The Rt Hon Douglas Hurd CBE, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
THE HILLSBOROUGH STADIUM DISASTER
15 APRIL 1989
INTERIM REPORT OF INQUIRY
INTRODUCTION
1. On 15 April 1989 a football match to decide a semi-final round of the FA Cup competition was to be played between the Liverpool and Nottingham Forest Clubs. The neutral venue chosen was Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield Wednesday's ground. Only six minutes into the game, play was stopped when it was realised that spectators on the terraces behind the Liverpool goal had been severely crushed. In the result, 95 died and over 400 received hospital treatment.
2. On 17 April 1989 I was appointed by you to carry out an Inquiry with the following terms of reference:
To inquire into the events at Sheffield Wednesday football ground on 15 April 1989 and to make recommendations about the needs of crowd control and safety at sports events.
3. Two Assessors were appointed to assist me: Mr Brian Johnson QPM, Chief Constable of Lancashire, and Professor Leonard Maunder OBE, BSc, PhD, ScD, FEng, FI Mech E, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Their help has been invaluable and I am very grateful for their expert advice and wise counsels. While the sole responsibility for this report is mine, I am comforted in the knowledge that both Assessors agree with it.
4. Mr Robert Whalley was appointed Secretary to the Inquiry. He and his assistants have worked prodigiously and skilfully to give me all the advice and support I could have wished. I also wish to acknowledge the help I have received, as always, from my clerk, Mr Ernest Pott.
5. The policing arrangements for 15 April were in the hands of the South Yorkshire Constabulary. The efficacy of those arrangements and their implementation was from an early stage called into question. It was therefore decided that the investigation of the disaster and the gathering of evidence for this Inquiry should be conducted by an independent police force. Mr Geoffrey Dear QPM, Chief Constable of West Midlands Constabulary, undertook this task. He was made responsible directly to me; he appointed Assistant Chief Constable Mervyn Jones to take full-time charge of the investigation. I am deeply indebted to both of them.
6. On 18 April I visited Hillsborough Stadium. I inspected the scene of the disaster on the terraces and all relevant parts of the stadium and its approaches. My Assessors and I have made further visits during the Inquiry. I also visited Liverpool on 21 and 29 April.
7. The Lord Mayor and the Sheffield City Council kindly offered to make the accommodation and facilities of Sheffield Town Hall available for the hearing of oral evidence. This offer was gratefully accepted and I would like to record my thanks for those facilities and for the co-operation afforded to the Inquiry by the authorities in Sheffield.
8. On 28 April 1989, I held a preliminary hearing to announce the date when the oral evidence would begin, to give some directions as to the procedure I intended to follow and to hear applications from those wishing to be represented at the hearing. I accorded representation to the following:
(i) Those bereaved or injured as a result of the disaster.
(ii) The Football Supporters' Association.
(iii) The Football Association.
(iv) Sheffield City Council.
(v) Sheffield Wednesday Football Club together with the Football League, the Club's casual staff and their insurers, the Sun Alliance.
(vi) South Yorkshire Constabulary.
(vii) South Yorkshire Fire and Civil Defence Authority.
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