Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield may have medical explanation for lack of emotion, jury told

Retired chief superintendent David Duckenfield
Owen Humphreys/PA
Tim Baker25 October 2019
WEST END FINAL

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The jury in the trial of Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield has been told there may be a "medical explanation" for why he has shown no emotion throughout the case.

The retired chief superintendent, 75, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool supporters who died in the crush on the terrace at the FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989.

At Preston Crown Court on Friday, Judge Sir Peter Openshaw directed the jury not to draw an adverse inference from the demeanour of Duckenfield, who was sitting in the well of the court.

Speaking before evidence from Dolores Steele, whose 15-year-old son Philip died in the disaster, Sir Peter said: "My prediction is that Mr Duckenfield will show no emotion at all, because he has not shown any physical reaction at all throughout the trial."

People pay their respects at the Hillsborough Memorial on the 30th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster
REUTERS

He added: "You may have noticed that and you may have thought it strange, or even odd, but there may be a medical explanation for that and I think it fair that you should have it now before we go any further and, in particular, before we hear evidence from Mrs Steele.

"It is to this effect, that on the basis of expert medical opinion it is recognised that as a sufferer of post-traumatic stress disorder, his appearance and demeanour in court should not be taken as an indication of his state of mind.

"He has a resilient, passive and expressionless external presentation which gives no indication of his state of mind so don't draw an adverse inference against him."

Mrs Steele told the court she had been sitting in the West Stand of the stadium with her husband Les while Philip and his brother Brian, 13, had standing tickets for the terraces below them.

She said she knew something was "wrong" in the central pens of the terrace, and later saw fans being carried onto the pitch and an ambulance arriving.

She said: "To my mind, that pitch just became a battlefield. People were coming out of the gate and then they were just lying on the pitch.

"I saw two people's heads being covered up and I presumed they had died."

File photo of Hillsborough Stadium
PA Archive

The court heard she and her husband found Brian in the concourse of the ground but did not find Philip until they identified his body in the gymnasium at about 9.30pm.

Liverpool supporter Ian McDermott told the court he had been caught in the crush in pen three of the terraces. He described struggling to breathe and losing consciousness.

He said: "When I knew I was going, obviously that was extremely terrifying. I can still visualise that today, that's never left. I've been told by doctors it was pre-death terror."

The court heard he was taken to hospital after being resuscitated at the ground.

Ninety-six men, women and children died in the disaster but, under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the death of the 96th victim of the disaster, Anthony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after his injuries were caused.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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