The jury at the new inquests into the deaths of 96 people at Hillsborough in 1989 has been sent out to consider its verdicts, more than two years after the proceedings began in court.

The jury, seven women and three men, has been given 14 questions to answer about how the 96 died at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, including whether they were unlawfully killed.

After a delay in proceedings on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, the coroner, Sir John Goldring, told the jury it was “of the highest importance” that they worked together as a team and “discuss the evidence together in a civilised manner”.

He told them: “Juries are a random selection of members of the public of all ages and backgrounds. They have to work together in the interests of justice. We are conscious that you have devoted a very large part of your lives to these inquests.”

Explaining the need for the jury members to work as a team, he said: “It requires you to make your decisions together. It requires you to put to one side any personal issues which can sometimes arise.”



An hour after they were sent out at 2:05pm, the jury members were brought back into court and Goldring repeated the same guidance, stressing the need to work together, before sending them home for the rest of the day.

Goldring has directed the jury that to reach a verdict of unlawful killing, they must be unanimous, and satisfied that the South Yorkshire police officer in charge of the event, Ch Supt David Duckenfield, “was responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence of those 96 people”.



Goldring’s directions state that the jury must be sure that Duckenfield’s actions “were not those which a reasonably careful and competent match commander would have taken in 1989 so that the 96 people could attend, watch and depart reasonably safely”. For gross negligence to be proved, he has directed the jury that they must be sure that Duckenfield’s breach of his duty of care to supporters at the match “was so bad, having regard to the risk of death involved, as in your view to amount to a criminal act or omission”.

The 96 people, all supporters of Liverpool who were allocated the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground at the semi-final on 15 April 1989, died following the crush in the overcrowded central “pens” of the standing terrace.

Approximately 150 family members whose relatives died were in the converted courtroom in Warrington 27 years later as Goldring made his final remarks and sent out the jury.

The proceedings began on 1 April 2014 and, at 276 days of evidence, the inquests have been by far the longest case ever heard by a jury in British legal history. Goldring’s summing up of evidence, which was scheduled to conclude on 22 February, has been substantially delayed, mostly due to illness among the jury.

The 14 questions the jury must answer include their verdicts on whether errors in the South Yorkshire police planning of its operation for the match caused or contributed to the “dangerous situation”. They will also decide whether the force made “any error or omission” in policing the crowd on the approach to the turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end, where the court heard a dangerous level of congestion developed.

Duckenfield then ordered a large exit gate, C, to be opened, to relieve the crush outside by allowing in a large number of people, and the jury questionnaire asks if, when that order was given, there was any “error or omission by the commanding officers in the control box which caused or contributed to the crush on the terrace”. The jury’s guidance for answering that question includes whether the commanding officers, of which Duckenfield was the most senior, should have given an order to close off the tunnel facing the turnstiles to prevent more people going down into the terrace’s central pens, three and four, where the lethal crush occurred.

The jury will also consider whether there were errors or omissions by South Yorkshire police, and by the South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, in responding to the crush, including whether their officers were slow to appreciate the scale of danger and did not organise an adequate rescue operation.

Three questions relate to the safety of the Hillsborough ground in 1989, including whether any features of its design, construction and layout were “dangerous and defective”, and any failures in the process of issuing the ground with a safety certificate. The conduct of Sheffield Wednesday’s management, both in the planning for the match and on the day, is also to be considered.

The questions for the jury include one relating to whether the behaviour of the supporters at the approach to the Leppings Lane turnstiles “caused or contributed to the dangerous situation”, or may have caused or contributed to it. Goldring’s guidance suggests the jury may consider supporters’ “arrival pattern”, whether some “behaved in a way which was unusually forceful or resistant to police control”, significant numbers did not have tickets, and that had a significant effect on the dangerous situation that developed. If the jury finds there was any behaviour by supporters that caused or contributed to the dangerous congestion, or may have done so, they will then answer if any such behaviour was “unusual or unforseeable” to experienced police officers.

Goldring has told the jury this was a “controversial issue” and that it had been suggested to many witnesses that the film footage of the congestion at the turnstiles, although it might not show everything that happened, “shows no unruly behaviour and no sign of heavy drinking such as some police officers recounted”. Goldring said there was no suggestion of hooliganism at the match, or misbehaviour by any of the 96 people who died or anybody who gave evidence.

“Nobody suggests there was anything wrong or unreasonable about waiting outside the entrance turnstiles to see a football match or having a drink before a football match,” he said.

The jury will also come to verdicts about the individual medical cause and time of death for all 96 people who died. The youngest victim, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was 10 years old; the oldest, Gerard Baron, a father of seven, was 67.