then returned to my post. I 

o m y caugnt s lig h t glimpses of,,lhe a c t i v i t y inside trie ground at the 

i-eppmgs Lane end and cannot a s s is t regardi ng these. I aid not take 

any., part in the proceedings in the gymnasium. 

1 can o n ly describe the whole experience tha t day as one th a t l woui 

wish I never had contact w ith again. 1 f e l t as a Policeman a sense 

of disappointm ent in the fa c t th a t I had not gone in to the ground to 

render a s s is ta n c e . I am aware of tne fa c t that I had no knowledge o 

the nature or exte n t of the d is a s te r aut th a t is small c o nso la tion , 

i. was only a m atter of 5-0 yards from where the crux of the tragedy 

0 c c u r_r ecL,anS. 1 vious to i t u n t i l i t would appear i t was too 

J. a t e . r vl ~go n c e d e th a t one Policeman might not have made any 

difference-, but th a t doesn't a lle v ia t e the sense of emptiness in my 

involvem ent w ith th is event. 

1 have had previous experience of big matches at the H ills b o ro u g h 

f o o t b a ll ground, the most recent being the Manchester U nited game 

when no problems were experienced. 1 have no knowledge of any 

problems at the ground w h ils t I have perfomed duty there. 

PORT ' S.

OF F iCERB REPORT NUhBER 

KEOE 

S ta tio n 

name 

t name & 

KEITH 

Date of 

b ir t h 

upat ion POL PS 1684 

e phone 

b e r of Pages 

e a 

1 am p re se n tly s ta tio n e d in Doncaster Town Sub D ivision ? Doncaster 

D iv is io n , as a uniform p a tro l sergeant, 

At 6.30 am on S atu rd ay, 13th A p r il 1989, I reported on duty at 

Doncaster P olice S ta tio n fo r my duties at Hi 1lsborough, 1 knew from 

respondertce received some days e a r lie r th a t I was in charge of a 

s e r ia l o.f e igh t o ff ic e r s and th a t our d uties were to be at each end 

of Vere Road and f ie ld i n g Road at 

th e ir ju n c tio n s w ith Leppings Lane 

ana Peni stone Road Nortft, preventing access to these two s tre e ts by 

anyone except residents 

i\!e were tra nsp o rted to H ills b o ro u g h by bus and were b rie fe d in the 

N orth Stand at 

10 am th a t morning. 

— S h o rtly a fte r 11 am, the e ig h t o ff ic e r s in my s e r ia l in fou r p a irs, 

took up duty at t h e ir p o in ts . Metal b a rrie rs were placed across tne 

road ju n c tio n s im m ediately the o ff ic e r s got to t h e ir p o in ts . 

The Inspector in charge of my s e ria l was Inspector Selwood, I saw 

r;in: at tne o rie fin g arm several times throughout the day. 

I was issued w ith a radio at the b r ie fin g , the o ff ic e r s on my s e ria l 

were not. I had th e re fo re no way of contacting them otner m a n by a 

personal v i s i t to the i r place of d u ty . This could involve a walk of 

p e r n a p c t h r e e h u n d r e d yards, f r o rn o n e point t o t h e n ext.

PAGE 

R2QE 

ine officers working a t the Pe-ni stone Road North end of the two 

s tre e ts we were su p e rv is in g were 

involved w ith Nottingham Forest 

s u p p o r t e r s . 

O ffic e rs working at the Leppings Lane end were in volved w ith 

L a. ver poo 1 s u p p o rte rs , 

i vi si lea alternately .all four pairs of officers in my serial. 

A t tne ju n c tio n of Vere Road and Penisione Road North, there is a 

•f ish ana chip shop on one side and an o ff- lic e n c e on the other side, 

i- rom q uite .early in the day, large queues had formed at both shops. 

A large percentage of supporters of both clubs were d rin k in g as they 

were walking along and ca rryin g cans of beer. I saw one youth 

d r in k ing f ro m a s e v en pi n t party c a n o f b e e r. 

i t was ax so apparent tn a t both sets of supports rs were 

in te rm in g lin g 

a t Doth sides of the ground, m ainly I th in k by a ccide n t havi ng got 

lo s t and lao'k-Tpjgrr-f'.'Qr th e ir way 

in to the ground. 

i hroughout t tle; 'dlgy I did not see any problems in v o lv in g r iv a l sets 

of s u p p o rte rs . The mood of the fans going to the match was good, and 

i saw no a nim osity from them towards e ith e r the P o lic e or fe llo w 

s u p p o r t e r s «, 

i .was. approached by several persons from about 2 pm asking where 

tnere were some p u b lic t o i l e t s , I did not know of any ana to ld them 

tn a t as fa r as 1 Knew the only t o i l e t s were in sid e the ground. A il 

said th a t i t was too e a rly to go in , obviously because i t would stop 

them from - d rin k in g . I was also approached by several obvious 

L iv e rp u d lia n s asking where the t ic k e t to u ts were as 

they had not got 

t ic k e t s . / Ohly one adm itted to tr a v e llin g w ith o u t a t ic k e t , the 

o t h e r s ' s a id 't h e ir tic k e ts had been s to le n . 

At about 2 . 2u pm I 

jo in e d two o ff ic e r s PC 2526 Ayres and PC HQ42 Drury 

in Leppings Lane at the ju n c tio n w ith vere Road. At th is time i t was 1 

busy w ith supporters making th e ir way to the Leppi ngs Lane t u r n s t ile s .

PAGE 

REQE 

There was s t j.il the odd Nottingham Forest supporter mixed in w ith tne 

L iv e rp o o l fans. Many were asking fo r d ire c tio n s to t h e ir p a r tic u la r 

p art of the ground, having no idea where they were going. These 

people took up most of our tim e. 

At about 2.45 pm i t was brought to my n otice tha t people could not 

get to tne t u r n s t ile s at Leppings Lane end fo r the? North or West 

w a n d s b e c a u s e o ■: a c r u s n 0 f p e o p i. e w h 1 c n n a d b u 1 1 1 u p » 1 w-s ^ l o i d 

by several .supporters a l l brandishing tic k e ts who were asking i f they 

could gain .jentry anywhere else. I did not notice the crush of people 

b u ild up and did not re a lis e anything was wrong u n t i l I was to ld . A 

few people, m ainly women or persons w ith c h ild re n asked i f they could 

get out of the way nearby u n t il the crowd had cleared. I mentioned 

the problems to an Inspector who was w alking past us -- not our 

In sp e ctor and 1 do not know who he was. He went o ff in the d ire c tio n 

of \ h e.;'t'urn s r t T f S 'i f I could see tha t there were P olice o ffic e r s there 

with, the 

c r owd,_ - t -could see the mounted o f f ic e r s above tne heads of 

the crowd. Tt I d id -n o t appreciate the seriousness of th is crowding 

u n t i l about four L ive rp o o l supporters at separate times said that i f 

something was not done about i t , there would be another Heysel 

d i s a s*t e r . 

There were s t i l l a'l th is time a steady stream of supporters walking 

along tne road towards the t u r n s t ile s . Tne re were s t i l l in evidence 

a lo t of cans of. beer. 

A snort tim e -.a fte r I f i r s t noticed the congestion, i saw th a t i t was 

be g i nning T'tJj c I ea r . 1 was not aware of the reasons why i t was 

c le a rin g . .1 did not hear any radio messages but w ith the noise of 

the crowd and being c o n s ta n tly in conversation w ith someone, i t was 

easy to miss what was 

being said. 

I t seemed to me th a t the congestion cleared some minutes before the 

k 1 c: k o f f a 1 1- h ouqh i t is d i f f i cul t to t- e; 11 as i can only j u d g e f r o rn

the noise of the crowd in sid e the ground. I could t e l l by the noise 

01 crowd tn a t tne match had s ta rte d . There was no crush outside 

a t th is tim e. There were over a hundred people in Leppings Lane who 

were making no e f f o r t to get in to the ground and who o b vio u sly did no 

consioerea that a ^l nad been a rin k in g . T hey were on the otner side 

of Leppings Lane from the fo o tb a ll ground on the fo o tp a th . 

1 heard a radio message s h o r tly a ft e r the game had s ta rte d asking fo r 

a l l a v a ila b le o ff ic e r s to go in to the ground. iiy job was to prevent 

--;ny narrassirienl of the residents nearby and as there? were a lo t of 

peu pi e outside the ground, 1 did not consider, myself or any of my 

serial, to fie avaixafii e. In any case, 1 was only in contact w ith two 

ot tnem. i could have contacted another two w ith in a short tim e. 

Had i known what was a c tu a lly happening inside the ground, my 

sion might have been d if f e r e n t . From lis te n in g to the messages 

on the radio, I was none the w iser as to what was going on. I heard 

a c s ii fo r an ambulance because someone was s e rio u s ly in ju re d but was 

s v i i. u t t-ri w1^ r e dt t fie si lua l i o n i. n s 1 c. o t n e q r o u n d . 

bnor U y a fte r the in c id e n t developed, a few people s ta rte d leaving 

the g round. i. was as King them what was happening. At th is time they 

naa no idea of the d is a s te r which haci occurred but were aware that 

p e o p1 e w e r e h u r t . 

F ire engines and ambulances s ta rte d a r r iv in g in Leppings Lane and 

s h o r tly afterw ards I heard on the radio of the need fo r a m ortuary. 

I t was only then, perhaps EO minutes a ft e r , th a t I re a lis e d the 

seriousness of what had occurred. I t was too late fay then to be of 

any help inside the ground and in any case, a lo t of people were 

le a v in g the ground re q u irin g su p e rvisio n . Some of them, m ainly 

teenagers who had been d rin k in g were snouting and swearing at the 

P o lic e o ffic e r s present th a t i t was a l l our f a u lt . Many were crying

PAGE 

PEOE 

and a il were u p s e t. The s it u a t io n outside tie came even more v o la t ile 

when the c r cwq began to leave enmass. Even more people were shout t nq 

accusations at the P olice although 1 would say th a t they were only a 

sruaii pe r centage of the people there. The f i r e engines parked in 

Leppings Lane were getting in the way of the crowd who were leavinq 

anu j. 'Look steps to have them parked out of tne way. 

None of the P o lite O ffic e rs in my view responded to the abuse they 

w e r ~ 9 fittin g +r o m t n e small pe r c e n t a g e o f the supporters 1 e a v i n g t h e 

ground. A il these people were ignored. To have re-acted to them 

would i am sure have sparked wholesale violence a qainst the few 

P o lic e l e f t in the s tre e ts . The mood of the crowd at th is time was 

c> t i t u t anger against P o n c e w n o t n e y we re b 1 a m i n q for the i nc i d e n t. 

ine crowds dispersed ana I saw no in cid e n ts in v o lv in g the crowd, 

5LH3?r than tne 

few people abusing the Po i i ce. 

5re a ll c a lle d back -to the North Stand when the crowd dispersed 

and I took no fu r th e r part in the in c id e n t and went o ff duty from 

Claywheels Lane. 

OF 

REPORT

c e n t 105 2 1 0 6 8 9 0P4006 DOCUMENT RECORD PRINT 

r!b Hl HUK ; fVL/ilritN HiiiJis 

S ta tio n 

name' 

ename s 

WATTS 

OR AhAM 

Date of 

b ir t h 

p a tio n 

POL 

e p h o n e 

bis r 

of Pages 

ed 200489 Si g tied 

On baturcay 13 A p r il 1969 I was or; weekly leave day and was in 

possession of a t ic k e t for' the FA Cap Sem i-Final t ie at Hi 1 i s bo r o ug n , 

w ith entrance to the Penistone Road Terrace (Spion Kepi , 

. .. x r x i v e in the Loxiey area and th is is about a 20 minute walk from the 

T a rtd due to other c o m m itm e n ts did not leave home u n t il H .3 0 p m . 

At about 2.45pm I was 

crossing Dykes H a ll Road near to The Beehive 

public house where I saw a large gath ering of L iv e rp o o l supporters on 

the fr o n t car p ark, most of whom were s t i l l d rin k in g and in a rowdy 

mood, I would estim ate tha t there were about 50 outside the premises 

but I cou1d not jse in sid e . 

