Hillsborough inquests jury to visit stadium

Christina Lambert QC, counsel to the inquests, said there was “broad agreement” on the parts of the stadium and local areas which should be viewed by the jury in the early stages of the inquests scheduled to start at the end of next month.

“Our view is that it is reasonable for the jury to view the current police box even though its location is not precisely as it was in 1989,” she told a pre-inquest hearing in central London.

“We also consider that it would be appropriate for the jury to see the memorial but not to read the tributes.

“The reason we make this final observation is because the jury must remain objective and must be seen to be objective in their approach to the issues.

“Having visited the memorial myself there is no doubt that the tributes that are made there are deeply moving.”

The hearing was told a 3D computer generated model of the stadium is being prepared as an aid to the inquests. A 2D computer presentation depicting “key individuals” and the movements of each of the 96 victims is also being prepared.

Ms Lambert told the coroner Lord Justice Goldring the fresh inquest must conclude within a “reasonable time frame”.

“Our view is that Christmas or thereabouts is about as long as we can hope to keep the jury away from their normal day-to-day existence,” she said.

But Patrick Roche, counsel to 74 of the 96 victims’ families, said although they had no wish to prolong the hearing any more than necessary, they rejected a limit of Christmas.

“We don’t accept that Christmas is necessarily the limit, we don’t accept at all that it is the limitation of the jury’s patience or their ability to remember the evidence,” he said.

“Our families have no desire to prolong the inquest any more than is necessary.”

The inquests are due to begin in Warrington, Cheshire, on March 31 – nearly 25 years on from the disaster at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium.

The tragedy happened on April 15 1989 during Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest as thousands of fans were crushed on the ground’s Lepping Lane terrace.

Verdicts of accidental death from the original Hillsborough inquest in March 1991 were quashed in December 2012.

The action was taken after the Hillsborough Independent Panel reported that there had been a cover-up of what happened.

Pete Wetherby QC, representing a group of victims’ families, told the hearing of concerns raised after “close forensic analysis” by two experts of police hand-held camera footage taken on the day of the disaster.

He said the findings by the experts for one tape was there were a “number of edits which are questionable.”

“The findings of the experts is that from the edits of the video that there are a number of edits which are questionable, it may be innocent but it may not be,” he told the hearing.

“The fact that these edits are of a different nature points away from an innocent explanation but there is one edit in particular which the experts agree could not have been done on the camera itself.”

He added: “With the second tape there is limited support for the proposition - for a similar proposition - but there is not the same level of scientific evidence related to that second tape.”

He said there was “no issue” with a further two tapes of later footage taken after the disaster.

John Beggs QC, representing retired superintendents David Duckenfield, Roger Greenwood and Roger Marshall, opposed a jury visit to the control box at the stadium.

“We endorse the concept of a jury visit but we oppose taking them to the current control box because it is different in just about every conceivable way from the box that was there on April 15 1989.”

He added: “They will be looking at a view that none of my clients could possibly have had.”

But Lord Justice Goldring rejected Mr Beggs’ submission and said although he understood the “various differences” between the present police box and as it was at the time of the disaster, he believed the jury would be “well able to distinguish between then and now”.