NAAN Module 1.2

Key Case Timeline

1989

1999

2017

1993

2009

HILLSBOROUGHINVESTIGATION

STEPHEN LAWRENCE MURDER

MACPHERSON REPORT

DEATH OF IAN TOMLINSON

LAMMY REVIEW

The Hillsborough Investigation

Shortly before kick-off, in an attempt to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, the police match commander, David Duckenfield, ordered exit gate C to be opened, leading to an influx of supporters entering the pens. This resulted in overcrowding of those pens and the crush. With 97 deaths and 766 injuries, it has the highest death toll in British sporting history. In the following days and weeks, South Yorkshire Police (SYP) fed the press false stories suggesting that football hooliganism and drunkenness by Liverpool supporters had caused the disaster. Blaming Liverpool fans persisted even after the Taylor Report of 1990, which found that the main cause was a failure of crowd control by SYP.

The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989.

Stephen Lawrence

Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993, when he was 18 years old.

The case's fallout included changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice. It also led to the partial revocation of the rule against double jeopardy. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder on 3 January 2012. After the initial investigation, six suspects were arrested but not charged; a private prosecution subsequently initiated by Lawrence's family failed to secure convictions for any of the accused. It was suggested during the investigation that Lawrence was killed because he was black, and that the handling of the case by the police and Crown Prosecution Service was affected by issues of race.

In 1998, a public inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's death was headed by Sir William Macpherson, which examined the original Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) investigation

MacPherson Report

It concluded that the investigation was incompetent and that the force was institutionally racist. It also recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be repealed in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence: this was effected in 2005 upon enactment of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The publication in 1999 of the resulting Macpherson Report has been called "one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain". Jack Straw said that ordering the inquiry was the most important decision he made during his tenure as home secretary from 1997 to 2001. In 2010, the case was said to be "one of the highest-profile unsolved racially motivated murders".

Death of Ian Tomlinson

• Allegations of misleading the public as to when he first came into contact with the police. New Scotland Yard initially suggest that it was due to police administering first aid.

• Amateur video shows that Mr Tomlinson was pushed to the ground, when his backed was turned, by a police officer.

• Other witnesses allege that Mr Tomlinson was hit by police. First post-mortem concludes that death was due to ‘natural causes’ suffering a heart attack linked to heart disease

• Further post-mortems due to involvement of, the now, Independent Office of Police Conduct, determine a cause of death was due to abdominal bleeding, caused by some kind of blow, and not a heart attack.

• PC Harwood ultimately found not guilty of his manslaughter. However sacked due to gross misconduct

Ian Tomlinson was a newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London after being struck by a police officer during the 2009 G-20 summit protests.

The Lammy Review is a 2017 review on discrimination within the policing and criminal justice systems in the UK, led by David Lammy and commissioned by David Cameron and Theresa May. The Lammy Review found significant racial bias in the UK justice system.

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Image source: Magistrates Association

In 1998, a public inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's death was headed by Sir William Macpherson, which examined the original Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) investigation

Image source: BBC news

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The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989.

Image source: Wikipedia / Creative Commons

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Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993, when he was 18 years old.

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Image source: Wikipedia / Creative Commons

Ian Tomlinson was a newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London after being struck by a police officer during the 2009 G-20 summit protests.

Image source: Wikipedia / Creative Commons

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