1 continued to walk to the ground and as I reached the ju n c tio n of 

Leppings Lane/Cat chbar Lane there was a heavy b u ild up of L iv e rp o o l 

supporters rushing to the ground. As I walked along I was approached 

by at le a s t ten of the supporters who asked i f I had a t ic k e t to s e ll. 

As I got to a point near the bridge the crowd was packed s o lid from 

the t u r n s t ile s to the roadway and being swelled in numbers a i l the 

tim e, a i l of whom were jo s t lin g ana pushing in an attem pt to get in. 

1 he mooa was h o s tile ana d e ris iv e chants were being maae as to the 

s i t u a 11 o n f r o m a lo t of w h a m were worse fo r d r m . -I saw you t n s i n 

t h e ir numbers clim bing over the perim eter w all and fencing in to the

PAGE 

RE06 

ground w ith no thought fo r tne obvious dangers, ju s t in te n t in g e ttin g 

in . There was severe crushing and o f f ic e r s , in c lu d in g mounted were 

c o itip 1 e t e 1 y overw h e 1 rn sd by the shee r 

volume of sup p o r ters ana tneir 

aggressive a ttitu d e ., 1 aid see S uperintendent i'k r s ns j, i standing on 

the bridge parapet obviously a ttem pting to gain a b e tte r view of the 

s it u a t io n and give in s tru c tio n s to o ff ic e r s ana supporters a lik e 

(a p p ro x. 2 .3 0 pm>. As he was aoing so, supporters on the ground were 

h u rlin g abuse at him about the s itu a tio n . 

I continued down Ve re Road towards Penislone Road where I saw 

supporters u rin a tin g in gennels between the terra ced houses and also 

going i nto those back gar dens 1ooki ng to gain ent ry to the g r ound via 

the per i me te r fences abuting the oar dens and the qrouno. I we Tit on 

to t h e Pen!stone Road ent rance and i n s t a r 1 1 lr»g co ntra st t here were 

np^ queues at any of the t u r n s t ile s and b y ' about 3.03pm 1 haa gained 

S T i i a e s s ‘ to the te rra c in g . 

I saw play stopped and at f i r s t thought 

there 

had been s p itc h invasion. 

As the s itu a tio n d e te rio ra te d I decided th a t the match would not 

continue, but not grasping the f u l l extent of i t I walked name 

presuming i t would be sorted out by the o ff ic e r s depioyed. un 

a r r iv a l home 1 heard the c a ll on raaio fo r o ff duty o ffic e r s to 

a tte n d r-iamrne r t o n Road P olice S ta tio n and i went Inere by car a r r iv in g 

a t app ro xim a tely 4 . 0 0 pm. 

I have attended such games in the past, on numerous occasions both on 

and o ff duty but I have never seen such h o s tile and aggressive 

b e h a v io u r'by fo o tb a ll 

supporters.

Lnc£d»nt 105 150589 0P501E 

I 

TYPING SERVICE DOCUMENT 


R2E0 

Station 

ir name 

STUBBINS 

irenames 

IVAN 

BRYAN 

e 

Date of birth 

/Jid r ess 

(Jj:cupat ion 

POL PC59S 

Te1e phone 

tîinber of Pages 

Dated 

0E0589 

■f>c 5*»r 

Signed 

On Saturday, 15 April, 1989

. '""'^PAGE ' >*i 

I I R 2 2 0 “*• 

were asking for directions to public houses and off-licences. 

We 

tried to explain that local pubs were closed or only open for local 

residents. 

This did not deter them as many stated that it was early 

and they would walk a mile or so for a drink. 

At this time the mood of the fans was very cheerful and jokes were 

being made from all quarters. 

During the ne>:t four hours the 

following events I remember took place but not necessarily in 

chronological order. 

There was ticket touts standing on Leppings Lane between Vere Road 

and Fielding Road and reports êre circulating back to us that 

tickets were changing hands for between thirty and fifty pounds. 

Inspectors and ranks above were in abundance outside the ground early 

on but as the strength of peopleîncreased senior officers were in 

less abundance than before. ^Sgt. Mpzley attended several times^lo 

check if we had ^py^problem and remained with us a few minutes'each 

time. Also an Inspector of whom I have never seen before came to our * 

£ 

barrie'rs several times e a r l y on buj never introduced himself or spolce r 

to us . 

Fans were arriving up Le^pings Lane (Liverpool fans) and were 

carrying bottles and cans of beer and lager. Several by this time 

V 

i 

/ /. ^ 

were the worse for drink and at one point two fans of about 20 ye^rs 

were asleep on the pavement in Leppings Lane opposite Fielding Road 

and were in a state that I could only call drunk and incapable. 

As time progressed more and more fans arrived and many were very 

boisterious, throwing food and litter around as well as swearing and 

chant i ng. 

Fans were turning up without tickets and were asking other fans if 

they had spare tickets. 

This at the time sounded like 'Spurs’ and we 

had jokes with the Liverpool lads that Spurs played at White Hart 

Lane. 

I could say that I saw about 200 different people asking for

.*■4 

PAGE 

REEO 

spare tickets directly in front of us and this was in a period of 

about E hours. 

B y 1.30pm (1330) there were hoards of people on Leppings Lane and 

many asking for toilets as there was already massive queues forming 

outside the turnstiles on Leppings Lane. 

At about E .10pm

u v" .PAGE n 

’ * R E 2 0 

onto the turnstiles on Penistone Road they were rather dismayed when 

they came back and saw the mass of people waiting, 

or rather pushing 

t o g e t i n . 

By about 2.45pm (1445) 

the crowds were so immense outside the 

turnstiles in Leppings Lane that I remarked to PC P a tterson that no 

wa y would all these people get in in time to see the match kick-off. 

P eople were pushing that much that people were retreating back towards 

us an d stating that no way they would get in and they were going to 

sell their tickets. 

Police horses were in attendance and seemed to 

be having little effect in controlling the crowds. 

Fans were climbing over fences and walls but I couldn't say whether 

it was to avoid being crushed or because they had no tickets. 

On entry towards the ground several fans from Liverpool had obtained 

N o t t i n g h a m Forest scarves and hats were kicking and throwing them down 

the street. 

At about 3pm

PAGE 

• •* R220 

Some fans came out of the ground and remarked that a pitch invasion 

was in progress. These were Notts. Forest supporters. Over the next 

20 minutes or so ambulances and fire engines arrived on Penistone Road 

and after several beat cars arrived, some from A Division, we began 

to ask them questions as to what had happened. 

We got the impression 

that there was trouble within the ground and a message had been sent 

out to get every available man to the ground. 

This had been done so 

quickly that there was a distinct smell of burning clutches from the 

cars. 

I looked back up the road to see my colleague Graham Patterson 

and several other officers waiting around. 

I returned back to the barrier at the top of Fielding Road with 

Leppings Lane and asked Graham if he knew what was going on. 

Naturally he didn’t have much of an idea. 

Residents came out of the houses and were stood looking rather 

shocked. 

I went to one lady and all she could tell me was that it 

was terrible and these were people dead, but she didn’t fill in any 

detaiIs . 

I 

returned to the barriers and watched the Liverpool fans spill back .-i 

out onto Leppings Lane. Many initially were very distressed,, tears _ 

were freely ,fliwing and there was a great deal of aggression being 

• '' ; /' 

shown towards the Police. 

t 

I remained behind the barriers oblivious to what was happening and 

tried my best to soak in what had hapened in the football ground. 

Ambulances were trying to get up Leppings Lane being led in turn by 

either a Police motorcycle or a traffic car. 

The fans were not. 

prepared to move to one side to let the emergency services through. 

As more fans came onto the street we were met with fans who were 

exceptionally aggressive and were calling us from fucking bastards to 

cunts and anything linked. 

Our so called incompetence and all we 

were doing was standing around while their friends lay dead and we

' * PAGE 

" ' ' U R£20 

didn’t 

care. Of course we did care but they knew more than we did. 

A lot more. 

When there were so many people on the streets we were getting a lot 

of aggro from the residents to stop them coming from Leppings Lane 

end into Fielding Road. 

As more protests were aimed personally at me 

and insults several fans spat in our general direction. 

Insults and 

abuse were constantly hurled at us and when threats were administered 

I really felt threatened. 

We were alone, no radios to call for help, 

nowhere to go or hide and 1 felt frightened, so much so I had hold 

of my staff and if anyone had attacked me I would have used it 

without notice. 

I feared for my safety so much as we were so 

helpless. 

I remember seeing a sergeant who I don't know stood in 

front of me. 

He was trying to calm the area down as we tried to 

allow Doctors, nurses and fire personnel into Fielding Road in order 

to keep Leppings Lane open for the emergency services. 

While I moved 

the barriers out the Liverpool fans did nothing to help only jostled 

and insulted us as well as push the sergeant away. 

During this barage a woman ran across the road from Shentall Road and 

said to us that a man had collapsed in her house. 

Patterson and friyself attended at 

Immediately PC 

to find a man 

having an epileptic fi*ti in her house. 

I remembered my first aid and 

put the man in a recovery position while I tried in vain to ring for 

an ambulance. 

Eventually I got through and about 20 minutes later an 

ambulance attended and took the man who I only know as__________________ 

f roiri away to Hospital who was still in deep shock. He' had 

rung home to say he was fine and after ringing off went into an 

epileptic fit. 

I obtained a telephone number from him and said I 

would try and ring home for him. 

We then went back onto Leppings Lane to find our serial and enquire 

what we could do, if anything. 

We came across Sergeant liozley and

PAGE 

R220 

informed him that we had some property which was handed to us 

personally in the day to hand to central control. 

We then went into the ground still not aware of what had occurred. 

Property was handed to a sergeant and we then looked for a 

telephone. 

I remember looking through the passageways under the 

North stand and seeing debris scattered on the floor. 

I proceeded towards the gymnasium in order to find a phone and once 

inside I was met by a mass of people standing around. 

As I walked 

through I was aware of bags of clothes and directly behind I saw one 

body on the floor apparently being searched. 

Curiosity got the better 

of me and I noticed rows of dead bodies with no real outside 

injuries. I wasn't aware that they were dead at this time. I just 

remember feeling numb. 

I eventually found a phone and tried to get 

an outside line to no avail. As I hung the phone up a policewoman in 

the police room went hysterical and I knew something was wrong but 

what I didn't know. I proceeded with PC Patterson to Claywheels Lane 

where I awaited the rest of our serial. Eventually retiring from 

duty at 6.45pm (1845). 

On my way back to the car I remembered seeing 

a helicopter hovering over the ground. Once alone in my car and 

travelling back home I remember listening to Radio Hallam. 

My mind 

is blank from thereon till I arrived at Barnsley District Hospital. 

Not aware how I got there. Once inside and hearing comments of 

reports I broke down uncontrollably in tears and as a result had to 

have time off work.

c ia e n t 105 £ 10 6 69 OF 4006 DOCUMENT REC0P.D PR il\T 

I 

t a m e W H 1 i i _ A r i 

OFF ICER5 REPORT NUMBER *237 

b't a t i o n 

d nam& s pHILL IP KtlNNETH 

3e Date of b ir t h 

- ^ S „ YOR K & . POl ICE* ECCLESf I ELD 

I 

POl. PS466 

. . I . 

-■1 s p h o n e T 

i Jser of Pages 

0305S9 

iicned 

SEnl FINAL HILLSBOROUGH 15,4,89 

At V. DU am on Saturday, 15th A p r il 1989, I paradea fo r duty at 

ec c i esf i ei d -Poljvc^§ta't' ion in respect of the semi f in a l 

together w ith 

oth e r rnernfae rspST I)T Group _ we were tra n s p o rte d by bus to the ground 

where we took up p o s itio n s in the North Stand fo r a b r ie fin g to be 

held at 

1 0 . 0 0 : am 

Qn 'the day I was a lre ad y aware of my basic duties ana trie s e ria l 

number ana id e n t it y of o ffic e r s contained in i t . 

i'iy s e ria l Mo. was 17 arm consisted of m yself and ten o ff ic e r s . 

