Safety man ‘knew of stadium concerns’

A COUNCIL safety expert was told to “keep his nose out” of safety worries at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground a year before 96 Liverpool fans were killed at the stadium, the inquest into their death has heard.

Paul Jackson, a health and safety officer with Sheffield City Council’s environmental protection unit at the time of the tragedy in 1989, told the inquest he had first been made aware of concerns over crush barriers at the ground a year earlier.

He said before he went on a visit to the stadium in 1988, his line managers said to him: “Just don’t go into that area. Not to stick my nose in.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“That it was politically sensitive and that I should keep out of it.

“There had been previous concerns over them.”

Mr Jackson was asked what he inferred from the matter being referred to as “politically sensitive”.

He said: “I interpreted that several leading councillors were in fact quite keen supporters of Sheffield Wednesday, it was a sensitive area and one I should not get involved in.”

Mr Jackson said he had recommended the council should not grant a safety certificate for the ground because it did not have an emergency plan but councillors decide not to act on his recommendation.

The hearing continues.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a separate development, the Government announced a junior civil servant who made offensive changes to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia entry about Hillsborough has been fired.

But Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said it had not been possible to identify the source of other abusive edits –which began on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. In one instance “Blame Liverpool fans” was anonymously added to the Hillsborough entry.