QC Jonathan Goldberg claims Liverpool ‘riot’ caused Hillsborough disaster

By Tom Canton


Published: May 26, 2021 3:54 pm

Last Updated: May 26, 2021 4:12 pm

Justice for the 96

On the 15th of April, 1989, 96 Liverpool fans died during a crush at the FA Cup semi-final match at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium.

In the wake of the disaster, many of those affected and later those educated about the tragedy have sought to find justice for those that lost their lives. To find the reason and culpability of those responsible for the deaths.

A timeline by the BBC details the event and within describes how the match commander Ch Supt David Duckenfield 26 years later admitted:

His failure to close a tunnel before opening gate C “was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 people”. Under pressure, he “froze” and failed to consider the consequences of admitting thousands of fans on to already-packed terraces, he told the jury.

In 2017, Duckenfield was to be ‘charged with manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 people.’

The 96th victim, Tony Bland, died more than a year and a day after his injuries during the disaster and the law at the time meant no prosecution could take place.

However, in 2019, Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter.

Bringing the events to the present year, 2021, retired Ch Supt Donald Denton, retired Det Ch Insp Alan Foster and former South Yorkshire Police solicitor Peter Metcalf were accused of altering police statements after the disaster.

Today, all three were acquitted. The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, said:

The statements had been prepared for the public inquiry chaired by Lord Taylor in 1990. He said this was not a statutory inquiry and therefore not considered “a court of law”, so it was not a “course of public justice” which could be perverted.

James Aspinall was one of the 96 tragically killed because of the crush. His mother, Margaret, described the ruling as “an absolute mockery.” She continued saying, “We’re always the losers no matter what the outcome today.”

Goldberg interview causes outrage

Jonathan Goldberg QC, who represented Mr Metcalf, was interviewed on BBC Radio5Live by Adrian Chiles.

In the interview Goldberg said that the Liverpool fans’ behaviour was ‘appalling’ and that Metcalf did not cover of criticism of the police but instead ‘cut out’

“Of course my client who’s accused of covering up criticism of the police. What he in fact did was cut out criticism of the Liverpool fans whose behaviour was perfectly appalling on the day, causing a riot that led to the gate having to be opened, that unfortunately let the people in who crushed to death the innocents as they were. Complete innocents who were at the front of the pens who had arrived early and were not drunk and were behaving perfectly well.

“But as always it’s the innocents who suffer unfortunately. But these families have been wound up with just these awful political statements that had no basis in reality. And over 32 years there’s never been anything like it, it’s a complete conspiracy theory that’s a nonsense. This was cock up, not conspiracy.”

You can listen to the full interview here. The interview with Goldberg begins at 2:28:15.

On social media, people criticised both Goldberg for what were described by broadcast journalist David Easson as ‘UTTER LIES’ and Chiles for letting the ‘lies play out.’

Jonathan Goldberg peddling UTTER LIES to Adrian Chiles who just lets the lies play out. You wonder why we’ve bothered all this with “help” like this from supposedly trusted broadcasters. pic.twitter.com/g2fFQr1ZVN

— David Easson (@DavidEasson) May 26, 2021

Guardian writer David Conn pointed out that the inquests jury in 2016 concluded that ‘no misbehaviour by Liverpool fans contributed to the disaster.’

Astonishing, narrative being spread even today, by South Yorkshire police ex-solicitor’s QC, of a “riot” by Liverpool supporters at Hillsborough.

The inquests jury concluded in 2016, after the longest case ever, that no misbehaviour by Liverpool fans contributed to the disaster. https://t.co/LRKaE1faoY

— David Conn (@david_conn) May 26, 2021

Adrian Chiles later admitted he should have reacted better saying, “I should have pulled him up. That is essentially a myth that has been debunked.” 

Chiles apologised half an hour later.

— David Easson (@DavidEasson) May 26, 2021

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Premier League table

#	Team	MP	D	P
1	Manchester City FC	38	51	86
2	Manchester United FC	38	29	74
3	Liverpool FC	38	26	69
4	Chelsea FC	38	22	67
5	Leicester City FC	38	18	66
6	West Ham United FC	38	15	65
7	Tottenham Hotspur FC	38	23	62
8	Arsenal FC	38	16	61
9	Leeds United	38	8	59
10	Everton FC	38	-1	59
11	Aston Villa FC	38	9	55
12	Newcastle United FC	38	-16	45
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	38	-16	45
14	Crystal Palace FC	38	-25	44
15	Southampton FC	38	-21	43
16	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	38	-6	41
17	Burnley FC	38	-22	39
18	Fulham FC	38	-26	28
19	West Bromwich Albion	38	-41	26
20	Sheffield United FC	38	-43	23

Player	Team	Goals
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur FC	23
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	22
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United FC	17
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur FC	17
Bamford, Patrick	Leeds United	17
Calvert-Lewin, Dominic	Everton FC	16
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City FC	15
Watkins, Ollie	Aston Villa FC	14
Gundogan, Ilkay	Manchester City FC	13
Lacazette, Alexandre	Arsenal FC	13
Wilson, Callum	Newcastle United FC	12
Ings, Danny	Southampton FC	12
Wood, Chris	Burnley FC	12
Iheanacho, Kelechi	Leicester City FC	12
Rashford, Marcus	Manchester United FC	11
Mane, Sadio	Liverpool FC	11
Pereira, Matheus	West Bromwich Albion	11
Bale, Gareth	Tottenham Hotspur FC	11
Zaha, Wilfried	Crystal Palace FC	11
Sterling, Raheem	Manchester City FC	10

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Player	Team	Red Cards	Yellow Cards
McGinn, John	Aston Villa FC	0	12
Gallagher, Conor	West Bromwich Albion	0	11
Maguire, Harry	Manchester United FC	0	11
Phillips, Kalvin	Leeds United	0	10
Hojbjerg, Pierre	Tottenham Hotspur FC	0	9
Milivojevic, Luka	Crystal Palace FC	1	8
Lundstram, John	Sheffield United FC	1	8
Luiz, Douglas	Aston Villa FC	0	8
Holgate, Mason	Everton FC	0	9
Bissouma, Yves	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	1	8
Soucek, Tomas	West Ham United FC	1	7
Shaw, Luke	Manchester United FC	0	8
Xhaka, Granit	Arsenal FC	1	7
Bellerin, Hector	Arsenal FC	0	8
Andersen, Joachim	Fulham FC	1	7
Egan, John	Sheffield United FC	1	7
Hayden, Isaac	Newcastle United FC	0	8
Dallas, Stuart	Leeds United	0	7
McGoldrick, David	Sheffield United FC	0	7
Reid, Bobby	Fulham FC	0	7

Player	Team	Assists
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur FC	14
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United FC	12
De Bruyne, Kevin	Manchester City FC	11
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur FC	10
Grealish, Jack	Aston Villa FC	10
Rashford, Marcus	Manchester United FC	9
Raphinha	Leeds United	9
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City FC	8
Mane, Sadio	Liverpool FC	8
Harrison, Jack	Leeds United	8
Werner, Timo	Chelsea FC	8
Gross, Pascal	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	8
Cresswell, Aaron	West Ham United FC	8
Pereira, Matheus	West Bromwich Albion	7
Sterling, Raheem	Manchester City FC	7
Firmino, Roberto	Liverpool FC	7
Ward-Prowse, James	Southampton FC	7
Eze, Eberechi	Crystal Palace FC	7
Alexander-Arnold, Trent	Liverpool FC	7
Robertson, Andrew	Liverpool FC	7