PC 2913 Auckland, Pc 2933. Wadsworth, PC 3027 Tag>3 , PC 393 P a lfre y , 

Pc 809 £lsanr'-P C - S 8 0 W m ttan, PC 16 W ilson, PC 43 K irb y , PC 602 Moore 

and PC 346 Thompson. A l l these o ff ic e r s w ith the exception of PC 

1 h o m p s 0 n fa e i n g f r o m I) 6 r o u p. 

f he p rescribed d utie s fo r th is s e r ia l was the su pe rv is io n of 

turns'C ilss ">-6 at the Leppings Lane End of the ground, g ivin g access 

to the North Stand. 

A duty which both myself and the m a jo rity of 

these o ff ic e r s have c a rrie d out on a nurocer of previous occasions. 

P rio r to the day each o ff ic e r in my s e r ia l haa been given a copy of 

the d u tie s of S e ria l 17, and d e ta ils of the parade time lo c a tio n .

PAGE 

H 'd. Cy / 

ihe s e ria l was x d e n lifie a in the oraer as being under Sub Sector b, 

ana 1 was responsible to Inspectors Purdy and Sykes, whom I reported 

t o on a r r iv a l at t hie g r ound . 

At 'ili.uO am a t>r ie-f'ing was conducted in the North Stand by Chief' 

Superintendent D u ckenfield, S u p t. Murray and Ins p. B e a l. At the 

conclusion of th is , arrany ernents were made w itn Inspectors Sykes ano 

P u r dy f o r o. d r •iefin g of t f■ e se r ia. 1 s , at tne Lepping s Lane end, at 

11 am at -the rear of the West Stand. 

- ihe s e ria l was then provided w ith a snack meal ana a d rin k and I 

c o lle c te d a personal radio and earpiece. The radio was checked and 

was in working o rd e r. 

At '11.00 am a l l the s e ria l went to the rear of the west Stand where 

ins p. Sykes b rie fe d the s e ria ls as to th e ir s p e c ific d u tie s and the 

s e c u r ity of persons e n te rin g the ground, I advised o ff ic e r s as to 

- ■ w ith s e a rc h in g , and seizure of a r t ic le s , also a c tio n in respect 

~_■ •-. _~ 

0 f drunks. 

'* ' 

Following, th is b rie fin g the m a jo rity of the s e r ia l 

remained at the 

rear of the West Stand as no t a r n s t ile s appeared to be open fo r the 

N orth Stana. However a short w hile la te r I would- say approx im ately 

* ; 

1 1 . HQ-23 one t u r n s t il e opened so 2 o ffic e r s were deployed to tha t 

one. There being quite a number of o ffic e r s outside the ground at 

tn is 

time and very few fans. 

^ Around 11.45 am a i l the t u r n s t ile s fo r the North Stand opened so the 

whole s e r ia l was deployed outside on the t u r n s t ile s . £ O ffic e rs to 

each ana the remaining 2 and m yself i n i t i a l l y stood in the tr ia n g u la r 

area formed by the t u r n s t ile s w a ll, the adjacent shop, and the 

perim eter fence, the gates of which were opened and pinned back. 

At t Ini s t iine t nere we r e o nI y a f ew su ppo r t e r s a r r i v i ng at a t ime , anci 

o f f ic e r s wree sometimes under employed w ith searching. As i? normal 

2 or 3 o ffic e r s were deployed together w ith the coach re ce p tio n teams

PAGE 

on L-eppings Lane i t s e l f . I believe 3 were a c tu a lly used, PC E9";3, 

PC 809 and 880. 

u u rinq th is e a rly period I made arrangements fa r blacK dustbin bags 

to be Drought to c o lle c t items seised or disposed of by fans entering 

t-ist- ground. N orm ally q u ite a number of fans are in possession of 

cans or s o ft d rin k s on entering the ground, these are not perm itted 

*. Ou.id. i i i&y o. i c! g a ve n i he o p po r tu n 1 1 y t o d r i nk o r dispose c f 

lne cans.’ Aaso where fans have cans of alcohol trie same a pplies 

P tiit y are i nt o r me u to cl i s po s e not d r i nk t hem . 

- A snort w hile a ft e r we had obtained the bags and la b e ls fo r property 

* nu,i’il3er °* i a r 9e p la s tic dustbins a rriv e d these were s ite d in 

between 4 t u r n s t ile s fo r the same use as the baas. 

i n i t i a l l y as 1 have state d there were very few fans a rriv e d from 

L iv e rp o o l and the o ff ic e r s were able to make searches of v i r t u a l l y 

e. v t. r > person a r r iv in g at the t u r n s t ile s w ith o u t causing any delays on 

—entering.- O rd e rly queues were formed but they amounted to perhaps 6 

or 8 at one or two t u r n s t il e s , a l l the entrances were not used by the 

f ans a t th is t i me » 

During th is e a rly period there were no great problems w ith the fans 

ur ''** * r beb a v ip u r. i he m a jo rity consisted of middle aged and fa m ily 

g ro up s, there were lig h t hearted exchanges w itn them. 

r t vn' i,hl~ e* r i y slage a problem s ta rte d to a ris e which la te r on grew 

MUitt: consid e ra bly. The North Stand was reserved fo r L iverpo o l 

Supporters w ith brown tic k e ts and the t u r n s t ile s although numbered 

were also le tte re d A also adjacent to the t u r n s t il e s wre plaques 

brown in colour about 1 i>" 1 2 " at about head h e ig h t. From th is 

K ffiu a onwaras numerous tic k e t holders came up to me confused as to 

where they should enter the ground. They did not appear to 

understand tne s ig n ific a n c e of the colour coding. A fu r th e r caus's of 

! 

confusion was the layout of the a ctu a l t ic k e t . Numerous people asked

ssf*® 

PAGE 

to r entrance X,Y, M etc these being the gangway not the entrance, but 

the layout of the tic k e t 3.s such "I hat the gangway, entrance and row 

etc were a l l in the same size p r in t . F u rthe r confusion was also 

caused dv t ic k e t holders not knowing which colour re la te d to which 

e n tra n c e , i. e . Brown North Stana, Red west Stand, Blue Leppings Lane 

te rra c in g . As a re s u lt an increasing number entered the area in 

fro n t of s t i le s fo r the North Stand who wanted other areas of the 

ground. 

As x ime progressed the number of persons a r r iv in g at the ground 

s te a a ily increased. They were a r r iv in g on fo o t, by coach and service 

bus. I n i t i a l l y they were searched and seen by the o ffic e r s on coach 

re ce p tio n and then came towards us, q u ite a number s ta rte d to a rriv e 

v-1 n ie p fu y i’e s s e u in possession of a n q s n ie i 1 1 n g ot a lc o h o i, as a 

re s u lt the dustbins at the side t u r n s t il e s s ta rte d to f i l l w ith empty 

or f u l l cans of beer. I in s tru c te d about 4 or 5 p erson ally to place 

part f u l l cans in the bin. 1 aid however see other o ff ic e r s engaged 

on both North and West Stand t u r n s t ile s in s tr u c t fans to put cans and 

b o ttle s in to the bins. As the numbers s te a d ily increased the 

of f i oers made more s e le c tiv e searches of persons e n te rin g . O rderly 

u u ti u s s w ©r £ t o r rn £?u there were no great problems i n respect 

ri i.-i i n 

lining them apart from m e confusion over tic k e ts . 

However on about 3 or 4 occasions I requested a mounted o f f ic e r to 

sweep the area in fro n t of the t u r n s t ile s in respect of numerous 

groups of youths who a rriv e d w ith o u t tic k e ts and those who had a rriv e d 

and did not want to go in, or were w a itin g fo r frie n d s w ith th e ir 

tic kets, 

On occasions 

there were about 

>□ or 60 persons m illin g about and on 

one occasion upwards of 1 0 0 . 

g e n e ra lly 16-34 age group and 

i n e y o u t ;: s w i r, out i ^ l k ■ we re 

the ones 1 spoke w ith were g e n e ra lly 

in groups of 4 or 6 in number 

haunted o ffic e r s 

then entered th is

PAGE 

R237 

area end cleared these groups -out of the area and away from tne 

t u r n s t ile s . 

'I his continued from approxim ately IE naan to 1 would estim ate 1330 to 

13*0 w itn a steady flo w of fans g ra d u a lly increasing. 

At Ll>U haurs PC. W ilson and PC P a lfre y made £ separate a rre s ts in 

respect of possession of carmsfcis, the o ff ic e r s who had been engaged 

on coach rece ptio n were brought back and 

continued w ith searching, 

ihe procedure c a rrie d on fo r some considerable time a fte r the a rre s ts 

t-ne rmmJbe.r_s; 'gradual ly increasing but we did not appear to be having 

■ " ) 

any great d i f f i c u l t i e s apart from those already mentioned w ith which 

i tnoughi we were coping. Once the t u r n s t ile s were f u l l y manned and 

o ff ic e r s were engaged in searched and queue c o n tro l. I adopted a 

p o s itio n about 10—15 fe e t in fro n t of them cnecking tic k e ts and 

m o n ito rin g those not making th e ir way 

in to the ground and non t ic k e t 

holders e t c . 

'“= 

V.- 

1 cannot s a y a t what time i t was but 1 could estim ate between 

2 . ED and 2vBQ; pm tne area in which I was working suddenly became 

ciel uged in a large number of fans the whole environment seemed to 

change a b ru p tly from having organised queues arm t u r n s t i l e entry to 

being, overwhelmed. 

The whole mood seemed to change and the make up 

of the crowd changing from mixed ages and sexes to a predom inantly 

male and younger ones. Tne p ro p o rtio n of people under the in flue n ce 

of a lcohol also changed and. increased, at a conservative estim ate I 

would say 3© had had a considerable amount to d rin k . The numbers 

- • ! 

- - -.1 : 

who were confused and a g ita te d of the tic k e ts were co nsiderable. I 

z 

was v i r t u a l l y inundated w ith e nq u irie s at which entrance they 

wantec. This was adding to the congestion as those who were at the 

wrong tu r n s t ile s were try in g to get back out in to Leppings Lane. As 

tne numbers increased I was g ra du ally forced fu r th e r away from the 

t u r n s t ile s towards the perim eter gates and f e l t com pletely is o la te d

-•"'-.:-, .:•-. . ; ' '’ . ’'*7V;| 

PAGE 

RES 7 

-6 -'-' 

T u ■ 111 ° !,''- r o + t le e rs , the only _pft' 2.ce rs I couid see were mounts a on 

t_e ppi ngs l_ane i t s e l f . At one stage 1 saw o ff ic e r s engaged on west 

u- a nd tu rn s t lie s at t e rn p 1 1 n g t a c 3. o s e one o f t h e p e r x m e t e r g a t e s t o 

ease the crush on tnose t u r n s t ile s , they managed i t once but had to 

open i t again, 

f he numbers of fans seemed unendi ng and i t was v i r t u a l l y a riv e r of 

fans flo w in g towards the t u r n s t ile s . At th is point I saw a number of 

youths had climbed onto the metal 

t u r n s t ile s and the Leppings Lane 

p a r t i t i o n between West Stand 

te rra c in g they were making th e ir way 

along the top of i t and over trie w all in to tne ground. 1 would say 

anout ten or twenty ci imbed over as 1 could see at th is tim e . I 

radioed co n tro l 

at th is time and received a re p ly th a t they would see 

Wiiii I n e y could, cc. A s n o r t w rt 1 1 e la te r I saw in sp e cto r Bennett 

stood on top of 

the w a il a s s is tin g more fans over. 

the numbers increased the presence inside the area between the ; 

— ,£>5rinteter. fence and the.' t u r n s t ile s became immense. In fa c t at one 

--- stage together w ith some other supporters I feared we would be 

crushed behind the perim ter gate i f i t gave way, th is being because 

i t was locked open w ith a pin on the flo o r and a bar across the top. 

i ne pressure was such th a t th is top bar was fle x in g and bendinq at 

times and we feared i f i t gave way we would 1.1e c rushed between the 

gate on the fence. The numbers of fans continued to ris e and there 

appeared no end to them . As i was ta lk in g to a fan regarding 

t ic k e t s 1 f e l t a spray of what I thought was water and a push from my 

l e f t . i he man at my side then said “ You were lucky th a t can ju s t 

missed your head'1 I saw th a t he, a man dressed in a w hite trench 

coat was covered in a liq u id . He then said something about th e y 're 

throw ing cans from the back, meaning Leppings Lane. 

i can re c a ll during th is period also seei ng a surge of supporters « 

through the 

perim eter gate about 6 or & people away and they cut

PAGE 

RH37 

through the crowd lik e a kn ife fo rc in g a bow wave of pressure to the 

sid e . I would estim ate there were about £0 or 30 in the group ana 

they were chanting and waving th e ir arms in the a i r . 1 could see 

th a t a f a i r p ro p o rtio n had cans in th e ir hands. These were not the 

only ones w ith beer cans I saw during th is period, but due to the 

crush and sheer weight of numbers there was l i t t l e I could do apart 

from t r y ana cairn the ones near me down. 

