On 15 April 1989 during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, a fatal human crush at the Hillsborough ground in Sheffield took the lives of 97 people.[1] Over 700 people were also injured in the crush. A damning new report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) lays the blame for the Hillsborough disaster squarely on the police, but not one officer will face justice due to the 36-year delay.
At the time of the disaster, the police lied that Liverpool supporters forced a gate open after arriving late, drunk, and without tickets. The media, an instrument of class rule alongside the police, parroted the same stories. Most notably, The Sun newspaper published a false and inflammatory front page titled ‘The Truth’ blaming supporters and claiming they urinated on the dead and police and attacked emergency services who attended the scene. A judge-led inquiry set up by the government in 1989 dismissed the police’s version of events but did not recommend any legal consequences for individual police officers and only focused on the lead-up to the event, not the failures of police and emergency services after the crush occurred. A further judge-led investigation in 1997, set up by the then-Labour government, found no reason to open a new inquiry.
It was pressure from campaigns by the families and survivors, such as the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, which led eventually to independent panels and reports. The Hillsborough Independent Panel (HIP) report published in 2012 showed that 41 of the initial 96 victims could have survived with a quicker emergency service response. The police were significantly delayed in both declaring a major incident and granting ambulance access to the pitch. Match commander Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield ordered an exit gate to be opened to relieve pressure outside but failed to ensure the tunnel leading to the already full central pens was closed off. This allowed 2,000 fans to enter the pens leading to the crush. Duckenfield also could have delayed the match kick-off, allowing time to manage the crowd safely, but failed to do so.
The deflection of blame, and the poor treatment of football fans, were typical of the era. Working class communities were often met with contempt and as an enemy to be contained, not protected. An inquest in 2016 also found police and media claims about the events to be false, now corroborated by the most recent 2025 IOPC report. The 2016 inquest found that the victims were unlawfully killed due to gross negligence manslaughter by the South Yorkshire Police (SYP).
The new IOPC report, published 2 December 2025, aligns with the 2012 HIP report. The 13-year investigation found no evidence that supported the vile police claims that the behaviour of supporters was responsible for the crush, or even a contributing factor. Instead, it found that the SYP ‘fundamentally failed in its planning for the match, in its response as the disaster unfolded and how it dealt with traumatised supporters and families searching for their loved ones’. It also found considerable evidence that the SYP deflected blame, aiming to hide their responsibility for the disaster, having amended the statements of 327 officers, over 100 more than had been previously uncovered. The SYP Chief Constable Norman George Bettison would have had a case to answer for gross misconduct, had he still been serving, for his role in protecting the SYP and deflecting blame onto the supporters.
Nine other SYP officers, as well as two officers of West Midlands Police (WMP) would have also had cases to answer for gross misconduct had they still been serving. WMP were tasked with investigating the disaster and supporting the 1989 Taylor Inquiry, which was found to be ‘wholly unsatisfactory and too narrow’. Evidence was found that indicated the WMP officers were biased in favour of the SYP. The report also investigated 28 complaints from 25 people connected to the disaster that all believed their phone calls had been monitored, 16 of which suspected they were followed by police. For the families of the victims, this report is too little too late. Due to the officers being deceased or retired, nobody will face justice.
Despite the damning evidence of police failure, the Police Federation still released a callous statement dismissing the IOPC report as a ‘significant waste of taxpayers’ time and money’ claiming the investigation ‘was not fair and balanced’. Unsurprisingly the police, as an arm of the state with the goal of supressing the working class, do not showing the slightest remorse. The state, including the police, serves to protect the interests of the ruling class. The extensive cover-up following the disaster involving the police, media, and politicians was a coordinated effort by the state to deflect blame away from systemic failures and protect itself from accountability.
From Hillsborough to Grenfell Tower, the lesson is clear: the British ruling class cannot be allowed to investigate its own crimes at its own leisure. Demand swift justice, and if you don’t get it, give them hell.
Glenn Gilmore
[1] 94 people died on the day and one in hospital days later. The 96th Hillsborough victim died in 1993. In July 2021, a coroner ruled that Andrew Devine, who died 32 years after suffering irreversible brain damage on the day, was the 97th victim.
