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2.40pm–3.15pm: The experiences of those in the pens

  1. Chapter 4 showed that by about 2.40pm, Pens 3 and 4 of the West Terrace were full, or very close to full, and according to some supporters, the situation there was becoming uncomfortable. By contrast, the side pens still had lots of space in them. Supporters have described in painful and traumatic detail what happened shortly after this point.
     
  2. One supporter recalled that after getting through the turnstiles at about 2.45pm, he went with his father and sister through the central tunnel. He could see that Pen 3 and Pen 4 were packed, but in his opinion, they were not overly congested. The supporters did not appear to be being crushed and were able to stand still, rather than being moved around by the flow of the crowd. The supporter and his family took a couple of steps down to decide where to stand when there was a sudden surge from the central tunnel and the size of the crowd increased dramatically. He recalled that this surge carried him forward to the centre of Pen 3 with his feet not touching the ground.
     
  3. A second surge shortly after took him forward further, until he was trapped against a metal crush barrier, which then collapsed. He was caught with his legs underneath the barrier and doubled up on the floor with the bar on top of his stomach. His head was face down on the corner of a step. He heard people screaming all around and could feel people falling on top of him. In his statement, he said that he could not breathe and thought he was going to die, so he just lay there until he lost consciousness. He awoke to feel someone pulling at his arms and managed to whisper to them that he was trapped under the barrier. Rescuers lifted the crush barrier slightly and were able to pull him out. An ambulance took him to hospital where, for several days, doctors treated him for severe injuries to his hips, stomach and back.
     
  4. Several other supporters recounted similar experiences when the crush barrier collapsed. One supporter was desperately holding on to a man he didn’t know, who was being crushed against the barrier in immense pain; the barrier then gave way. He recalled: “I lost my grip on this lad and fell forward onto the backs of the people in front of me, I totally lost my balance. I did not fall to the floor, but onto the backs of people who had fell over in front of me. I then felt people falling on top of me.” He was unable to breathe or move but could see his brother on the pitch and screamed out to him. Eventually the pressure eased, and he was able to escape with the help of a police officer.

 

Photograph of the broken crush barrier at Hillsborough Stadium, taken in the aftermath of the disaster

Figure 5A: Photograph of the broken crush barrier, taken in the aftermath of the disaster (Source: HSE)

  1. Others were trapped elsewhere. A woman who had positioned herself behind the goal at about 1.40pm said that at about 2.55pm, there was a push from behind, which knocked her into the perimeter fence. She and others initially managed to push back, which relieved the pressure; she recalled that people were screaming at the police to open the gate at the front of Pen 3, but the police officers shook their heads and turned their backs. There was then a second surge which forced her into the fencing again. She said that this time “my arm was trapped across the fencing, and my legs were forced against the wall by the force of people from behind. I couldn't move my head at all.” She estimated she was stuck in this position for almost half an hour before she was freed.
     
  2. A supporter in Pen 4 described how they were squeezed down the tunnel into the pen, when almost immediately the person in front of him passed out. He tried to keep hold of the man but said: “My arms and shoulders were on fire with the pain and my legs were turning to jelly. The lad was a dead weight and by this time his head had slumped down to chest level. His legs were dragging on the floor and I felt myself going.” He added: “I couldn't do anything and I was trying as best as I could to keep my feet on the ground to avoid being tripped. I felt my grip on the lad begin to go, his shirt rolled up around his chest and his trousers began to drop. The pain in my arms and shoulders became unbearable and I lost him in the crush.”
     
  3. While they were there, others were climbing or crawling over them towards the perimeter fence. He recalled officers on the other side of the fence telling them to push back, which they couldn’t do. Eventually, he reached the fence, where a police officer guided his hand to the wire. He gripped on to this to get his breath back, before inching his way along the fence to the gate.
     
  4. Many supporters witnessed horrific injuries or were acutely aware of others losing consciousness around them. Their fear grew, often worsened by being separated from friends or family.
     