Although I knew there should be q u ite a number of o ffic e r s around 1 

j did during th is period fee l very is o la te d and at th is time could see 

no one apart from Ins p. Benelt on the w a ll, some mounted o ffic e r s in 

the crowd on Leppings Lane, S up t. M arshall on the bridge parapet and 

another o f f i c e r on the roof of a p o lice ve hicle i n Leppings Lane near 

to 

the shop. 

. t . .radio at th is time seemed to be working, but as o ften not and 1 

d hear shouts to open gates but due to the noise and o ff ic e r s at 

;*rTV. one stage try in g to close the perim eter gate i t is hard to say i f i t 

was 'them or the radio. S h o rtly a ft e r tha t my earpiece became 

detached during the crush and I cannot re c o lle c t any other 

transm is s io n s . 

* * 

The s it u a t io n was then as I have described and appeared to be g e ttin g 

worse w ith confusion over t ic k e ts , fans pushing and shouting etc and 

I was l i t e r a l l y at times fe a r fu l of my l i f e i f I had f a lle n over. I 

—, was unable to make any headway through the crowd to check to see i f 

' 7. 

the o ff ic e r s on the tu r n s t ile s were a l r i g h t as I could not see or get 

~ < 

to them from where I was. The next th in g tha t happened was th a t Gate 

A opened, which is s itu a te d to the l e f t of the North Stand 

t u r n s U ie s , I t was then as i f someone had le t the plug out, the 

pusning and crushing in tne area in fro n t of these t u r n s tile s 

v i r t u a l l y aDated w itn large numbers 

surging through tha t open gate and 

in to 

the North Stand area.

PAGE 

R237 

I t was at th is point that- PC 2^33 Wadsworth jo in ed me and saia tha t 

they had had to climb through the t u r n s t ile s fo r th e ir s a fe ty . The 

crowa then eased o ff 

com pletely and the queues at the t u r n s t ile s 

re turned w ith an e ld e rly gent who had been stood w ith me fo r 

sa fe ty 

near the fence jo in in g a queue of acout 2 0 at the r ig h t hand 

t u r n s t il e and by 'this time Gate A had closed again, 1 would say 2. t 

only remained open fo r 4 or rz> minutes at the most. 

S h o rtly a ft e r the gate had closed and the queues reformed a number of 

o f f ic e r s ran from Leppings Lane and in through the t u r n s t il e s . I 

could hear nothing on my radio but heard one of them shout th a t there 

had been a p itc h invasion and a l l a v a ila b le assistance was 

required 

in s id e . Together w ith PC Wadsworth and other o ffic e r s 1 entered the 

ground by clim bing over the l u r n s l i e l s , turned rig h t and ran across 

the back of the West Stand towards the corner w ith the South stand. 

ran past the tunnel entrance 

to the te rra c in g and in the area 

the.back of the stand I can say th a t there appeared to be nothing 

untoward and there was r e a lly q uite a marked absence of people in 

th is area. 

As we went to the pitch via the rear of tfte Police Con t ro i i ga ther ed 

as majty of my s e ria l together as I could and 1 1 included i t n i rtk 

PC's 2933, 3027, 346, 880 43, 809 and some other o ffic e r s . 

We entered the playing area from the South Stand and I am v i r i u a H y 

c e rta in tha t the game had stopped at th is time out I cannot be s u re . 

I looked across the Leppings Lane end and could see o ff ic e r s stood on 

the fencing g e s tic u la tin g to the crowd to move over to the l e f t and 

to move back. The te rra c in g area i t s e l f appeared f u l l . I went to 

the ce n tra l pen areas behind tne goals pens 3 and *t ana saw ins p. 

Purdy stood on the perimeter fence ty r in g to get the fans to move 

across. At th is time 1 did not a ppreciate what was happening. He 

s houted to t a k e a s e ria l into pen 2 so I couecieci a group ot

PAGE 

RES 7 

'« 

approxim ately 1 0 o ff ic e r s together and went to gate £ which was 

open. As we went to enter the gate I saw a. young g i r l being ca rrie d 

over the head of the fans and towards tne gate, seme then shouted tha t 

sne was in ju re d . I t was at th is point th a t I re a lis e d or s ta rte d to 

re a lis e tnat something d ra s tic was wrong. When the g i r i had cleared I 

entered Pen £ via gate E and we formed a cordon to push tne fans n&ck 

^ On-; tne gait; ano. made our way towards the r a ilin g fence 

separating Pen E from 3. As i reached the fencing and looked over 

in to Pen 3 the crowd seem to part and move back away from the fr o n t. 

I couiu men see what 1 can only described as a huge p ile of bodies 

tcsuked 4 or d deep in paices, la id on the flo o r at the rear of the 

perim eter w a ll. 

ihey were as deep as the End step up on the 

te rra c in g acout n a if way along I could see a youth stuck out from the 

bodies wno appeared to be trapped, by nis legs w ith the bodies up as 

ot both sexes to I believe one mart I would say was in his 30 * s with' 

a white s n ir t -arm jeans on. 

A fte r we haa removed a i l the in ju re d ana dead from the pen i returned 

to use p itc h area. At th is time 1 saw th a t there were numerous 

persons being tre a te d and c a rrie d away on s tre tc h e rs by both P olice 

u t« n s . i tnen saw fnas rip p in g down the a d v e rtis in g ho r dings from 

the west B ta n t, again i n i t i a l l y the reason fo r i t was not a pp a re n t, 

but i t soon tie came evident they were being used as m akeshift 

s 1 1 e c; (& r s . I t n e n w e nt in t o He n 3 w 1 1 h o t h e r o f f i c & r s a n d he 1 p s d 

pass these onto the p itc h . At th is time i t was apparent that numbers 

of the fans s t i l l aid not re a lis e what was happening as some must 

nave thought we were going to a rre s t those ta kin g the hordings down, s 

Liitj/ i i c i u to be i o i d f o r c ib ly B y other fans wnat was happening. 

hen remained in the pen and kept the fans away from the c lo th in g 

asgpg-.be-.lQngins which were p ile d at the fr o n t of the te rra c in g . At some 

stage a Scenes of Crime O ffic e r entered the pen in p la in clothes and 

s ta rte d to photogrpah the scene. The crowd went l i t e r a l l y wild and 

surge a forwards to get hold of him, from what was shouted 1 b elieve 

they |hougnt he was press. We had to f ig h t our way out of tne pen 

w i t. h i h e o t t i c e r a n d w i t h u r e w f o r s a f e t y , 

t--I - ~ ■ i wci v i t i y ; \ ti p e 11 i. " e L u T: -i c o n i.- o Coe* p i u c z". a I" e a w n e r s / ! e r e w r e 

numerous p o lice o ff ic e r s a lo t of whom were o bviously d istre s s e d I 

gathered wnat o ff ic e r s I could of my s e ria l together and as there 

appeared nothing else we could do on the p itc h and in the absence of 

any in s tru c tio n s we returned to the rear of the West Stand where we 

were deployed as per the o r ig in a l orcers on supervising e x it of 

supporters when they were 

released. 

O bviously large numbers were d istre s s e d at what had happened as they 

l e f t but there were considerable numbers who s t i l l appeared worse fo r 

d rin k 

leavinq the ground.

lid e n t 105 : 10689 OP4006 


Of r 1C ERE' REF OPT NUMBER 

KL46 

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S ta tio n 

jrname 

I{-*n "o br e name & 

LOMAS 

PHILIP 

COLIN 

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A \ d d c r e s s 

Date of b ir t h 1304195E 

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Occupa'ii < f oT‘i 

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1 e phone 

iMumce Nur r of P a q e < 

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l l t e a 

POL PS23QS 

030589 ngnea 

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I a Hi a P o lic e Serqeant in t h e South Y orkshire P olice c u rre n tly 

s’t a i i oned at D oncaster. I have a t o t a l of 1 'd 1/2 years se rvice , 

la s t 3 years being in the rank of sergeant. 

At „ B . 11> am on Saturday 15 A p r il 1989, i parade a fo r cuty at the 

a s te r P olice S ta tio n . My tour of duty was timed between 8.30am 

and 4.30pm. I attended on duty in order to tra v e l to tne S h e ffie ld 

Wednesday fo o t b a ll ground at H ills b o ro u g h fo r the FA Cup Semi F in a l 

b e t ween L i v e r pool a n ci N o 11 s fo r e s t . 1 a n 1 1 c i pa t e a to w or k ove f t ime 

on th is date and expected to r e t ir e from duty at around fa pin. 

W h ils t at the Doncaster P olice S ta tio n i checked that a i i my ni'-iTipowe r 

d e t a il were present ana reported to inspect or numpnr i e s . i laêr 

1 earned th a t one man hao reqties ted pernii ss ion i-o go 

home fo r personal reasons. ib is request was made to Insp 

Humphries. Together w ith my d e ta il 1 tra v e lle d to Shef f i e l d on a 

couble decker bus. 

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At 9 . 45am a b r ie f inc was he id 1 n tne H1 1 1 s bo roue* n i*i*h n Gr csnus loud 

cnai rea by Chief Superintendent iiuckenf ie ic . i ne main du s, i e* or ““ c 

day were o u tlin e d ana they were. 

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-i. 

To allow the game to be played with the minimum at 

d is ru p tio n .

page 

— he£ 46 

E. To be f a i r but f i rm w ith fans who overstepped the mark. 

3. No person w ith o u t a t ic k e t was to be adm itted in to tne 

g r o u n d , 

Each s e ria l hao tn e ir own r e s p o n s ib ilitie s m a d d itio n to the main 

o b je c tiv e s of 

the day. 

At 10.10 arn myself and my s e ria l ha a our f i r s t meal . 

At 11.1Oam 1 deployed my manpower in Middlewood Rd from h in to Rd to 

Wads 1ey Lane. O ffic e rs were deployed in pairs as fo llo w s . PC 2158 

C. ran and PC 2862 T aylor were responsible fo r the snop frontage which 

was positioned in the middle of Midd-Iewood Rd fo r 

the area I was 

responsible f o r . PC 703 Thornton and PC 1698 M a rtin were positioned 

on the upper end of hi ddi ewood Rd to its ju n c tio n w ith iiinto Rd arm 

PC £993 Nugent and PC 175S W in fie ld had r e s p o n s ib ilit y fo r the lower 

-end -of- Middiewood Rd upto it s ju n c tio n with Wadsley Lane. I doubled 

th- PC 469 Shaw and patroled the f u l l length of the road. I 

doubled up w ith the officer due to being one man down on my d e ta il. 

Numerous L iv e rp o o l 

fans had already s ta rte d to a r r iv e and i t soon 

became apparent th a t the busiest stretch of road woula be Middiewood 

Rd f rem wads ley Lane to Catch Bar Lane. This s tre tc h of road is 

predormnently shops and take away fa s t food premises. 1he re were a 

large amount of Liverpool fans in th is area. 

