This is a guest post by Mike Audley
So…at last, the Families of the 96 have received the truth that they always knew but which had never hitherto been officially stated. I feel an uneasy sense of relief at the revelations, – so the police doctored over a hundred witness statements in order to make themselves look blameless and the innocent fans guilty? Isn’t there a law against tampering with evidence? What must follow is Justice. Not the ethereal, fluffy Justice, where everybody just feels gratified with the truth being reported and moves on. What I’d like to see is the cold hard justice of the British legal system in full force – directed squarely at those responsible for this criminal cover-up.
Those senior police officers who made ‘strenuous efforts’ to hide the fact that they and their colleagues failed to control the situation 23 years ago and, worse than that, tried to deflect the blame onto the fans themselves…onto the victims and survivors need to be brought to book.
The senior officers on the day, most notably Chief Inspector Duckinfield, ought to be questioned under oath about their abject failings which, let’s be clear, caused 96 unnecessary deaths.
Whose decision was it to only allow one of the dozens of ambulances nearby into the stadium?
We need a word with them.
Why did the coroner decide with almost supernatural ineptitude, that everyone died prior to 3.15pm and refuse to consider evidence after that point?
Well, I think we need to know that, if it’s not too much trouble.
The tip offs and collusion between the government of the day, the Sun Newspaper and the Police? Well, I’m afraid we need to unpick every single aspect of that so that so that Kelvin McKenzie and his pals are publicly scrutinised and where possible, prosecuted. (yes McKenzie…with you it’s actually personal – we want that perma- smirk wiped off your face).
I didn’t lose any family members that day, but lost three good friends. I think I was too numb from shock for a couple of decades to get angry. I was still too upset to shout. I can only imagine how much worse this paralysis must have been for those who lost sons and daughters, husbands and wives or parents. We didn’t start to shout straight away, if we had, perhaps these truths might have come to light sooner.
The parents of all those sons and daughters who went to watch a football match but never came home know the truth now, and I hope that it brings them some peace at long last. What would undoubtedly do so is to see those responsible for the deaths and the subsequent shameful cover-up brought to account, – and where possible prosecuted.
