The officer in command of policing during the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death, admitted yesterday that he was “not the best man for the job”.
David Duckenfield, a former chief superintendent, said he should have considered his limited knowledge of policing such a major event, having been promoted just 15 days before Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest in April 1989.
As the match commander, Mr Duckenfield ordered the opening of a gate to relieve a crush at the turnstiles, which led to a surge of fans into a fenced pen on the Leppings Lane terraces, the Hillsborough inquests have been told. He has been accused of telling a “wicked lie” by allegedly blaming Liverpool fans for forcing open the gate.
Hundreds of relatives of those killed attended the hearing at a specially constructed court in Warrington yesterday.
Mr Duckenfield, 70, said that preparing for the match was just one of a “number of major priorities” during his 15 days as divisional commander with South Yorkshire police.
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“With hindsight, I should have thought about my limited knowledge of my role as a commander of a [capacity] event,” he said. “I am older and hopefully wiser. Probably I was not the best man for the job on the day.”
“There was a culture in the police service at that time and the culture was you would be moved without an overlap and learn on the job. It did not cross my mind to say I was not up to the job. I just got on with it. It was a serious mistake, with hindsight, knowing of the events that occurred on the day, that I continued in the role.”
Relatives of some of the victims later brought a private prosecution against Mr Duckenfield and Bernard Murray, a former superintendent who was second in command at the match, the inquests have been told.
Mr Duckenfield said he could not remember whether he had read national guidelines on policing football matches before taking control of the game.
He described the fatal crush as an “unfortunate incident” and later a “great tragedy”.
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When asked whether he should have spent more time preparing for the match, his voice appeared to break with emotion for the first time as he replied: “I did, on the basis of the information available, what I considered necessary, and if there was a failing I apologise.”
He said he could not recall being warned about a crush on the Leppings Lane terraces during a previous FA Cup semi-final in 1981, or the semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1988.
He said he did not recall receiving the minutes of a planning meeting of senior officers the month before the match. The inquest heard that an investigation after the disaster was not able to find the minutes.
Mr Duckenfield said: “There is absolutely no reason why someone such as myself should get hold of these minutes and destroy them. As far as I was concerned there was nothing detrimental.”
Mr Duckenfield said he had had a view over the Leppings Lane terrace from the stadium’s control room, but said “I did not know the difference, because of my inexperience, between a crowded pen and an over-filled pen”.
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The inquests continue.