~ As I patro le d along Middiewood Rd large amounts of' fans were 

a r r iv in g . I was asked two main questions. In fa c t only two 

questions? the second always fo llow ed the 1 st. 

1. Where can I park? 

£ . where can I get a o rinkV 

i f the fans were walking the question was r e s tr ic te d 'to 'where can i 

c; e t a dr i nk • On each occasion 1 was asked whe re in to x ic a n ts couic be 

bought I de c 1 i ne d t o t e I 1 t hern s tat i ng t nat i was t r om Uo ncas t e r aiiu 

a id n 't know the area.

•Iwora 

soon spread between farts as i f by te le p a th y where both off 

.Licences and p u b lic houses were s itu a te d , 

rtbout "i .30pm there were a large number of drunken L iv e rp o o l fans sat 

j. t* wit puu car pa r k ot . They were roudy. Insp Hurnpnes 

to ld me th a t he expected a b it of tro u b le and asked me to provide two 

iiitMi Trom rny a e ta ii to stand on the corner of Wadsley 

■ J 

Lane and 

i'il Q Q i fcWDOd K i l , p C 

iornton and M a rtin took up th is 

p o s itio n about 

1.4>pm. I also remained in the lo c a tio n w ith 

PC Shaw. 

The 

f. e d e I, -an ha. f j. l iiciU Deen heavy but no i rout/1 e nad occurred. when 

we a r n v e o back at the lo c a tio n the drunken fans nad l e f t the area, 

i n otice d th a t the majority of the fans were the worse fo r d rink and 

w-_ ic Li, ..it! i-.. -aim 1-ay y tv i rig . j. si so noticed th a t very few peo pie 

. y were wa*King up wads ley Lane 

o citi Ofr Licence i was informed had stocked up f u l l y w ith 

in to x ic a n ts and had six s t a f f working and also to a pub some distance 

away * 

She m a jo rity of people were ju s t stand or s i t t i n g on the pavement, 

->erVA•_sr f uad at Lite j unc 11 on ot waasiey Lane and Middlewood Rd and 

Che car park of The Park. I watcned them d rin k in g a range of 

in to x ic a tin g d rinks in c lu d in g , C arlsberg Special Brew, Guinness, 

ixume. ous u rands- or iagsr ana Ceer. Inis D eer/lager was contained in 

e ith e r fou r pack cans or £ l i t r e or H 1/2 l i t r e b o ttle s . Myself PC 

brtaw and insp Humphries mace numerous 

comments to each other about 

the sheer amount of d rink tha t was being consumed. We spoke about 

our fe e lin g s of the Off Licence owner and publican s e llin g so much 

dfirtK to drunken people. i sta le d th a t 1 hoped i f any damage was 

Cdusea u would be to th e ir p roperty in such large amounts th a t they 

W“ Ui d never open -for a foot bai x match again. 1 never returned up 

i iiuu i ewood ha again i t was obvious th a t my services were of more use 

at this ju n c tio n . About j£. 1>prri I heard a radio t ransnii ssion tha t

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r a 4 ti 

there were a group of people at* the p u d i c house aireaay fo r causing 

tro u b le . P ublic Order- vehicles were deployed. I again made the 

comment tha t i t would be nice i f these fans caused any damage, i t 

would tie to tne 

pub. 

Many -fans were standi ng about and i t became apparant th a t they cio 

not nave t ic k e ts . I was approached by many youths asking i f i. Knew 

wnere they could get some. 1 saw and heard many saying. 'Have you 

got any spares' 1 also heard q u ite a few people say ‘ Come on we * 11 

get in to tne ground w ith the crowd th e y ’ l l le t us i n ' . When i heard 

these and s im ila r comments I remember th in k in g 'You've got another 

t h i ng coming mate, obviously you haven't been to S h e ffie ld b e fo re '. 

Up u n t il 2 . 30pm pedestrian t r a f f i c going towards the ground nad been 

l i g h t . At 2. 3U prn' as i f by someone pressing a button the s itu a tio n 

had reversed. Everybody now was heading fo r the ground. Looking up 

-srfads le y Lane the pedestrian t r a f f i c grew and grew. At f i r s t the 

en 1. .was blocked but then h a lf the road was covered w ith 

L iv e rp o o l fans. The vast m a jo rity of these people were the worse -for 

dr i nk . Many s t i l l c a rrie d four packs of beer and 1 age r . i couldn t 

imagine how they were going to consume such q u a n titie s before 

e n te rin g the ground, 

p a r tic u la r ly as many were unsteady on th e ir 

fe e t. I remember th in k in g q u ite n a iv e ly "This lo t has no hope ot 

g e ttin g in, in th e ir c o n d itio n ’ . 

■t p o s itio n e d myself on the corner of Wads 1 ey Lane and Hi d ill ewood Rid 

so they would see a uniform presence as they came down the h i i l . I 

looked to my rear towards Leppings Lane and 1 saw the road com pletely 

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RE46 

p a r tic u la r 1 spoke quite severely 'to one y out h who was holding an 

opened carat of red Canadian Wine -about his language and behav iour 

towards two g ir ls walking in the opposite d ire c tio n . The 

suggestions made were obscene and t o t a l l y d is g u s tin g . As he made 

ijfirthese 

remarks he was holding his penis ana shouting 'Suck th is you 

fucking whore! When 1 approached him he immecu a te ly appologised to 

me blaming the drin k and saying he wouldn’ t do i t again, Remembering 

!vir D uckenfieids 

comments he was severely warned but allowed to 

continue. I remember th in k in g how each person I spoke to about th e ir 

behaviour suddenly became very ameanable obviously because they did 

not want to ce a rre sted p rio r to the game s ta r tin g . The drunken 

pedestrians continued and I even saw two youths carrying a th ir d w ith 

his arms over th e ir shoulders. He was being h a lf walked and h a lf 

dragged. I said to these youths 'There's more chance of a snowball 

s u rv iv in g in h e ll than you have of g e ttin g in to the g roundr . One 

'1 know mate, but you've got to t r y i t ! 

— Al l th is time many youths were asking the crowd 'got any spares'. 

The r.eply was. always no or there was no re p ly. One reply I heard 

from a group of fiv e walking to the ground was 'S o rry mate, we neea 

another two o u rs e lv e s ', 

* 

As I looked down Leppings Lane I could see a large amount of fans 

congregating near to the corner where the tu r n s tile s were. i t was 

obvious that the crowd sat on the wall opposite to the tu r n s tile s did 

"not have tic k e ts . I saw each person asking fo r tic k e ts go down to 

the ground and I heard one say words to the e ffe c t of "come on w e 'll 

get in* I d id n 't understand th is because to me i t was obvious no 

t i c k e t n o e n t r y . 

At L.biiprn the pedestrian t r a f f i c was s t i l l heavy but i t was mainly 

confined to the pavement. I allowed PC Tnornton to stop point duty* 

1 could see large crowds of people down at the Leppings Lane

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Rii46 

tu rn s'll les out I allowed t r a f f i c to flow b e lie v in g i t could set 

I n r o u 9 n s a fe ly . At some stage I heard a request ¥ r om bupl ft a r s ha 1 1 

to delay the kick o ff by 15 mins 'to allow fans to get in to tne 

g r c u n d ► 1 never h eard t h e re p 1 y i n genera 1 r adio t r a n s- miss x o n& were 

of a very poor standard even though 1 would only be a&out IbU yaras 

or so away t roni the Control Room which is s itu a te d at tne t_e ppings 

Lane Ena. 

i t soon became apparant that there was some sort of tro ub le at the 

t u r n s t ile s . 1 thought of deploying some of my manpower to a s s is t but 

.,iTiany fans were s t i l l making th e ir way to the ground. Due to th e ir 

c o n d itio n I f e l t i t my duty to remain in my p o s itio n to protect 

property from damage. The t ransmi ssions continued arid 1 nearc the 

c o n tro l room say to I believe Supt ftarsnail ‘’we have 1UU o ffic e r s on 

--i;:z ^ ta n d b y in the gym i f you require any fu rtn e r assistance'1. I 

be r th i nk i ng again * i t ' s no good them be i ng in the re they should 

be out* certainly the amount of pedestrians in Leppings Lane in my 

mind justified further officers on the beat. 

The problems continued at Leppings Lane ana. 1 knew t m s oe cause or 

radio tra n s m is s io n . I believe 1 h ear d ext n e r 3 or M r e g u e s u s r c r a 

* 

q ate to JDe opened to re lie ve the pressure. 1 n the end tupi i’;ar sudi i 

said words to the e ffe c t of " i f the gate is not opened we w i n navs -.-i 

catastrophy on our hands*. The order was given for the gate to be 

o pe ned . 

A short 1 1 rue la te r we were at max a minute i 'd say about 'iUU—lbO 

yard's away waved down to the t u r n s t ile s . On our a r r iv a l we were 

-Hiked to form a cordon across tne entrance and po- ice horses muveu 

the crowd of about i!:5G 200 away. Marry were compiai m uy because u I >ey 

had tic k e ts we refused to allow anyone past. 

One youth the worse for dr i nk was standing wii-n nis arms in u.ie axt . 

He was e v e n tu a lly knocked over by a police horse. 1 saw mm nobble

PAGE ? 

REA 6 

to the end of a bridge w ail assisted by another tan. i saw him then 

punch the triage brick work w ith f u l l force - i thought you drunken 

id io t . I saw his harm a fte r he had done i t . A li his knuckles were 

niceding and he was ~o bv i o us 1 y in pain. The complaints kept on coming 

as to why we were not a d m ittin g any one into the ground. 

Auoui, 3.10pm fans started, to come out of the ground very upset ana 

very h o s tile in p a rtic u la r to the P olice. We were sworn at ana many 

were saying ' i t ' s no good being out here you should ce m there . i t 

was obvious that something had happened but we d id n 't know what. she 

h o s t i l i t i e s continued and i t included middleaged men in reapectanxe 

aress . 

An ambulance a rriv e d and was ai lowed tnrough. i saw t n t ' 

stop close tc; the concertina doors fu rtn e s t away v rcm as, =£i-uuy 

jjfough t ol the rear of tne ambulances m otionless. Word s ta rte d to 

ch us about a death or deaths 

inside the ground. 

At th is stage I believe i t was Superintendent Marshall approached us 

and said 'Go inside and ju s t do whatever you can'. 

Together w ith other o ffic e r s I entered the tarmac area at tne rear cit 

Leopings Lane West Stand. This area leads tc tne tunnei w h i c h m 

tu rn leads to pens 3 + 4 on the te rra c in g at the rear of the goals. 

As I entered th is compound I could sees a large amount ot people 

-walking about apparently dazed. Close to the tunnei entrance I saw 

"approx 6 bodies la id on the f lo o r . Each body had someone w ith i t . i 

saw moutn to mouth re s u s c ita tio n along w ith 1st Aid. 

Many people 

were around these bodies and I decided to give assistance to tne root 

of the problem which was obviously on the other s u . the tunn*. - . 

I went through the tunnel and saw many people being ca rrie d througu 

the tunnei oy fans to the terraced area. On reaching tne pens j. went 

to tne l e f t into pen number 4. This area was axmost U ear . l *aw 

two o ffic e r s one' being PS Peter Doyle from C2 Rawmarsh attem pting 

to

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bend a section of fence upwards to allow fans access to the p itc h . I 

a ssisted them w ith th is . I coaid see that a lo t a c t i v i t y was going 

on in pen 3. I could see a PC kickin g at the wire mesh to force an . 

opening. I saw that bodies were being carried out of th is pen,. 

I then went onto the p itc h to a s s is t in carrying -the bodies, This 

se c tio n of the fence by tne time 1 reacned i t was swamperi w itn Police 

O ffic e r s . I was unable to get close other th a n by p u llin g at PC * s 

and fo rc in g my way through. 1 then went back into pen 4 ran to the 

tunnel e x it ana round the d iv id in g fence and in to pen 3. 

