The evidence indicates that WMP was similarly passive when SYP did not provide some of the documentation it had asked for.
On 25 April, at the very outset of WMP’s evidence-gathering process, Detective Superintendent Roy Taylor (D Supt Taylor) requested that the Operational Orders for both the 1988 and 1989 Semi-Finals should be obtained from SYP. An action was promptly raised in the WMP MIR to obtain the original versions, rather than copies, of both. The instructions stated that the 1988 Order was “required urgently” and gave a deadline for obtaining both documents of 4 May, so they could be made available to Lord Justice Taylor and his team before the hearings started.
By comparing the two main Operational Orders, WMP would have been able to identify how SYP’s plan changed between 1988 and 1989. In turn, this would allow WMP to consider whether any such changes may have had an impact on the events that unfolded in 1989.
The action result was recorded on 7 May, noting that SYP did not know where the original versions of either document were. The IOPC has found no evidence to suggest that WMP made any further effort to trace the originals, despite viewing this initially as an urgent requirement.
Using copies, WMP did conduct a comparison of the Operational Orders, which identified a series of changes between the two. This was significant, because SYP officers involved in match planning said in evidence to the Taylor Inquiry that the 1989 Operational Order largely followed the 1988 one. In a report on what the comparison had showed, WMP officers explained that the most notable change was a significant reduction in the number of officers on duty at the Leppings Lane end. WMP’s analysis found that the reduction was higher than had been suggested by SYP officers. Despite this, WMP raised no further investigative actions into the difference.
