Hillsborough trial: Stadium’s safety officer was ‘accountant with no formal training’, court told
Prosecution accuses Graham Mackrell of ‘shrugging off responsibility’ for getting Liverpool fans safely into stadium
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The official in charge of safety at Hillsborough stadium was a former accountant with no health and safety training, a court has heard
A defence lawyer representing former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell said standards for the role were “very different” in the 1980s.
Jason Beer QC told Preston Crown Court: “Mr Mackrell was not an expert in issues of structural engineering, his background and training was in accountancy before he served at two smaller clubs.”
The lawyer said that health and safty management had “moved on a lot” in the past three decades and Mr Mackrell’s role did not include “what we would currently understand” as the expertise needed.
Mr Beer said the government-issued Green Guide made first mention of a “safety officer” in 1986 and there was no formal training course or qualification for the post.
The lawyer said decisions affecting the safety of Hillsborough stadium, such as the installation of fenced pens where the overcrowding of supporters led to the death of 96 victims, had already been taken before Mr Mackrell became club secretary in December 1986.
Earlier this week, the jury was shown a letter from the following year where he informed a Sheffield City Council official his “duties encompass those of a safety officer” and that he possessed the most recent edition of the Green Guide on safety.
The prosecution said Mr Mackrell “contributed to some very specific failures that fell squarely within his job” by failing to take reasonable care of how Liverpool fans entered the stadium and making contingency plans for overcrowding at turnstiles.
Richard Matthews QC said Mr Mackrell “simply shrugged off all responsibility for both those matters, about which he had accepted personal responsibility”.
Mr Mackrell, now 69, denies contravening the stadium’s safety certificate and a health and safety offence.
His defence lawyer said the prosecution would have to prove allegations that Mr Mackrell did not agree an entry plan with South Yorkshire Police as required, claiming that record-keeping by relevant officers was poor.
Mr Beer said the defendant was of “good character” and was not being prosecuted over any actions on the day of the disaster on 15 April 1989.
“Things can look ever so simple after they have happened,” he added. “These charges are not to be viewed with the eyes of 2019, but what was known before 1989 and the standards then.”
Mr Mackrell joined Sheffield Wednesday from Luton Town in 1986, and “inherited” Hillsborough stadium’s layout and safety arrangements, he added.
The jury was told that the club’s relationships with a firm of structural engineers, the council and police were already well established.
Mr Beer suggested that the head of the Eastwoods structural engineering firm – who has since died – exercised “control over anything to do with the safety of the ground” and “dominated” an advisory group.
The lawyer said the same structural engineer also declined to change the capacity calculations for Hillsborough after alterations at the Leppings Lane end.
Mr Beer alleged that David Duckenfield’s predecessor as match commander “dominated the planning and preparations for football matches, especially FA Cup semi-finals” and had charge of how spectators approached Hillsborough stadium and entered standing terraces.
He said former Chief Superintendent Mole, who has also died, was “instrumental” to the planning of how Liverpool fans would enter the ground on the day of the disaster and left his post just weeks before.
Mr Beer claimed it was “entirely feasible” for all Liverpool fans to pass through the Leppings Lane turnstiles, where a crush caused police to open large exit gates.
He told the jury police had previously ensured fans arrived in an “orderly manner” by controlling their approach to the stadium, and funelling them to specific terrace entrances once inside.
A supporter who attended a previous FA Cup semi-final in 1981 where police opened gates on perimeter fencing to let fans escape a crush told the court he was prevented from getting to the terraces by police officers.
James Chumley said an officer told him Leppings Lane was the “worst end” and he thought the capacity had been overstated, even before the West Stand was split into pens.
On the day of the disaster, thousands of fans flooded through opened gates and down a sloped tunnel that fed into two fenced pens, where 94 victims were crushed to death by the pressure. Two other supporters later died from their injuries.
Mr Duckenfield, now 74, denies manslaughter by gross negligence. The trial continues.
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Mr Chumley said police were "blocking the entrance" and he returned to the courtyard to wait with other fans. He says: "It wasn't unusual for terracing to become overcrowded at that time and for supporters to be fed into other areas". They were expecting to be let into Hillsborough at half time but never was.
His letter says: "One police officer advised me that I was at the 'worst end' and that at big games the situation was always the same. In his opinion the capacity of the stand was over-declared."
Mr Chumley said the paragraph "sums it up", adding: "He implied that he had seen the situation before and that the capacity was over-declared."
Mr Chumley says he did not receive a reply from Sheffield Wednesday but in 2014 he was approached by police.
Benjamin Myers QC, representing Mr Duckenfield, is now questioning Mr Chumley and asking about how he arrived at the stadium.
In response to questions, Mr Chumley recalls that there was a large group of people waiting outside the turnstiles that he did not believe had a ticket. He cannot remember the detail of some of what is being asked.
Mr Myers has been given a warning by the judge, who says: "You must ask questions, not make statements."
The judge intervenes again: "This is 1981 Mr Myers, what has it got to do with the case?"
Mr Myers is asking the witness whether the officer he spoke to about Leppings Lane being the "worst end" seemed familiar with the stadium.
Mr Beer, Mr Mackrell's representative, is now asking Mr Chumley questions. He is showing him a witness statement he made to police in June 2014. That statement says specfiically that he entered through turnstiles A to G.
"It's in my statement, therefore I must have remembered it," he adds. Mr Beer says that lettering was not introduced until 1985 and is asking where he got the information from. Mr Chumley says he doesn't know.
"You try to remember something 37 years ago," he adds.
Mr Beer says that in 1981 there were five turnstiles, not seven, at the location and questions whether a police officer might have mentioned the designation.
"What does it matter?" Mr Chumley asks.
Mr Beer replies: "There may be an issue later in the case about where information is coming from."
Mr Chumley says: "As I recall the entrance to the terrace was quite narrow, there were only a couple of officers there...I didn't get onto the terrace."
Mr Chumley says it was police officers, not club stewards, who were controlling access to the terrace.
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