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SYP’s initial actions to investigate and preserve evidence

  1. Within 20 minutes of the match being abandoned, the senior SYP detective on duty at the stadium, D Supt McKay, telephoned the head of the CID, D Ch Supt Addis, to alert him to the situation. D Supt McKay stated that he agreed with D Ch Supt Addis that no police enquiries could commence that evening, and the priority was identifying those who had died in the disaster.
     
  2. However, after the crowd had left the stadium, SYP Scenes of Crime photographers took pictures of litter at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium. These included pictures of the turnstile area and the contents of bins outside the stadium. Time stamps on the photos indicate that they were taken shortly before 6pm on the day of the disaster.
     
  3. The most plausible explanation for this action was that SYP wanted to gather evidence of alcohol consumption among Liverpool supporters. However, the photos were of little or no evidential value for this purpose. The litter in the photographs included some empty beer cans, but a similar quantity of empty soft drink cans and other rubbish, so did not support the allegations about alcohol consumption.

 

Litter in a bin outside Hillsborough Stadium at 17.58 on 15 April 1989

Figure 9A: Image of litter outside Hillsborough Stadium, 17.58 on 15 April 1989 (Source: SYP)

  1. SYP secured no comparative evidence of litter from bins at the Nottingham Forest end, or from other games, to help assess whether there was an unusually high quantity of litter at the Leppings Lane end, or an unusually high proportion of alcohol containers within that litter.
     
  2. The IOPC took statements from the photographer who had taken the pictures. He said that on the day he had been instructed on what to photograph by SYP officers. However, his accounts of who specifically had instructed him varied, and the IOPC has not been able to establish a source of the instruction.
     
  3. In the first few days after the disaster, there were two other instances of SYP appearing to seek evidence about alcohol consumption.
     
  4. At 5.17pm on 17 April, an action was raised on SYP’s HOLMES account to “Locate and identify all public houses open and used by fans during morning up to 3pm on date of incident”. 
     
  5. On 21 April, a report was logged on the SYP HOLMES database, which documented that SYP had telephoned pubs near the stadium to establish how many Liverpool supporters had visited, at what times and whether there was any trouble. The report recorded that none of the pubs contacted had experienced any trouble with Liverpool supporters. There was nothing in the report showing who had conducted the enquiries.
     
  6. On 17 and 18 April, members of the SYP Traffic Division recorded video footage and took photos on two main routes to Sheffield from the west: the A628 Woodhead Pass and A57 Snake Pass. These were roads that some Liverpool supporters had used on the way to the game.
     
  7. The IOPC examined three separate videos taken on these trips by the Traffic Division officers. Each shows officers retrieving empty beer cans and wine and spirit bottles from the roadside and then stating on camera that they had been discarded by Liverpool supporters. 

 

Still image taken from SYP video on 17 April 1989, filmed on roads to Sheffield

Figure 9B: Still image taken from SYP video, 17 April 1989, filmed on roads to Sheffield (Source: SYP)

  1. It is not clear how this could be said with any certainty; there was no footage to show Liverpool supporters discarding litter. Further, there was no comparative evidence of how much litter had been present before the Semi-Final. 
     
  2. Two officers in the Traffic Division produced written accounts of this work on 12 May 1989. Both officers have given statements to the IOPC. One stated that he was instructed to take the footage in a briefing from an inspector on 17 April 1989. He was aware that there were rumours among officers that a large number of supporters had been drunk, and he felt then (and still does) that collecting the cans and video evidence of the litter was a reasonable line of enquiry. He stated he was surprised by the quantity of empty cans they found but acknowledged he had no idea whether this was usual for supporters travelling to a match.
     
  3. The other officer recalled that they were both keen to get involved in the investigation into the disaster and the video evidence was collected because of a “general consensus at the time that drunken Liverpool fans had turned up in Sheffield and caused the disaster”. He was not certain whose idea it was to collect the video evidence but suggested to IOPC investigators that it may have come from him and his fellow PC; however, he added that he believed their inspector would have agreed to it. He acknowledged that they did not propose a similar process of collecting video evidence on the routes that the Nottingham Forest supporters would have taken; he also had no idea whether this was a normal level of litter for a major game.
     
  4. The IOPC took a statement from the inspector. He could not recall asking his two officers to do this, nor could he recall the rationale for it or even seeing the output.
     
  5. Supt Brougham was head of the Traffic Division. He did not recall any instruction being given to film the route and on being shown the footage by IOPC investigators, described it as “a load of rubbish”, adding: “it looks like a set up.” He also stated: “I think it would have been unlikely that the Constables would have filmed the route off their own back.”
     
  6. The IOPC has found an action registered on the SYP HOLMES database in response to a message from the owner of a snack bar located in a lay-by on the A628 Woodhead Pass, who wished “to make a statement re the behaviour of the fans.” 
     
  7. Detective Sergeant Mick Oughton (DS Oughton) was instructed to speak to the snack bar owner. It was recorded that the snack bar owner had told the officers about “fans leaving beer cans etc in layby 20 miles from SWFC.” However, it does not appear that the officers took a statement from him.
     
  8. When IOPC investigators took a statement from DS Oughton, they asked him about this action. He remembered the task but couldn’t remember any conversation with the snack bar owner. 
     
  9. This action is striking because it appears so similar to the accounts of Inspector Clive Davis of SYP (Insp Davis), who told the IOPC, the Goldring Inquests and the media that he attended a briefing on 17 April 1989, led by Chief Superintendent Terry Wain (Ch Supt Wain). According to Insp Davis, Ch Supt Wain had opened the meeting by telling the officers present—mostly from CID—that “we are going to put the blame for this disaster where it belongs on the drunken, ticketless Liverpool fans.” Insp Davis said Ch Supt Wain then specifically mentioned that officers were “going to drive down the M62 motorway and we are going to photograph the beer cans which were piled up by the M62.”
     
  10. The IOPC investigated this and found no documentary evidence of any such meeting. No other officer has said they were there or in any way corroborated Insp Davis’s account of this meeting. Insp Davis named three people as being present. One was on leave that day; the others were Ch Supt Wain and Ch Insp Bettison. 
     
  11. Ch Insp Bettison has strongly rejected Insp Davis’s account and stated he began working as part of Ch Supt Wain’s team on 19 April. 
     
  12. Ch Supt Wain himself told IOPC investigators, and the Goldring Inquests, that he was not involved in any way in the SYP response until 24 April 1989. The IOPC has not found any documentary evidence to suggest he started any earlier than that date.