At around 6.45pm–7pm, Dr Popper arrived at the gymnasium with two Home Office pathologists. They met with D Ch Supt Addis, who advised Dr Popper that around 80 people had died. He also confirmed to Dr Popper that formal identification had not yet been started. This was despite the fact that some people had already identified friends or family members to police officers.
They agreed the process that would be followed in all cases, including the use of Polaroid photos, the requirement to give an identification statement and the fact that the identifications could not start until all of those who had died in hospital were returned to the gymnasium and photographed.
Both Dr Popper and D Ch Supt Addis have emphasised that Dr Popper made all the decisions around this process. Having agreed the process and authorised the transfer of all those who had died, Dr Popper returned to the MLC, while D Ch Supt Addis arranged to implement it.
In his statement to Operation Resolve in 2014, he explained that he instructed officers to separate the gymnasium into three sections by using the dividing nets that were in place. These were pulled across the room, and additional blankets were placed on them so that it was not possible to see through into the next area.
He said the first area was where those who had died were. A second area was used for police officers and the third area contained desks for interviewing and taking statements from the relatives and friends of those who had died. He added that there was an area set aside for identification purposes.
D Ch Supt Addis stated that he then “gave instructions to place the bodies in lines, having spaces between so that you could walk round.” He instructed officers to search those who had died, removing personal property to be recorded and placed in bags. He commented: “This is normal procedure, it can help with identification.”
Evidence suggests that many aspects of the process adopted were in line with standard practice at the time.
Dr Popper came back to the gymnasium at around 9.15pm, where he confirmed he was satisfied with the arrangements. The first identifications then began at about 9.30pm.
At the preliminary proceedings to the individual inquests on 18 April 1990, Dr Popper said that his “primary concern was to arrange for the post-mortems to be done as quickly as possible.”