I ccula see a lin e of Police O ffic e rs at a diagonal running across 

the pen. This lin e of o ffic e rs ran from the bottom corner w ith pen 4 

at a shallow angle across tne peri. I weni, towards the lower middle 

part of the pen at the bottom corner closest to pen 2, I saw a mass 

bodies strewn out on the flo o r many la id across other oodles. 1 

c-ou 1 d see that the colour .of th e ir faces were purple and there was no 

L.' *“•-*- *' ~ . 

signs of l i f e . I examined many bodies try in g to fin d one who was not 

dead or who had some form of l i f e . This was to no a v a il a ll appeared 

dead a ll were 

purple. 

1 a ssisted m ca rryin g out one male body. He was la id face uownwaras 

approx 15--16 stone wearing jeans and red s h ir t no jack. He hac 

dark h air bat 1 never saw his face. 1 had held of his l e f t leg and 

as he was ca rrie d his jeans sta rte d to f a l l down showing his 

backside. 1 did my best to pull them back up. 1 f e l t so sorry fo r 

him as he c o u ld n 't have any d ig n ity in death. This body was handed 

over to o ffic e r s on the p itc h . 1 returned and assisted to carry one 

fu rth e r body but I am u n a b le to remember any d e ta ils about him otner 

then he was male short h air and about £3 years. I again returned out 

a l l the bodies had been taken onto the p itc h or in to the rear yard. . 

T h e rn ood of t n e fa n s n o t i n the pens were very h o s t i i e . i h e m o s t 

h o s tile people I have ever come across. Threats were being made a i l

AC::;::. 

t,: i e: lin e I ri i i be ino Q;ftCi.ea I believed at ine P o I i c t . i'ini is l i n mte 

pfri 1 was s pat u ■ a n name r ous mes, i. Irs. eo. lc ignore ^no: ■-ans nm.. 

r entente r t n i n k i n g 'when t m s is over we tre going to nave one- n e i ot 

a l i d 1. A ii th a t wai rtiiU: reu wa= a wrong wor a of a ction uv ite 

r d i i l e , 

I saw many P o lite Ofv i cers in 1 ne pens in cce p shock,. nt -■ e r ^;;e 

bodies were removed I spoke to several o ffic e rs in p a rtic u la r young 

P C ’ s wPio looked close t a c r a c k mg Li p ana had t ea r s r unn i n g a o w n 

tn e ir cheeks. A ll declined assistance or to leave the area, i. was 

so impressed by young officers; obviously in early days o f service yet 

war-t i no tc ao so much to help. 

'1 do came aware of a tan very ups el- wno was looking for m s frie n d . i 

saw him 'Pry to get to the p itch ana a Police O fficer was v e ilin g hirr, 

tc co the other way■ Pushing developed and 1 interveencc 

im m e d ia te iy p u llin g the PC away. Another o ffic e r i. Deiieve a fag i. 

spoke to trie fan who broke down in tears. He was taken away. i he hi 

was obviously s u ffe rin g w it Pi stress f r o m t h e in c ia e n l and f r it n o iy 

a o. vice only was q i v e n but the mood of the fans pointer a oui co . mm ana 

t h e e ffe c t i t c o u 1 d Pi a v e o n all- o f us. « Pi 11 s t i n t h e p e n i s p o k e o 

* 

b q t Michael Kodois from DH A tte r cl i t f e for a matter ot a tew s t; o u t su t- 

1 trsen re'cur Tied to the rear yara at ceppi ngs L.ane ana ciose i,e

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My -Fears of the in cid e n t were re s tric te d to the h o s t i l i t y of the 

fans. I feared for the safety of the PC’ s and other o ffic e rs there. 

My fe e lin g s were that of great sorrow. Having examined so many 

bodies being u n a o ie to o ffe r any 1 i t e to tu e m . Wi i« t

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R398 

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u irnr name 

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o K narrie s 

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daress ia r 

Date of birth 

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pat ion 

POL PC975 

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uiT.be r of Pages 

110569 

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Signed 

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At 9.00AM (0900) Saturday, 15 April, 1989 (150489) I paraded for duty 

at Barnsley Police Station for the FA Cup Semi Final, together with 

PS 1341 Crawford and other officers from B1» I travelled to 

Hillsborough Football Ground. On arrival we were briefed by Senior 

Of f i ce rs . 

At 10.50am (1050) together with PS 1341 and officers of serial 14 we 

attended at the West stand for a further briefing by Inspector White, 

who went into detail as to the duties of serial 14. 

BEFORE KICK OFF serial 14 was deployed on the inside of the 

turnstiles A-G to search all fans entering the ground. 

KICK OFF When all fans had entered the ground all of seria* 14 was to 

stand by in the tunnel of the West stand w h i c h leads to the centre 

e n d osures . 

In the event of the emergency evacuation procedure being effected my 

duty was to attend at the gate in the fence between the Centre South 

and South enclosures. 

For the duration of the match I was to work in company with PC 100E 

Wild and we both were instructed by PS 1341 Crawford to pay attention 

to the snack bar which was situated at the rear of the West stand on 

the South end.

\ % PAGE 

. R398 

A'ft'er brief 1 rig. by Inspector White all officers of serial 14 took up 

positions at turnstiles A to G, PC 1002 Wild and myself and PC 127& 

Lang and PC 323E Burton took up positions at turnstiles A and B. 

When the turnstiles opened there were not many fans outside the 

ground and prior to entering the ground were subject to a search and 

were then subject to a further search once inside the ground. 

Due to 

this double searching of fans 

objections or adverse comment 

I anticipated that there would be some 

regarding this but neither were 

forthcoming at this time. 

As the morning progressed and 

the number of fans, increased I saw 

several fans attempt to gain entry to the ground via turnstiles A and 

B, only to be told by the turnstile operator that they were at the 

wrong turnstile. 

They then had to force their way back towards the 

other turnstiles on Leppings Lane end. 

Around 1.00pm (1300) the 

number of fans outside the ground had greatly increased and we then 

had to be more selective in our searching. Around 2.30pm (1430) a _ 

few fans cimbed the perimeter wall and were stood on the roof of the 

turnstiles A to G; they were instructed to get down and were ejected 

from the ground by other officers. 

At this time there were several hundred people hanging around the 

area of the turnstiles and due to the amount of fans now entering 

the ground were asked to move from that area to allow fans in. 

Several people who had entered the ground complained that people at 

the back of the crowd were pushing Jtowards the front, and that the 

Police should be aware of this. 

At this I looked through the turnstiles towards Leppings Lane, 

although my view was restricted I could see officers on foot and on 

horseback who appeared to be attempting to control the surge towards 

the turnstiles. 

People were now struggling to enter the ground and in fact were being

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PAGE 3 

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pushed into the wall and turnstile entrance itself. 

Many fans were 

now complaining that someone would be injured, and all officers at 

the turnstiles should go outside. 

All fans were informed that 

officers inside had a task to perform and that officers outside 

would be doing everything possible to alleviate the problem. 

Around 2.40 pm I saw that several fans had again climbed the outer 

wall and were on top of the turnstile entrance roof, they were 

instructed to get down. This they flatly refused to do. I saw two 

youths on the roof showing their tickets to Police officers they 

were again instructed to get off the roof, but again refused. 

By now many fans had congregated around the turnstiles and several 

officers including myself were being surrounded by fans who were 

being abusive towards us because they had been subjected to the 

crush outside the turnstiles. 

Fans were now being allowed into the 

ground without the ticket stubs being torn off (this I presumed was 

to allow quicker entry) and these were being passed to fans on the 

roof who in turn began to throw them over the wall to fans awaiting 

entry. 

It had now got to the stage where searching was impossible due to 

the amount of fans congregating inside the turnstile area and 

together with several other officers we attempted to clear the 

area. 

This was met with verbal hostility towards the Police and 

many fans appeared to be losing their tempers. 

I formed the opinion that before too long a Police officer would be 

physically assaulted, and due to the fact that only serial 14 was 

deployed in that area, had an officer been assaulted then 

assistance would have been very limited and the situation got out 

of hand. 

Thankfully this did not occur. 

Whilst speaking with several fans I was approached by a man who 

stated that he was a Merseyside Police officer, he said that

PAGE 

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something had tc be done outside or people would be injured. 

He 

appreciated the pressure we were under but something had to be done 

and f a s t . 

I informed him that tne officers outside the ground 

would he doing 

everything possible. At this he left and went into the ground 

without formally identifying himself to me. 

Fans were still congregating round the area inside the turnstiles and 

I made several request for them to move away to allow people to get 

through the turnstiles as this in itself was creating a problem for 

fans entering the ground. I saw fans climbing over the turnstile and 

entering £ at a time but was unable to prevent this due to the number 

of fans around the turnstiles. These people just disappeared into 


crowd. 

Shortly before 3.00 pro (1300) the main exit gate situated near to 

turnstile G suddenly opened and fans began to surge into the ground, 

several officers from the serial ran towards the gate ^nd I joined 

thefii in an effort to close the gate (I was of the opinion that the 

gate had been forced open by fans) 

but this was impossible. 

As the fans surged into the ground, many chanting as tney ran, I 

turnefi and saw a gap in the centre of the fans and people moving to 

the left and right. 

People were screaming and snouting, I went to 

that area with other officers and found that people were on the floor 

having tripped or been pushed over in the rush to get into the 

ground. 

These people were quickly put on their feet and moved away 

to the side walls away from the rush. 

Not one person complained to 

me about being injured. 

Tne ma j o r i ty o 

lne f ar;s went t owards the tunnel leading to t ne 

central enclosure £»ut some did go to the South side of the West, stand. 

Eventually the oates were closed, s of»e fans- were still coming through 

the turnstiles but the numbers outside were greatly reduced.

PAGE 

R39E 

Kiosl of the fans had gone inlo -the stand and the rear was almost 

clear with just a few -fans milling around. 

Serial 

14 was then deployed onto the pitch after a report of a pitch 

invasion. 

Access to the pitch was gained via the gate leading from 

the South side of the West stand into the South stand arid walking 

down through the seated area. 

Whilst walking down' the South stand I 

could see several fans climbing over the perimeter fence onto the 

track area and there were a large number of fans already on the 

pitch. 

There were a large number of Police officers and stewards in 

the area of the centre enclosures assisting fans to get out via the 

e mergency exit gates or over the perimeter fence. 

Some officers had climbed the perimeter fence in an effort to assist 

people over the fence. 

I went over to the perimeter fence covering 

the central south enclosure ant saw thal people haa been crushed 

against the perimeter wall and fence, I would estimate that about 40 

to 50 bodies were laid up against the wall on top of one another. 

Some who were in a standing position up against the fence were unable 

to move , beinq trapped by the lower half of their body. Some were 

still breathing but it was apparent that many were dead. 

The aj-'ea around the emergency e;:it gate of the centre south enclosure 

was congested with people trying to get out and Police officers 

a ttempting to get inside to rescue tne injured. 

I 

looked towards the centre north enclosure and saw that part of the 

perimeter fence had been pulled away, allowing fans greater egress 

onto the pitch. 

1 then climbed the fence of the centre south 

e nclosure and began to sway on the fence hoping that this would give 

way ar:d afford qreater entry into the enclosure. 

The t e n c e diu not 

qive way and I climbed down onto the track. I coulu see PS >341 

C r a w f o r d was still on the fence assisting a youth over, who had 

caught his clothing on the top of the fence and was in a precarious

— ■ ■ ; -■ ■ . '"\-;':V ':,-?'-” ~ ^ - f } 

‘ ■ PAGE 

R39E 

position. I moved over to assttl PS Crawford and as I did so the 

youth became free and dropped onto the track. At that point the top ; 

part of one of a crush barrier was thrown f rom the centre south 

enclosure towards the pilch, i t was about 5 inch in diameter, 7 feet 

f 

i 

long and was bent. ! 

j 

It hit the top cf the perimeter fence, at the side of Pb Crawford, | 

and beqan to f a l l 'towards the tra ck 1 ducked to avoid u hitting me j 

f 

and caught it with my left hand. 1 managed to keep hold of it and it | 

did 

not strike any persons, 1 then removed the item onto the pitch to 

avoid any person feilinc over it. 

