Former South Yorkshire police inspector Gordon Sykes has admitted in court that police told a “bald-faced lie” and that The Sun newspaper’s ‘The Truth’ headlines were false.
Speaking at the Hillsborough inquest in Warrington on Friday, Sykes was asked by Michael Mansfield QC whether police told a “bald-faced lie” that dead bodies had been stripped – to which he agreed.
Speaking of The Sun‘s headline, Sykes accepted that stories police told for newspaper were false.
Hillsborough Inquest has heard Insp Sykes of South Yorkshire police accept that stories police told for 'The Sun' "The Truth" were false.
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Hillsborough Inquest: Mansfield QC put to Insp Sykes police told "bald-faced lie" that dead bodies had been stripped. Agreed it was false.
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Hillsborough Inquest: Michael Mansfield QC on "The Truth" story: There was no dead body with 'numerous wallets' was there? Insp Sykes: "No."
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Hillsborough Inquest: Insp Sykes has also accepted story police put out that one dead Liverpool fan had 'numerous wallets' was also false.
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Hillsborough Inquest: Insp Sykes agrees fans outside were not "pushing" but shuffling to get in, and had not drunk more than was normal.
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Insp Sykes accepts that his assertion to the Taylor Inquiry that 2,000 fans went to #Hillsborough without tickets was wrong.
— Judith Moritz (@JudithMoritz) October 10, 2014
Sykes also agreed that the Disaster was “entirely foreseeable” & could have happened at 1981 and 1987 FA Cup semi-finals, as per The Guardian‘s David Conn.
Sykes agreed that Sheffield Wednesday, the FA and South Yorkshire Police were “playing Russian roulette” with fans lives.
Hillsborough Inquest: Insp Sykes has agreed that Sheff Weds, the FA & South Yorkshire Police were "playing Russian roulette" with fans lives
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Later in the day, Michael George, the bereaved families’ QC, quizzed Sykes on the parallels between 1989 and a previous crush involving Tottenham fans eight years earlier in 1981, admitting that it looked “horribly similar”.
Hillsborough: Mark George, families QC, has shown Insp Sykes photo of 81 Spurs fan crush. "It looks horribly similar [to 1989]?" "Yes."
— David Conn (@david_conn) October 10, 2014
Speaking of The Football Association’s role in the disaster, Sykes was asked if the FA were partly to blame for disaster for selecting Hillsborough for FA Cup semi-finals?
He said: “The FA would have been aware of all the previous incidents… so yes I agree.”
A full commentary of events at the inquest on Friday is available via the Twitter timeline of David Conn and via The Liverpool Echo’s liveblog.
On Thursday, Sykes said that approach to turnstiles was a death trap and match commander seemed weak, as per The Guardian.
The inquest continues.
