Families of
football fans killed in the Hillsborough disaster are urging Theresa May not to
‘betray’ them by scrapping the Human Rights Act.
‘Justice for
the 96’ campaigners are backing a new Amnesty International defence of the act,
which proved crucial in securing a second inquest into how and why their loved
ones died.
They told
Metro how the government’s readiness to repeat the Act could prevent similar
disasters from being properly investigated - and instead protect corrupt police
and authorities.
They today
backed Amnesty International’s new ‘Save The Act’ campaign - launching on Tuesday - to keep the Human Rights Act, which came into force in Britain in
2000.
The legislation
includes Article Two upholding the ‘right to life’ - something denied to the 96
fans crushed to death at Hillsborough in April 1989 during an FA Cup semi-final
between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
That
mechanism strengthened the Hillsborough campaign’s demands for a second inquest
which this April ruled the killings were unlawful, Liverpool fans were not to
blame, and senior police had erred on the day and in a subsequent cover-up.
Steve Kelly,
63, who lost 38-year-old brother Mike, told Metro: ‘I’m quite surprised that
the prime minister - who when she was home secretary gave such a powerful
speech to Parliament supporting us - is now trying to repeal the act which was
so vital for us.
‘Events like
Hillsborough will happen again and people need somewhere to go to challenge
those who’ve possibly let them down.’
Becky Shah,
44, whose Danish-born mother Inger died aged 38, said: ‘There seems to be an
anti-human rights climate building.’
The
Conservatives’ 2015 general election manifesto included a commitment to
replacing the Human Rights Act - brought into law by Tony Blair - with a new
Bill of Rights.
Laura
Trevelyan, Amnesty campaign manager, said: ‘The Human Rights Act protects
people when they’ve been let down by other avenues of justice and we mustn’t
let politicians take those hard-won rights away.’
Mrs May has
criticised the HRA, claiming it gives too much help to foreign criminals
fighting deportation and too much power to the European Court of Human Rights
which has over-ruled British judgments on whole-life sentences and barring
prisoners from voting.
A Tory
briefing paper on their proposals says human rights laws should be ‘limited to
cases that involve criminal law and the liberty of an individual, the right to
property and similar serious matters’.
The Ministry
of Justice said: ‘We will set out our proposals for a Bill of Rights in due
course. We will consult fully on our
proposals.’
Barry Devonside remains haunted, 27 years on,
by the moment he backed down and let his teenage son join friends in the
ill-fated Leppings Lane end.
He and his son Christopher - a keen sportsman
who wanted to become a journalist - had tickets for the Hillsborough clash and
planned to sit in one of the side stands, rather than behind the goal.
Mr Devonside, 69 and from Formby, recalls the
Thursday night beforehand: ‘Chris asked me three times if he could go in the
Leppings Lane end with his mates.
‘I was telling him no, it’s not safe, it’s a
massive crush. But the third time, I just said yes - I haven’t a clue why, I
just don’t know.
‘I’m going to carry that for the rest of my
life.’
Since then he not only attended every day of
the two inquests but also came face to face during the second one with former
Hillsborough commander David Duckenfield, the man who gave the fateful
instruction to open the gates that day.
Mr Devonside recalled: ‘I didn’t plan to stop
and talk to him outside, I didn’t confront him, but when he was coming out I
walked up to him and asked: “Mr Duckenfield, why’s it taken you all these years
to tell the truth?”
‘He said: “I’m sorry.”
‘I said: “Is that the best you can do?”
‘But whether he ever goes down or not, he’ll
always have 96 deaths on his conscience.’
families are united by plenty, including the
neglect, suspicion and contempt they faced from police officers even when
learning about - and trying to identify - their lost loved ones.
All remember how quick police were to ask
about whether their dead relatives would have been drinking before the game.
After the original inquest ruled the deaths
accidental, Mr Devonside would see officers hauling crates of beer, wine and
spirits into an adjoining room then sneeringly slamming its door in his face.