By now1 many injured and dead had 

jjeen removed from the enclosure and were being attended to by St. 

John Ambulance brigade, some fans had torn down advertising boardings 

and were using these as make shift stretchers to remove people from 

tne p itc h . 

I then saw Chief Superintendent Nesbit near the emergency.exit gate, 

he was instructing officers to form a line either side of the gate to 

allow for quicker evacuation of the injured and dead. 

I formed one of the lines and assisted in the evacuation, handling 

many bodies none 

of which 1 can describe. 

After* all tne injured and dead had been removed ■from the enclosures 

ana pitch 1 rec>ai nec in the area ana joined several other officers 

from our serial, we were instructed by PS Crawford to remain at that 

location until he had established the whereabouts of all officers 

from the serial. 

Several fans were going round and shaking officers hands, thanking 

them for what they had done. 

A iT:e fsaqc was the n pa s-s e d over the p u b ji c address system by po j j ce 

control stating that the match had been abandoned, and that fans 

would be allowed to leave once erne r gency services h«±u cleared «iW«.y. 

^ 

from the ground. When the fans were allowed to leave serial 14 was .

,, . -.j***- . ^ _.-. .;s 

' ■■' P A66 • ' i i 

R 3 9 S 

L.eppings Lane to P e m s t o n e Roa 

relurned to the ground for de—briefing 

REPORT

Statement of Gary James 0GILYI5 —'(i/v • ,< 

Police Constable 333 

_ . , rr> o i ^ \ 

C group Ecclesfzeld. 

v_.s u ' N it-j 

Evidence concerning events of Saturday 15th April 19&9 

On the day in question I paraded for duty at Scclesfield Police station 

at 0900 hours. I was then 'transported by bus to H illsborough football 

ground where upon arrival X confirmed that I was be part of serial ^9 

pair oiling the Foxhill area of Sheffield in a Transit -van, Tango km 

Hyself and other meabers of this serial took our s.eats in the North Stand 

for the breifiag by senior sad intelligence officers before collecting our 

meals and coeencing patrol at approximately 10.50 hours* 

Our first port of call was Che Fox public house situated on Foxhill Road. 

This is a fairly large pub with a very large tarmacadam carpark and grassed 

area opening onto the above road. At about 11.05 hours myself and Inspector 

Robinson visited the Landlord in the Lounge Bar of the premises. He stated 

that he had five extra staff on duty and had retained the services of “a big 

lad" as doorman. He also said that he had.extra beer and lager on ^nd that he 

would be welc oming Liverpool.supporters . A t this time there werea fewlocals 

drinking in the pub and about two '‘families" of Liverpool supporters with 

young children. These supporters were quietly minding their own business - 

The manager was advised that we would be patrolling the area and calling by 

regularly and that we should be contacted in the event of any need for assistance. 

- We then resumed patrol , checking-visually other pubs in the area. Most were 

either quiet of* closed. However during this time many supporters began to flood 

into the side streets' in this area and park their private cars and vans. 

At 11.30 hrs we again checked The Fox public house. It was stamng to fill up 

with crowds of LKJ fans standing outside drinking in t h e s u n s h i n e . The surrounding 

streets in Foxhill and uptowards Grenoside were now very busy with the vehicles 

of arriving fans ; to the extent that it made maneuvering of our shortwheelbase 

transit van very difficult. We then observed that traffic flowing freely cown 

Ealâx Road from the North with many supporters arriving in private cars, vans 

and hire minibuses. These vehicles were turning off into the Foxhill and Parson 

Cross estates; presumably to park. 

At 12.10 we again during our patrols checked The Fox pub. Thecar par- 

' 

cont/—

full to capacity with people standing very close to each other, sitting 

on cars and standing on the boundary vail ; all drinking alcohol. 

At 12.30 we were directed by control to attend at Wilcox Road, Foxhill 

where youths were reported to be acting disorderly manner end urinating 

in peoples front gardens* At the scene we liaised with PCs stationed at 

the bottom of the road who stated that 5-6 liverpool fans had passed them 

being abusive and throwing down beer cans. Sane of this team were observed 

to go tip Wilcox Ed and urinate in gardens. We saw this group of youths 

walking up that road and stopped and spoke to then. All had .been drinking - 

heavily and were in a very boisterous mood. They were advised and pointed - 

inthe direction of the ground. We followed thea down the hill _and near the 

bottom they all boarded a SIPTE bus bound for the town centre. 

At 12,50 we again visually checked the Fox .pubilc house. By now the car park 

was bursting to capacity and fans stood drinking some distance up and down 

Foxhill Eoad on the Pavement on both sides drinking alcohol purchased from 

The Fox. I would estimate the number in the car park and walls alone to 

be in the region of jgbout 300 to kOO. With a further 200f standing on the 

pavement and pull-in on the opposite pavement... .Thesre was in there number 

a large drunken, rowdy contingent who cat called as we passed and who . 

continued to do so when we paused for observations. __ . 

At 1300 hours we checked the White EORSS public house on Halifax/Southey green 

Road. This, too, was full of LFC supporters and the scene was very similar to 

that at The Fox. 

At 13*05 hours we receive a message from control to attend at 

newsagent, tobacconist and confectionary shop 

The 

□anegeress stated that ,six drunken LFC fans had come into her shop and 

acted disorderly before stealing cigarettes and sweets. She followed them 

outside where they were very abusive and threatening and saw them drive off 

in a White 'Renault van registered number 

At ^.15 hrs I saw the van being driven on Halifax Road. We followed to the 

car park of 

rfhere it parked up. After a short conversation 

the six occupants of the van were arrested by me and placed in our police 

van. They were then transported to EPS arriving at 13«*+0 hours. 

cant/-

The prisoners were all Liverpool supporters ranging is. age from 18 yrs to 

3? years. They had been drinking both in the van on the way over and 

at The Fox public house* They stated that they had arrived in planty of 

tim e at about 12.15 hours- When booking the prisoners property in it was 

found that not all of them had tickets for the natch. 

It was ascertained that all six had attended Sheffield for the match with only 

TWO West stand ticket between them. They had managed to swap one of these 

tickets for TWO Lepping lane terrace tickets; brining the total held to THS£S 

between SIX. The prisoners told me that t h e y had heard that tickets would be 

on sale from touts at the ground and that last year the officials at the ground 

had let some in without checking tickets owing to the rush because of the 

match starting. It.was farther noted when booking in property that there was 

very little cash between them. Ana certainly some of those without match tickets 

did not have sufficent ftinds to purchase tickets at 2OTTS prices;' indeed they 

only had loose change. 

This was noted at the tine and subject of discussion between myself and the 

custody officer. Obviously the full significance of this information did not 

become apparent until later* but the custody records corroborating this 

evidence re property are availible for examination at Ecclesfield _police station. 

It appeared to me at the time that if these prisoners had insuficient funds to 

buy tickets and that they ■ere determined to get into see the match ( this was 

.more than anparen by the noise and ^complaints comning from the cells when they 

were detained) then they were going to attempt to gain enrty by some means. This 

is again corroborated by the fact that they had turned up on spec without money 

but with the knowledge that people had some how gained enrty at the last minut 

year because of the rush. 

The prisoners were all held whilst I liaised with CID regarding their interview. 

At about 15.15 hours I was in the CID office when PC 12^2 Armitage called me 

and told me that OPERATION SDPPORT was required at the ground. My transit had 

departed earlier so I was driven in a police car to the ground in co PC 12k2 

Arnitage, PS 2269 Strafford and Inspector Hudson.” We arrived at the L e p pings 

lane end at about 15-30 hours. We parked the car in a side street and all headed 

towards the tumsiles. Fans were pouring out of the ground some confused* some 

angry and others obviously distressed by something.

As I approached the gate in front of the turnstiles, a few paces behind 

Inspector Hudson, I saw a LFC fan attack him and try to punch him. Hudson 

managed to restrain the youth who was upset and crying, I assisted him and 

pulled the youth off and took him away from the scene. During the struggle 

I received an injury to my right foot; it was not serious and the bruise 

only lasted a few days. I tried to calm him down but he kept shouting 

"There is fucking dead bodies in there". I released the youth to the 

custody of friends and returned to the main gates. 

I had NO personal radio so I was unaware of the circumstances of the 

incident however I assumed there had been some sort of crush, perhaps a wall 

collapse. A mass of people were pouring out of the gates at Leppings~Lane. 

Most of them did not know what had happened either and seemed mostly 

concerned with the fact that they had not gained entry or wished to know if 

the match was abandoned. 

However quite a few of their number informed me that some supporters had 

been crushed because of a massive surge or that a gate had been opened by 

the police or stewards. I was on my own now so I tried to move fans out of 

the path of oncoming emergency vehicles; the progress of which they were 

hampering. I sensed that something very disasterous had happened from the 

mood and tears of fans. I continued to try to clear the roadway but the -- 

mood of some fans was very aggressive fuelled by the fact that they were 

heavily under the influence of intoxicants. I was jostled and abused by 

these drunken fans and whilst attempting to move a large congregation from 

the path of a fire engine, I was punched on the right shoulder by an unknown 

assailant and jeered and insulted by the rest of the group. Some still had 

beer cans in their hands. 

The situation had become potentially very violent with all the violence and 

abuse apparently directed at the police. I was still in the dark about the 

incident or requirements as I was on my own without a personal radio. After 

the task of keeping fans off the road became fruitless and dangerous to my 

personal safety, I looked further down Leppings Lane and saw my serial in 

their transit van. PS 2207 Shaw saw me and got me back into the van. 

Crowds of LFC fans jeered and rocked the van as they passed. Several police 

motorcyclists parked across from us became very vulnerable to attack by fans 

and after a few close calls had to move on. The fans shouted "Murderers to 

us and other officers as they walked by. 

The Sgt in the van had a personal radio but the reception and communication 

was very bad. 

Inspector Robinson got out of the van to go to police control

-5- 

to find out what assistance we could render or if our vehicle could be of 

any use. We heard over a domestic pocket radio that fans had been killed. 

Inspector Robinson returned and stated that our van was needed as an 

ambulance and that we were needed to assist at the mortuary area, situated 

in the gym. We left the driver with the van and walked through the extreme 

left hand gate at Leppings Lane and down along behind the North stand 

towards the gym. 

I was detailed by the Inspector to go to the gym to ask if any more numbers 

were needed inside. Luckily a Sergeant on the door stated that there was 

enough help but asked that we keep fans looking for lost family/friends as 

well as sightseers away. Our serial along with some men drafted in from 

Barnsley formed a cordon along a line between the corner of the North Stand 

and some outbuildings parallel to the stand. 

We allowed only stretchers bearing the dead and injured through as well as 

Police, nurses, doctors, ambulancemen and other officials. Some fans 

carrying IPs were allowed to take them through. Ambulances reversed up to 

our cordon and IPs were taken away. Many fans approached our line in a very 

distressed state inquiring after lost party members. Many became aggressive 

and violent at not being allowed to look through the dead and injured for 

them. Again many of the most aggressive and violent fans had been drinking 

and still smelled heavily of intoxicants. At one point I received a kick 

from a fan being refused access, to the back of my left knee. He was 

removed after a struggle with sober friends and other officers. 

Inspector Robinson and PS Shaw then asked members of our serial to assist 

with a makeshift casualty desk. I took details and descriptions of those 

missing from fans and asked them to return to their transport in case the 

missing person was looking for them. Some were bussed down to Hammerton 

Road Police Station to give info to the Casualty Bureau. 

At about 1800 hours, serial 49 was asked to return to their van at 

Claywheels Lane, pending further assignment. Reunited with the van, we had 

to attend several times at the Northern General Hospital to deal with fans 

fighting with pressmen. Other Officers were present at the scene and we 

acted as back up. We were eventually stood down at 2000 hours. I had a 

meal at Claywheels and went off duty at Ecclesfield Police Station at 2030

- 6 - 

On return to Ecclesfield I learned that my six prisoners had all been released 

at about 1 8 .1 5 nours with a warning but no further action to be taken against 

them0 

Gary Jaaies Ogilvie 

Folice Constable 333°

APPENDIX 

HILLSBOROUG1 DISASTER 15TH APRIL, 1989 

Evidence of the behaviour of fans at the Sard Final 

match between Norwich and Everton played at Villa 

Park on 15th April, 1989.

