This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Hillsborough police chief, David Duckenfield, has confessed in front of the jury into the inquests of 96 Liverpool fans that he was “a new and inexperienced match commander” faced with “unimaginably difficult and fast-moving circumstances.” According to Duckenfield, he was working to “a flawed operational [match] order” and had “not envisaged or wished for death or injury to a single football supporter” in the central pens of the Leppings Lane terrace at the fateful FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989.
Earlier on Tuesday, 70-year-old Duckenfield admitted that he failed to close the tunnel leading to those pens and it was the “direct cause” of the tragedy after he had just ordered the opening of an exit gate at the ground to relieve congestion at the Leppings Lane turnstiles. Barrister John Beggs QC explained the reasons for that decision on behalf of retired chief superintendent from South Yorkshire Police on Wednesday.
The inquest heard that Duckenfield was promoted 19 days before the disaster, inheriting the role of match commander at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground and his first match involved Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. According to his barrister, he did not ignore any advice given by experienced officers but he accepted as match commander that “the buck stops with me.” Moreover, Duckenfield confessed on Wednesday that he had nothing to do with previous turnstile “failures” at Sheffield Wednesday and no one had advised him about them.
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