The ‘smear campaign’ against Liverpool fans
culminated in an infamous front-page of The Sun headlined ‘The truth’, falsely
claiming supporters had behaved like hooligans, stolen from the dead and
urinated on police.
Among the 14 verdicts given at this April’s
inquest was one rejecting any suggestion Liverpool fans’ behaviour contributed
to the disaster.
Mr Devonside said: ‘They were police officers
who did do their level best on the day - giving CPR. But their seniors did
nothing to help.
‘All they were interested in was protecting
their own reputations, individually and collectively.
‘The cover-up started on the day. The police
realised they had failed at Hillsborough and they had to do something very
quickly.’
At least April brought tough-won vindication
for the struggles since.
He said: ‘We were all holding hands as the
jurors came back. When the forewoman came to ‘unlawful killing’, my wife Jackie
turned to me and said: “She did say unlawful killing, didn’t she?”
‘I just couldn’t believe it because we’d been
through so many years of fighting. But it was 14-0.
‘I was elated. There wasn’t much we could do
for Chris but fight to achieve the verdicts we got.’
The IPCC is expected to rule imminently on 160
complaints they have received about police actions before, during and after the
disaster.
Operation Resolve, the criminal investigation
into Hillsborough police, should also soon announce whether any officers will
face charges.
Potential charges being considered include
gross negligence manslaughter, misconduct in public office, perverting the
course of justice and potential breaches of the Safety at Sports Ground Act and
Health and Safety at Work Act.
Mr Devonside declared: ‘What we want now is
accountability - that’s going to be the hard part.’
More
sceptical is the daughter of the only mother killed at Hillsborough.
Becky Shah
ended up in care, lost her home and her family and is still wracked by
post-traumatic stress disorder - and anger.
Of the
looming inquiries, she told Metro: ‘Hopefully they’ll leave no stone unturned -
however, given our previous experiences, optimism is extremely low.’
She was watching
the alarming scenes from Hillsborough live on television knowing her single
parent mother Inger, 38, was there with 13-year-old brother Daniel - who
survived, but the pair are now estranged.
Ms Shah, 44,
said: ‘I didn’t go in 1989 because my season-ticket ended in the wrong number
so I missed out on the allocation - otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here
talking to you now.’
She had
attended the previous year’s FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, also between
Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and also marked by dangerous over-crowding -
with tragedy avoided, but warnings left unheeded.
She recalled:
‘That was the worst crushing I’d ever known at a game. But nothing was learnt.
‘Watching it
that day in 1989, they were talking about drunken hooligans, tanked-up and
storming the gates.
‘But what I
could see were very frightened and distressed people doing their utmost to help
others.
‘You knew
straight away it wasn’t a pitch invasion by the way people were walking.
‘I was aware
of the cover-up right from the start.’
Ms Shah and
her younger brother were taken into care after being left without a parent -
her father had split from Inger some time previously and was not in the
picture.
Over the
years she and her brother have fallen out of contact, and her post-traumatic
stress disorder has marred her life - while time spent campaigning cost her
dearly, including her home.
She said: ‘My
family has been totally devastated. My mum was our only parent, we were both at
school and we both had to go into care as a result.
‘It changes
you as people. We’re no longer the same people we were before that day.’
She had been
sceptical ahead of the April second inquest verdicts, which did ultimately rule
the supporters were unlawfully killed and bore no blame for their own deaths.
She said: ‘I
wasn’t sure whether they were just giving us a little something to shut us up
and make us go away, as they’d tried to do so often in the past.
‘It was very
difficult for us families to put any faith and optimism in the second inquest
after all that had gone before.’
And even the
rulings in their favour provided only restricted respite.
Ms Shah, now
living in Anfield in Liverpool, said: ‘It was a monumental day - although one
which should have come a lot sooner, and there will always be an anger about
that.
‘Since then,
it’s been a wave of total exhaustion. It just completely overwhelmed me.
‘I couldn’t
do anything for weeks afterwards. I felt completely smashed. I’d given
everything I could to the inquest.
