Not for much longer. Channel 4 news are now chasing over Orgreave which happened just five years before Hillsborough but effectively laid the blueprint for Hillsborough. Watch the two relevant clips.

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

An excellent piece here from Peter Oborne.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...th-police.html

Seems to me that the basis for the statement is the fact that senior officers involved in the policing at Orgreave were also involved at Hillsborough. When you consider this perhaps the statement will not seem at all bizarre.

There is an excellent article by Matthew Parris in today's Times calling for a full inquiry into the standard of policing in the UK. Amongst other things, he gives details of a very disturbing story with which he was involved. Apparently a 17 year old with special needs was framed and convicted of a murder on the basis a totally fabricated confession, the statement having contained words which the boy clearly would not have used and the woodentops obviously incapable of realising the fact.

It is really quite sickening to see people standing by the police right or wrong.

Just a reminder that Daniel Gordon's excellent Emmy nominated documentary film about Hillsborough is finally being shown in the Uk tonight at 9pm on BBC2. It couldn't be shown before due to the inquest. If you think you know everything there is to know about Hillsborough this may still surprise you.

There's an interview with Daniel linked below where he talks about his experiences making the film.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/hills...=vicetwitteruk

Thanks for the heads up.
I'd like to say something to you all here - I started this thread with the intention of congratulating the Hillborough families but the thread took on a life of its own. It has been a wonderful thing to see so much knowlege pooled, so many sources shared. I had a fairly clear idea that something was far wrong at Hillsborough but this thread has shown me far worse than I had imagined..
Congrats to you too.

It is good - the original ESPN version is on Youtube.

This version had quite a bit of new footage. Even having seen the original version, it still left me shaken to the core and so angry about what happened.

It's so long ago now i can't remember having seen an earlier documentary. Until i saw this documentary, i never knew there had been another Chief Superintendent (prior to Duckenfield) with years of policing football experience, but had been shifted off to another force. This documentary was chilling and powerful which will stay with me forever. Liverpool found a saint in Scraton whose diligence never faltered.

A major turning point for him came from that police officer (very much 'ex' now i suspect) who agreed to meet and dropped a box file of altered statements in his lap. The next stop, box loads of jumbled up statements which had been locked away in Westminster for years.

Staggering.

The original cut of the documentary was shown around the world in 2014 as part of the ESPN 30 for 30 series, but couldn't be shown in the UK while the inquest was on-going. However it was possible to track it down on line, which is where I had seen it.


They added a lot more content about the day of the disaster and immediate aftermarth in this version, which was quite a bit longer.


The work that Scraton did is remarkable - painstaking. diligent and determined. I would hope honours will be coming his way for his contribution.

Ah right that explains why i'd not seen it then!



So would i. I think it's taken it's toll on him though, he looks completely exhausted.

Toward the end there was mention that all the redacted statements can be viewed online. I haven't looked through any yet but here is the link;

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/browse/

I was lucky enough to be taught by Phil Scraton between 2000-03 while studying my criminology degree he has fought this fight with the families every step of the way and I fell he deserves some recognition for his efforts

I was so impressed by this man after watching this programme tonight. How fortunate you were to have been taught by him.

Phil Scraton is such an inspiration and his dedication to getting justice for Hillsborough just astounded me. Such a hero - the poster above was very lucky to have been taught by him.
Also thank goodness for the police officer who passed him the sample of redacted statements.

.... and I would hope that any honour that the establishment tries to bestow upon him is returned with a very impolite "F**k Off". Let's face it, those holding the power haven't changed, they just got found out this time.

I expect that Professor Scraton has all of the thanks he could ever desire from those that matter most in all of this.

I was living overseas at the time Hillsborough happened and watched events unfold in complete shock. We got UK newspapers a day or two after they were issued and I still recall the horror of the photos and the appalling headline of the Sun.

I used to go to Highbury in the late '70's/early 80's and always stood at the front of the terraces so from a fan perspective, it was so hard to comprehend but at the same time, understand the way a crush can happen in terms of sheer numbers of people and how some police officer treated fans with contempt.

I watched the documentary this morning and I can honestly say it's one of the most compelling programmes I've ever watched. I gasped out loud at some scenes, particularly the shot of the bodies lying in (I think) the gymnasium and the police officers standing there. The people who contributed to this programme are so brave & I'm full of admiration for their honesty and their courage.

This programme, the director, Phil Scraton & everyone involved deserves huge amounts of praise for what has been clearly painstakingly worked on for a long time.