During its investigation, the IOPC has obtained three videos which may have been the ones shown to MPs.
In September 2012, staff from the Chief Constable’s office at West Yorkshire Police (WYP) sent the IOPC a video. The Chief Constable of WYP at the time was (former) Ch Insp Bettison. Having learned that the HIP Report had mentioned that he had shown a video to Parliament, he contacted the IOPC and said he would supply a copy of it. This video lasts for 25 minutes and includes a voice-over which is believed to be by Ch Insp Bettison.
In October 2013, an SYP employee at Moss Way Police Station in Sheffield found a video and a set of slides in an envelope addressed to Ch Insp Bettison. SYP alerted the IOPC, and the video was handed over to IOPC investigators a couple of days later. This video turned out to be an identical copy of the first video obtained.
The third video was handed to the IOPC by Ch Insp Bettison during an interview under caution on 11 March 2014. It was in a U-Matic format (a video cassette format used mostly by professional studios and broadcasters in the 1970s and 1980s). This video lasts for 31 minutes and includes a voice-over with a West Midlands accent. A former WMP officer, who worked in the WMP AV unit in 1989, has stated to the IOPC that some of the voice-over was his.
The two different versions of the video have been analysed in detail by the IOPC. The material covered by them both was broadly similar, starting with an overview of football-related disasters resulting in large numbers of deaths and showing some footage of football hooliganism. Both then provided a description of Hillsborough Stadium at the time, highlighting that some of the features of the ground, such as perimeter fences at the front of terraces, were introduced to prevent hooliganism. Both videos then progressed to footage from the day of the disaster, initially outside Leppings Lane, then showing the terraces, then showing the disaster and elements of the rescue effort, including scenes from the temporary mortuary.
While there were numerous similarities between the two videos, there were also some important differences. The video with a West Midlands accent was seven minutes longer. It included an extended section of continuous footage from the 1988 Semi-Final, as well as longer CCTV extracts.
In the video with a voice-over from Ch Insp Bettison, the commentary was far more detailed and included:
a reference to supporters forcing open a gate at around 2.40pm on the day of the disaster
several points of direct comparison of the crowd, and how well the police managed it, in 1988 compared to 1989
a brief reference to the Heysel Stadium disaster, which occurred in 1985
The voice-over by Ch Insp Bettison also emphasised the direct link between hooliganism and the installation of perimeter fences at all major stadia; later, when discussing the rescue effort, this voice-over referred to “narrow perimeter fence gates.” It could be argued that this is a veiled criticism of the stadium design, which was the responsibility of SWFC and, to a lesser extent, its contracted engineers, Eastwood & Partners.
In his evidence to the Goldring Inquests, Ch Insp Bettison stated that he had used three sources of material to compile the video:
material that had been shown to the Taylor Inquiry
some SYP footage from the 1988 Semi-Final
a police training video called ‘Planning for Disaster’
The IOPC has identified that this latter source was a 1986 Metropolitan Police video called ‘Plan for Disaster’ and has obtained a copy of it. The material about previous incidents at football grounds, including footage showing hooliganism and the reference to Heysel, is taken from ‘Plan for Disaster’. This footage appears at the start of both videos; in the longer version of the video, the Metropolitan Police voice-over is also retained.
There is no suggestion that at any time either version of the video was intended to be shown to the public.
The IOPC has not been able to confirm from any of those present which of the videos was shown to MPs, or which was shown at the meeting with Mr Shersby on 3 October 1989.
In the interview under caution on 11 March 2014, Ch Insp Bettison gave a prepared statement, in which he said the third video was the one he presented at the meeting with Mr Shersby and to MPs. In a later prepared statement to the IOPC, he further explained: “I can be sure of that because I recall that Mr. Shersby had to rent a U-Matic player from an AV company in Uxbridge because my tape had been recorded on such an unusual format.”
He also added in this later statement: “My own commentary was added to a later, edited, version of the original tape. This was requested of me by SYP Training School.”
Ch Insp Bettison was asked about the videos when giving evidence to the Goldring Inquests. There, he stated that he had shown the same version of the video at the meeting with Mr Shersby and in Parliament, and that “the video had no narration”. He reiterated under cross-examination that “there was no commentary from me at all”, then again said, more generally “there was no commentary.”
When asked by the barrister representing the Police Federation if that meant the video was silent, Ch Insp Bettison replied: “Please forgive me. There were elements of the video material that had been given to Lord Justice Taylor's inquiry that had a West Midlands Police officer's narrative over it. The first iteration of the video that was shown both to the Police Federation and to Members of Parliament had no additional commentary from me.”
Asked when he put his own commentary on, Ch Insp Bettison stated it was in late 1989 or early 1990, to create a training video for SYP match commanders, in line with a recommendation made by Lord Justice Taylor.
While neither the Taylor Interim Report nor the Taylor Final Report specifically recommends the production of a training video, both emphasised the need for police training. A video could logically and reasonably have been part of SYP’s approach to this.
