Hillsborough inquests - February 10
The Hillsborough inquests commenced on March 31, 2014 and are the subject of reporting restrictions that have been imposed by the Attorney General's office. Liverpool Football Club is respectful of these restrictions and will therefore only be making available updates from other media channels for the duration of the inquest.
The report below - and the witness testimony contained within it - does not necessarily reflect the views of Liverpool FC. Please be aware that the reports on these pages will contain evidence about the day of the disaster which may be distressing.
To view archive reports from each day of the inquest hearings, click here.
Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo - February 10
The Hillsborough jury were reminded of evidence on the crush outside the turnstiles as the coroner continued summing up the case.
Sir John Goldring began summarising the evidence of Liverpool FC supporters who had been caught up in the crowd outside the Leppings Lane entrance on April 15, 1989.
The inquests heard that Court of Appeal judge Sir Maurice Kay, who was a QC at the time, had arrived at the entrance at about 2.30pm.
Sir Maurice said he saw no “untoward” behaviour from fans, but saw large numbers waiting to get through the turnstiles.
The coroner said: “He said that to turn up at 2.30pm was perfectly normal. By about 2.30pm, it seemed to him, he said, the police had lost control.”
The court was also reminded of the evidence of Trevor Hicks, whose teenage daughters Sarah and Vicki died in the disaster.
Mr Hicks said the account of police inspector Gordon Sykes, who said fans were “blind drunk”, was “nonsense”.
He said: “I must have been at a different game.”
The court also heard evidence of Sheffield residents, including some who claimed fans had been drunk and urinating in public.
The jury was reminded about some of the police statements which were changed.
Sir John told the court that in his original statement, Chief Inspector Robert Creaser had said he visited the police control box at 12pm and spoke to ground commander Bernard Murray to ask how fans should fill the Leppings Lane terrace.
Mr Creaser said: “I was informed that the filling of the fence pens would be allowed to take place in a natural fashion and that no control would be exercised by the police on the supporters regarding which particular pen would be filled.”
But the coroner said that part of Mr Creaser’s statement was edited out as a result of legal advice.
He said: “The paragraph was crossed out by hand. It is not clear by whom.”
The coroner today told the jury that he expects his summing up to conclude on March 2.
The jury had originally been due to go out on February 22.
Click here for a full transcript from February 10.