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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Hillsborough
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The ground in Sheffield of one of the two local football clubs, Sheffield Wednesday. On 15 April 1989 it was the scene of a major disaster before the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. At the Leppings Lane end of the ground 95 people were crushed to death and some 200 injured, nearly all of them Liverpool fans, when police opened a gate to ease pressure outside the ground. The disaster was attributed in the *Taylor Report to a 'failure of police control', making it a matter of some controversy when disciplinary charges were later dropped against the two senior policemen responsible on the day.
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The tragic case of one fan, Tony Bland, later raised important issues of medical ethics. The disaster left him in a coma with irreversible brain damage, a condition technically described as a persistent vegetative state (PVS). In February 1993 five law lords in the House of Lords ruled that he should be allowed to die (bringing the Hillsborough total of deaths to 96). Since euthanasia remains illegal in Britain, this could not be achieved by an injection but only by the stopping of artificial feeding – resulting in a slow (but painless) death. The law lords emphasized that parliament should debate as a matter of urgency these areas of moral ambiguity.
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In July 2000 a private case was brought by the Hillsborough Family Support Group against the two senior policemen at the ground on the day (Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, Superintendent Bernard Murray), charging them with manslaughter.
The jury cleared Duckenfield of the charge, but failed to agree on Murray. The case against him was subsequently dismissed.
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