‘At the time
I’d lost my job, my flat and my family as a result of all this.
‘There was a
feeling at the inquests that all this has taken years off my life, whereas
there are people in authority who’ve got off far too easily.’
But she tries
to cling to what positives she can, including the mass of support that has
gradually grown over the years.
She said: ‘I
don’t think any other city would have put up a justice campaign like Liverpool
has done - such is the strength and solidarity in this community, to not take
this lying down but to stand up and fight.
‘It’s been
helpful to realise that most people across the country now see Hillsborough the
way we do - although for certain sections of our society that has been a long
time coming.
‘There’s been
a smear campaign from various different sections of the government, the
authorities, the media, to turn minds against us over the years.
‘But I think
these verdicts make it much, much harder for them to do that now - especially
as the verdicts were unanimous.’
Steve Kelly finally discovered his brother
Mike was among the Hillsborough victims when a police officer hurled him a
Polaroid showing the body ‘like dealing a playing card’.
At that brutal moment, the last of the 95 fans
killed on the day was identified - but it was only when this year’s inquests
vindicated those killed and Steve felt he could ‘take his brother home’.
After spending the Saturday night as a taxi
driver ferrying traumatised supporters back home, Everton supporter Steve spent
much of the Sunday searching for his Liverpool fanatic brother.
At last one officer brusquely revealed
38-year-old Mike was among the victims in a makeshift morgue, before swiftly
shifting to asking about fans drinking.
Steve, 63, from Croxteth, told Metro: ‘We were
just an ordinary family - we’d never had any dealings with police and these
were people you just believed in.
'But I found I was doing their dirty work for
them, answering questions about whether Mike liked a pint - would he have had a
few bevvies before the match?
‘That’s hurt over the years. They were
building their case right from the start, setting up the cover-up.’
He recalled: ‘My mum was ill with breast
cancer at the time, my sister was distressed and I decided to be the man of the
house.
‘I told my sister to concentrate on our mum
and I’ll deal with the police. I also started attending meetings of the
Hillsborough family group that was set up.
‘It became clear we were all being treated the
same way - all being asked about drink and how the fans behaved.
‘There were 25,000 Liverpool fans there that
day - no one was stealing from the bodies, no one was p***ing on the police or
the dead, no one was stoning the cops.
‘But it dawned on us that the police were
blaming our lads and girls, whereas it was them who lost control. They’re
trying to pin the blame on the fans here.
Even on her deathbed Mike’s mother Jean was
asking whether her lost son really had been a hooligan, as a smear campaign
claimed.
Steve said: ‘What a worry for a mother to take
to her deathbed and what a final conversation, defending your brother from such
allegations.
‘I promised my mum and my sister, who died in
2000, that it would turn out right.
‘I wouldn’t let my sister down, I wouldn’t let
my mother down, and I certainly wouldn’t let Mike down.’
Despite supporting Liverpool’s city rivals – elder
brother Mike insisted early on he
would be the only Red in the household - Steve has become a fervent member of
the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, spreading the word to fellow Toffees fans at
the Goodison Park club shop.
He said: ‘This whole thing transcended
Liverpool FC, and even the football community as a whole which embraced the
“Justice for the 96” chant. So many people realised: this could have been us.’
But it took some time even for April’s
unlawful killing verdicts to sink in.
He said: ‘When we went outside to this mass of
cameras, I just seemed to wander around on my own - like in a fog, just
drifting.
‘I was trying to gather my thoughts then all
of a sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder - Matt Walker, from LFC TV - who asked
how I felt and what I was going to do now.
‘I broke into a smile, told him I felt
wonderful about the right result and then: “Now I’m going to take Mike home.”’
His next ports of call were the graves of his
sister Joan and their parents Jean and Patrick.
Steve said: ‘I spoke to them all and told them
the result.
'For 27 years Mike had been in a sort of
limbo.
‘Now I felt like finally my brother was going
home to his mum.’
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