Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the Incredible Disappearing David Duckenfield is still alive and still in this country, or possessed of the slightest intention ever to come back here, or so possessed even in relation to anywhere with a British extradition treaty.
Tony Blair is never going to stand trial for the Iraq War. So it is going to fall to those squaddies. At least as much as anything else, they will be tried as proxies for Blair. That is hardly going to help their defence.
Likewise, Margaret Thatcher cannot now stand trial for anything that happened while she was Prime Minister, and never could have done for much of it. So it looks as if Duckenfield is going to have to appear in the dock of an almost literal Trial of a Decade.
The Britain of the present decade is going to put the Britain of the 1980s on trial, and it is going to reach a recorded verdict, with a sentence in the event that that is a verdict of guilty. A man would then serve that sentence.
This country will never have seen the like, and it is possible that nor will the world. Not even the great American trials of race will ever have been quite like this.
Where might such a trial even be held? How could a jury be impanelled? Yet it is going to be.
This country will never have seen the like, and it is possible that nor will the world. Not even the great American trials of race will ever have been quite like this.
Where might such a trial even be held? How could a jury be impanelled? Yet it is going to be.
The charges against him will at least be perjury and perverting the course of justice, and on the second count Thatcher would have been his co-defendant if she had still been alive. Your broader point is also spot on, this will be the trial of official Thatcherite attitudes to football supporters, Northerners, Scousers, the working classes, all that. It will have a hell of a lot of resonance under the present government.
ReplyDeleteThese days, they pretend to like football. Of course, they don't know which teams they support.
DeleteThe worst that Duckenfield was ever accused of, was having panicked during a crowd situation and lied to cover up his incompetence.
ReplyDeleteHardly up there with the "great American trials of race."
You loon.
“""What I am describing, just so you are in no doubt, is this:” the barrister said to Duckenfield. “To use a 19th century expression, although one that is rather evocative, you bottled it, you panicked, and you failed to take the action that you knew needed to be taken to avoid consequences that you had foreseen. Now, does that describe your state at the time?”
“I disagree with you, sir,” said Duckenfield.
Wow-hardly up there with the "American trials of race", Lindsay.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hillsborough-inquest-david-duckenfield-admitted-to-deceitfully-blaming-supporters-for-the-disaster-a7001221.html
"The worst that Duckenfield was ever accused of, was having panicked during a crowd situation and lied to cover up his incompetence."
DeleteIn other words, perjury, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Both of which carry maximum life sentences. He was a policeman, and 96 people died. He is going down for a very long time.
No, like many human beings, he tried to cover up his own mistakes by blaming others. Hardly up there with "the great trials of race."
ReplyDeleteAs for Anon's nonsensical comment on the "Thatcherite attitude to football supporters."
In the 80#s? Are you kidding? English football supporters were hated throughout the world in the 1980's.
We were banned from all European competitions by UEFA until 1991, because of the behaviour of Liverpool fans at Heysel.
I really would keep that one to yourself after today.
DeleteIf he has not already topped himself at the prospect, then Duckenfield is going to be taking your kickings and worse for you and yours in prison.
But I suppose that that is what the likes of him do for the likes of you. More fools them. As it turns out.