A landmark moment in the long Hillsborough inquests came six months in when a police officer who had spread stories that Liverpool fans had stolen from victims, notoriously published by the Sun under the headline “The Truth”, admitted they were false.

Gordon Sykes, a South Yorkshire inspector on duty at the Leppings Lane end on the day of the disaster, had not previously retracted the allegation that supporters picked the pockets of dead people.

When first questioned at the inquests, Sykes maintained that what he had said in an official Police Federation meeting on April 19th, 1989, the day the Sun published its stories, was true: that he had been responsible for 10 dead bodies and “the bodies had nothing on them at all, not even a handkerchief”.

In that meeting, which was attended by the then South Yorkshire police chief constable, Peter Wright, Sykes also spoke to confirm another infamous allegation, that one of the people who died at Hillsborough had “numerous wallets” on him, so was “one of the Liverpool pickpockets”.

On Tuesday, the jury at the new inquests into the deaths exonerated fans by ruling they did not contribute to the disaster at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Jurors also decided the 96 victims had been unlawfully killed.

Disclosure process

Sykes’s appearance in the witness box at the inquests on October 10th, 2014 was the first time he had been questioned publicly on his spreading of those claims.

When challenged by Michael Mansfield QC, representing 77 families whose relatives died in on the Leppings Lane terrace, Sykes accepted a police log from the night of the disaster showed none of the 10 bodies he was referring to had been stripped of possessions.

During Sykes’s evidence, it became clear not only that these stories were untrue, but that South Yorkshire police had the evidence all along that this was the case and yet had encouraged the stories and never corrected them.

As a routine practice, its officers compiled lists of any money or other items found on people who had died. Mark George QC, representing 22 families, told Sykes that research of all the property logs showed nobody had “multiple wallets”. These damaging stories, which were maintained for a quarter of a century, crumbled in moments.

Mansfield told Sykes the story was “a long-term allegation” that had been “remembered by generations of people”. Sykes said he had not known before that day the stories were false. He said he had only repeated internally what other officers told him and he was not a source for the Sun.

Asked by Mansfield “as a matter of conscience” whether he would say he regretted maintaining those false stories, Sykes said: “Yes, I regret that.”

Sykes agreed that the allegation of “pilfering” attracted the Sun, whose front-page story on Hillsborough on 19 April 1989 remains a notorious low point of British journalism.

The newspaper, edited at the time by Kelvin MacKenzie, who was personally responsible for the headline “The Truth”, ran claims from anonymous police officers that, as people were dying, other fans stole from them, urinated on police officers and beat up “brave cops” trying to help.

Vital reporting

Sun

BBC footage of the chaos, played as evidence at the inquests, showed not a single instance of supporters attacking or urinating on policemen.

Many police officers did help greatly, but there was a lack of organisation and minimal direction from senior officers, and news footage from the time shows many officers standing around, not helping.

The stories subsequently sent by White’s to the Sun and several other newspapers stated that “angry police hit back” at Liverpool fans “who hampered life-saving attempts”.

‘Highest level’

Sykes agreed he knew then prime minister Margaret Thatcher was arriving next day, so the allegations would go to “the highest level”.

Trevor Kavanagh, the Sun’s political editor at the time, told the Guardian he was briefed by Charles Powell, Thatcher’s adviser, the following Tuesday, that South Yorkshire police officers had told Thatcher those same stories.

Powell denies that the conversation took place. Bernard Ingham, Thatcher’s press secretary, said the police told Thatcher the fans were “a tanked-up mob” and did not admit failings of their own, but Ingham did not recall being told the more lurid stories.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating how the stories that found their way into the Sun were spread.

Peter Moxon, of White’s news agency, and MacKenzie declined to comment. – (Guardian service)