Hillsborough inquests: Police boss 'asked to concoct story'

 

A former South Yorkshire Police chief told a man who witnessed the Hillsborough disaster he was asked to "concoct a story" blaming drunk Liverpool fans, the inquests heard.

Sir Norman Bettison, then a chief inspector, was on a business course with John Barry in 1989, jurors heard.
Mr Barry told the jury he was "stunned" and "staggered" at what Sir Norman said when they spoke in a pub in Sheffield.
Sir Norman later gave evidence and denied making the alleged comments.
He agreed he had spoken to fellow students in the pub twice during the fortnight after the disaster in a "typical bar-room conversation" but said: "The comments that have been ascribed to me I would not make in a private or public situation."

'Gobsmacked'

Inquests are being held into the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans following a terrace crush at the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989.
Mr Barry, who worked as a civil servant at the time and had attended the game as a supporter, told the court he and Sir Norman met at the Fleur de Lys pub one evening in May 1989.
He said: "Norman said: 'I've been asked by my senior officers to pull together the South Yorkshire Police evidence for the inquiry and we're going to try and concoct a story that all the Liverpool fans were drunk and that we were afraid they were going to break down the gates, so we decided to open them'."
Asked how sure he was that those were the words used by Sir Norman, Mr Barry said: "Absolutely certain."