Monday, September 17, 2012

Bettison's Role In Hillsborough Cover-Up

Some aspects of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report inevitably attract greater attention than others. One detail, hitherto overlooked, was reported in yesterday's Independent on Sunday (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/did-sir-norman-bettison-try-to-smear-hillsborough-judge-8142451.html ).
The IoS article states:
"In what was last night condemned as another 'black propaganda' operation, senior officers considered charging Lord Justice Taylor with perverting the course of justice after a police driver claimed he had overheard the judge state that the South Yorkshire force would have to carry the can for the catastrophe, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in April 1989.
"But although the alleged conversation took place only three days after the disaster, the driver waited a year to 'put the record straight' over the 'injustice' suffered by the force. Documents published by the Hillsborough Independent Panel last week show that he only reported the allegations after he was 'encouraged' to do so by his colleague Norman Bettison -- then a key figure in a South Yorkshire Police unit that attempted to exonerate the force and blame Liverpool fans for the tragedy."
Meanwhile, Carol Gustafson, Labour councillor for Bootle's Derby Ward & chair of the Merseyside Police Authority in 1998, remains tight-lipped about her support for Bettison's appointment as chief constable.

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