Hillsborough revealed a system that protects power not people, writes Shelagh Fogarty |
By Shelagh Fogarty
Covering Hillsborough for 36 years has taught me many things, but the most shocking remains this.
At the time of the disaster, there was no legal duty on any of the police officers involved to tell the truth about what happened that day or what they did afterwards while statements were being altered. Senior officers put pressure on constables to change their accounts, and many did so under threats to their careers.
Yet there was no legal jeopardy for those who changed evidence, hid evidence or destroyed evidence. That is why, all these years later, nobody can be held to account in a court of law.
The court of public opinion has judged them and always will, and rightly so. What they did should steep them in shame. But shame is not justice, which is why I have spoken for so long about the need for a........