Wl- *14 

W®*t Midlands Police 'Am*n°'° *3>* 

STATEMENT OF WITNESS 

IC.J.Act 1067. • »;M.C. Act 1880. •102; M.C. fMos I9 $t. r.70» 

Neme ............................... Roy John^MELLER 

A9 » .......... **ere 09 

cmb*e 

Signature witnetstf by

Midlmdi Polio# 


IC.J. Act 1M 7. M.C. Act 1M 0;,. 101;M.C. **.. 1IS1.,,70) 

w3

W ilt Midlands Polio# 

STATEMENT OF WITNE88 

fC.J Act. 1667. , »;M.C Act I960; ». 102; M.C. ftutM. mi. r.70l 

W>1I 

» (7| 

Continuation of ttatement of ........ JOHN MELIÊR _3 _ 

Plana -K.J.K. 2 . (E,*rton) 3. (Ber>.;Ch!. Vfc, final cfficia 

rlEUre “ < * * * « « ' * W.S15 Everton supporters „ * 

22,028 Norwi ch supf■erters. 

;Cn the day of the *««, supporters fron both Evcrton and Harwich bejan 

arriving l„ the vicinity of VilJ, Park f r m approximately rrtM ,2 

f*°“ ORW*ra!‘' 1 t0Ck Up Posit:« 1« the Police Control lie* within the 

Staaiu*. Th, turnstiles opened at « . * » . and frcr. that tine onward, 

ther-e war. s reasonably steaSy flow of spectators into the Stadiuo. 

Oe.vera.- iy m altin g the Norwich supporters were well >ohav« and j„ gooi 

h ~ o u r, arrived -n the lo ca lity .early and ,uoc*U in an o rd m y fashion. 

By 

f - 3ipn, the vas!. majority o f Korwich supporters were in t ^ Stadium ani 

fe ttle d . 

However, i t was nojt noticeable »t that U se that there was a 

C0Bpa.-at.lv, lack c f Merton supporters in the stsdiim. 

Sbm was the 

c u p a n t y tta l I instructed Police Constable 5295 G B J K J a , one o r the 

- —f. in the roxice Control Box, to check with the Police Bitcrway Control 

Cer.tre, Firry terr, as to whether there was a prcbler. causl,* any delay on 

the motorway systea. 

ire reply was that although traffic was heavy, there 

w«s .-so sp e c ific reason, such as road works or an accident. At that tine - 

2-35p= - all the coaches which were expected from Liverpool had arrived, 

all special trains had unloaded, and a large nur,ber of cars were in the 

appointed car parking area. By conclusion was that a substantial number of 

Kvcrtor. s u p ^ r t e r s were lr, the vicinity ■j w of the s^d- u- h - < 

1 m e 

cut were not in or 

near - sîux. I ««5 inforced that many of ihc local public houses w-re 

crowded, tut 1 had no deLail*c information as to who wss in -hca., ether 

• y. 

har. tr.ai niariy w*re tAkin£. their way to the football match. 

S ig n + d ........... IW££//....... S t f f f y t t u f * mv t n t s s + d b y

'pifrr h« :• *N t•*httj?IN TtL No § Jun S9 No.CCi P X 

W*«t Midland* PoHc« 


W«*t Midlands Polk* 


. 102; M.C. RuIm .INI. r.?0l 

W3418 

M 7> 

Continuation of •tatamant of ........ *9* ÔHN KKLLEft 

•.*>_ 

v Nottingham Forest se/pi-final a* HiiuK« 

-Ina] i. HiJlsborousn caused trouble when th-ir 

, < • * * » « ^ the tic k e ts to he exchanged were refused. There was one a r r . „ 

o r 0„ F v arttn su p p o rter f c r U,c- robhery or u e t e t * r a Sorvich 

! S ,W S r tc r - ' Tlicr* “ * "» 'v ld cn ce or f w s M tic k e ts in c irc u la tio n , which 

! ^ **** * ° r P W l 0 “ 5in11- . M « , ! . -a s a ttrib u te d to a 

I - process * r a * * * * * pr i „ t i ne s r tl c te ts & & Sf;;SIUve ^ 

whi*... Ertices rcrgcry much more difficult. 

A- 3 . 15pr. rîj supporters were in th--« 

tr.. otacLus. 

,t. was at this point that 

the o.'ficiai fJnsJ nctencJa.-.ce figure of t= ...e - 

6 01 ^c>

Wwt Midlands Potic* 


IC.J.Act. 1M7. •.#; M.C. Act UBO; «.102; MjC. Hut**. 1811. r.70l 

WU41S 

m-*rnnM 0 #71 

Continuation of statftmvnt of 

?PX. JOHN .KELLER 

INSIDE CKOUND NORWICH EVERTON 

PyMi: Order 

Drink Eeiateci 

3 

2 

n 

6 

OUTSIDE GROUND 

BEFORE 

AFTER 

BEFORE 

AFTER 

Pud3 ic Order- 

10 

12 

)b 

Drink fcc-lated 

8 

10 

'Ihi-.rt. etc 

t. 

TOTALS : 

62 

-'n - -0-.=l poli„? opc«->*ior. went off without any jtajor probi^ss.-- No 

pe lice 

ci f ir.cT3 wer e assû^ted, there were no injuries of anv. .person repo:-; ;ed, and 

darcogs to property was ninip.al. 

The vicinity of Villa Pari: Stadiurs WES 

clear and returned to nor:r.al by 7pm, 

Stgnid Q m t S ignttun wttnmssrt by

WEST MIDLANDS POLICE 

WO 414 

(& .0.0 3 2 ) 

M l) 

S o c k o u t d a t e s 

WITNESS NOT AVAILABLE 

18 IS 22 29 1 8 IS 22 29 

9 16 23 30 2 9 16 23 30 

10 17 24 31 3 10 17 24 31 

4 11 18 26 4 11 18 25 

9 1 2 1 9 36 5 12 19 26 

«13 20 27 8 13 20 27 

14 21 88 7 14 21 28 

1 8 

|? 

■ l2 

6 13 

7 14 

F 

3 10 

4 11 

l11 

i 

15 22 29 

16 23 30 

17 24 31 

18 25 

19 26 

20 27 

21 28 

15 22 29 

16 23 30 

17 24 31 

18 26 

19 26 

20 27 

SI 28 

8 15 22 29 

9 16 23 30 

10 17 24 31 

11 18 25 

12 19 26 

13 20 27 

14 21 28 

8 15 22 29 

9 16 23 30 

10 17 24 31 

11 18 25 

12 19 26 

13 20 27 

14 21 28 

ENTER ✓ IF NO OATES 

“ BE AVOIDED 

V 

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IC.J. AM. 1967, 5.9: M.C. A ct 19*0. S.102; M.C. Rutw. 19*1. r.70) 

WG«18 

IS O. G22I 

(u t i m M M 1> 

Continuation of statement of 

d2s;;ci;d k i k k y t u h n e r 

At 1^50 hours I was present in Trinity Road when all the Norwich Supporters had 

entered the ground and Trinity Road was clear of pedestrians. The mood of the J.orwich 

Supporters was jolly and co - operative. I then ordered two of the six Officers 

posted to "K" Block to patrol Aston Park and with the other 4 Officers I coved from 

"K" Block to "L" Block, Where a request had been made for core Mounted Officers to 

assist with the queue due to a large amount of i-verton Supporters who had just arrived 

at the turnstiles at "L" Block. Upon arrival at "L" Block I found that all 10 

turnstiles were being used and there was a queue some 60 yards in both directions 

from the turnstiles along witton Lane. At 1500 hours when the Kick Off cor-menced 

the crowd outside "L" Block surged towards the turnstiles and I ordered a wedge of 

horses to be put into the crowd to relieve the pressure on the turnstiles end avoid 

any injury to any person in the queue. Many of the supporters at "L" Block had been 

drinking end the snell of alcohol in the air from the -crowd was strong. The Everton 

Supporters at "L" Block were unco - operative but they all gained access to the 

ground by 1515 hours. I then rr.ade ny way along '.-itton Lane to R&5 Block turnstiles 

and saw that the last of the Lverton Supporters were just gaining access to the 

ground by r£.S turnstiles, at this time it was about 1520 hours. Upon my arrival r-.t 

"3L-S" Block I v;as informed by the Mounted Officer in Charge at the turnstile, Police 

Sergent Dunn that the Lverton Supporters who gained access at "PicS" turnstile had all 

arrived in the 20 minutes before 1500 hours.


WG 414 

IS.0.622) 

Im wiwd M l) 

I.O C K OUT OATES 

WITNESS NOT AVAILABLE 

I • IS 33 39 1 8 15 32 39 

■ » 16 33 30 3 9 16 33 30 

^ 10 17 34 31 3 10 17 34 31 

4 1 1 1 1 38 4 11 18 35 

5 13 19 36 5 13 19 36 

■ 13 30 37 6 13 30 37 

■ l4 31 38 1 14 31 38 

■ ' """ 

1 • 15 33 39 

^ 9 16 33 30 

■ lO 17 34 31 

■ l l 18 35 

■ 13 19 36 

6 1 3 2 0 37 

7 14 31 38 

| 

■ • 15 33 39 

V 9 16 33 30 

3 10 17 34 31 

4 11 18 35 

■ 12 19 36 

■ 13 30 37 

■ 14 11 38 

1 8 15 33 39 

3 9 16 33 30 

3 10 17 34 31 

4 11 18 35 

5 13 19 36 

6 13 30 37 

7 14 31 28 

1 8 15 33 39 

3 9 16 33 30 

3 10 17 34 31 

4 11 18 35 

5 13 19 36 

6 13 30 37 

7 14 31 38 

ENTER ✓ IF NO DATES 

TO BE AVOIOEO 

r 

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(C.J. Act. 1967. $.9, M.C. Act 1980, $.102; M.C. Rulei 1981, r.70) 

Name ....... ............................................ 

A * ......... (Yrc.l Date of Bin* 

over 21 years. 

Occupation 

Police Sergeant. Mounted Branch. 

Hom e or business address and .................................................................................................................................... .. 

telephone number Lane, A ston, Birmingham. B6 5*® 

021-359-0611 x206 

This statement, consisting o f one pages each "signed by me. is true to the ben of my knowledge and 

belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence. I shall be liable to prosecution if I have 

w ilfu lly stated in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true. ^ 

Dated the 

day of 

Signed... 

* — 

V, - 

Signature witnessed b y ........... ....i.iy ....... 

I an Folice Sergeant Dunn, a mounted officer with the West Midlands 

Police. On Saturday 15th. April 1989 I was with other Mounted 

officers posted to Villa Park Football ground, Birmingham, to assist 

police the semi-final football match between Norwich and Everton. 

I v/as posted as the officer incharge of the mounted contingent 

required to control the supporters entering the ground via R and S 

block turnstiles and escorting the supporters from Wit ton Railway 

Station to cne football ground, only Everton supporters were allowed 

access to the ground by R and S block. All Mounted officers were on 

post at R and S block by 1330 hours. Between 1330 hours and iMtO hours 

the supporters using R and S block arrived in snail groups and there 

were no problems gaining access through the turnstiles. At about 

iMfO hours the crowd began to increase at P. and S block and in order 

to prevent crushing on the steps, myself and two other Mounted officers 

blocked off the bottom of the steps and directed all supporters up 

an adjacent ramp which facilitated better queuing. By about 1515 hours 

all the Everton supporters at R and S block had gained access to the 

football ground.I did not encounter any form of dissorder at R and S 

Block turnstiles while I was presentc 

I 

I 

I 

S ig n e d 

\ 

A - 

rr 

^S ig n a tu re w itnessed b y 

*D eiett as applicable

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