  5. A common theme is that the crush suddenly and dramatically intensified at around 2.55pm. The obvious conclusion is that this was a result of the rapid influx of supporters following the 2.52pm opening of Gate C. The evidence of Insp Bullas, who was in the West Stand above, supports this. He described how, at a point between the teams coming onto the pitch (which was at 2.54pm) and the kick-off, he saw what he described as a river of people suddenly enter the terracing from the central tunnel. He added: “This wedge of people seemed to go forward down the terracing but unlike the swaying motions that had taken place earlier on did not sway backwards but remained where it was.” He said: “At this stage I could see the people towards the front of the terracing were being 'crushed forward’”. He attempted to radio the PCB but could not get through.
     
  6. It appears that shortly after this influx, the crush barrier in Pen 3 collapsed. Mr Cutlack believed that similar events were only narrowly avoided in Pen 4, where two barriers were severely damaged on the day of the disaster.
     
  7. The accounts of supporters broadly indicate that police officers on the perimeter track in front of the pens did not initially recognise the severity of the situation, even when supporters were screaming for help. Many described officers simply telling or gesturing at them to move back, which they could not do.
     
  8. PC Smith and PC Illingworth were two of the officers on duty on the perimeter track. This was a role they had performed frequently, and they were in their regular positions; PC Smith in front of Pen 3 and PC Illingworth in front of Pen 4. They had both returned there at around 2.50pm, following a meal break.
     
  9. In his 1989 account, PC Smith wrote that as the teams came onto the pitch at 2.54pm, he made his way to stand in front of Gate 3 in the perimeter fence. He described some supporters jumping up and down and pushing, which caused the crowd to surge forward to the perimeter fence. He said the people at the front shouted and screamed, and the crowd then moved back. However, he didn’t suggest this was anything out of the ordinary; he later told the Taylor Inquiry there were no signs of overcrowding.
     
  10. Figure 5B was taken by a supporter in the North Stand at 2.54pm. The contrast between the density of the supporters in the centre pens and outer pens is evident. 

 

View of the West Terrace at Hillsborough Stadium at 2.54pm

Figure 5B: View of West Terrace, 2.54pm (Source: Maurice Price)

  1. By 14:55:57, supporters could be seen climbing on the perimeter fence or the radial fences. 

 

View of the front of the West Terrace at Hillsborough Stadium at 14:55:57

Figure 5C: View of the front of the West Terrace, 14:55:57 (Source: BBC)

  1. At 2.57pm, Gate 3 burst open; PC Smith closed it immediately. This was in line with instructions to police officers not to allow anyone onto the pitch. In his 1989 account, he commented: “I assumed the pressure of a surge had opened the gate. There was no great pressure on fans at the front after the gate was re-secured.”
     
  2. PC Smith said that no one came out of the pen at this point. However, some supporters and at least two police officers have said that a small number of supporters did go through the gate but were immediately pushed back into the pen by the police. 
     
  3. One supporter’s account described seeing the perimeter fence gate spring open and his son and two others being pushed through it by the pressure of the crowd. He said the police returned them to the pen. Other supporters indicate that those who went through the gate fell or stumbled out of the pen, rather than walking through it.
     
  4. However, within under a minute the gate opened again. PC Smith stated he was not able to close it. He said that two other officers came to assist him, and that at this stage supporters were screaming and shouting that they were being squashed. PC Smith said he stepped back from the gate, leaving the other two officers there and saw “people were tight up to the fence, particularly two or three young women to my right of the gate.” He tried to send a radio message to the PCB to ask if the gates could be opened: “I got no reply but think there was some message about a gate being opened elsewhere. The noise was terrible and people were screaming, a different type of scream and I opened the gate 3 fully.” His account of attempting to contact the PCB is supported by Racal recordings, which included a message from an officer with his call sign at this time. The message itself was largely inaudible.
     
  5. Other officers near the gate have said that when it opened a second time, their perception of the situation also changed.
     
  6. The supporter whose son had gone through Gate 3 at its first opening said that when it opened again, he, his son and his son’s friends were among the first to go through it. They walked along the track in the direction of the South Stand, where they sat down on a bench near the south-west corner of the pitch. This is confirmed by SYP CCTV footage timed at 15:00:17. He said that a police officer, later identified as Police Constable Fiona Richardson (PC Richardson), told them they could not stay there and took them to Pen 1 of the West Terrace.
     
  7. Gate 3 remained open from this point and by 2.59pm, all the perimeter gates were open, as shown in figure 5D. A number of supporters can be seen on the perimeter track while others were climbing over the fence in front of Pen 4, or over the radial fence from Pen 4 into Pen 5.

 

The West Terrace at Hillsborough Stadium at 2.59pm

Figure 5D: The West Terrace at 2.59pm (Source: Stephen Loftus)

  1. The officers who assisted PC Smith at Gate 3 were from D Division. Their initial duty had been to escort Liverpool supporters on buses from Sheffield Midland Railway Station in the city centre to the ground. They got to the stadium following the last of these escort trips at about 2.50pm. Seeing the crowd at the Leppings Lane entrance, Police Sergeant Howard Swift (PS Swift) asked their driver to take them to the Penistone Road entrance, where they went to the gymnasium and reported to Insp Sewell as planned.
     
  2. Almost immediately, a message came over the radio asking for assistance at the Leppings Lane end. PS Swift assumed it related to the situation outside the turnstiles. Insp Sewell sent PS Swift and his serial to the Leppings Lane end, and they walked around the perimeter track, which was the most direct route.
     
  3. As they walked round, they noticed the difference in fullness between the centre pens and the outside pens. At about 2.58pm, they stopped in front of the centre pens and several members of the serial recognised that supporters were extremely distressed. 
     
  4. PS Swift decided to try to open the gate at the front of Pen 4 so that supporters could move into the emptier pens. He said that due to the noise of the crowd, it was not possible to use his radio to inform the PCB of his intentions, or to hear any radio transmissions. Instead, he waved to the PCB to indicate that he was going to open the perimeter gates. He said he knew that there were not enough police officers on the perimeter track to control the number of supporters he expected to come through the gates but recognised that those at the front of the pen were extremely distressed.
     
  5. He was waiting for spectators to surge onto the track, but quickly realised the pressure was too great, so they had to pull each one out individually.
     
  6. His recollections were supported by two other officers from his serial, Police Constable Philip Hooson (PC Hooson) and Police Constable Lillyan Akred (PC Akred). In his 1989 account, PC Hooson recalled: “As I neared Gate 4 I realised that the people in the West Stand were not shouting but were screaming. I realised then that something was seriously wrong and I heard people in the crowd screaming, 'let us out’.” He said there were three police officers standing on the track, but they were not doing anything. In a 2013 statement, he said the situation was worsening by the second.
     
  7. PC Akred said she didn’t realise the gravity of the situation until she faced the crowd in front of Pen 4. In her 1989 account, she commented: “I then saw that people at the front of the crowd were going blue in the face and were apparently unconscious, only being kept up by the weight of people at each side. I shouted for people to try and ease back, but they were unable to do so.” 
     
  8. She said that once they opened the gate, people were panicking: “Many were ignoring our instructions and just climbing over people who had already stumbled.”
     
  9. Several supporters who were in Pen 4 have referred to the efforts made by a bald-headed officer and female police officer to lead the rescue effort. These were PS Swift and PC Akred.
     
  10. Operation Resolve investigated complaints about the initial response of both PC Smith and PC Illingworth; these complaints concerned whether they recognised the situation fast enough and the way they dealt with supporters. Having examined the evidence set out in individual complaint reports, the IOPC was of the view that neither officer would have had a case to answer, if they had still been serving. While they did not immediately recognise the severity of the situation, neither did others: it was not clear that any delay in their response was a result of neglect of duty.
     
  11. Further, while the evidence—including his own later admission when interviewed under caution by WMP—does suggest that PC Smith did push a small number of supporters back into Pen 3, this was at the point when he and another officer assumed they were dealing with a pitch invasion. He has explained that once he realised the gravity of the situation, he did push some people out of the way as he attempted to rescue those who were trapped.