AC3.1
Example from BRIEF in exam entered here
R v Hillsborough
The Hillsborough disaster happened on 15 th April 1989 in a football stadium in Sheffield. It occurred
during an FA cup semi-final when Liverpool was playing Nottingham. 96 Liverpool fans got killed in a
crush when the central pen behind the goal got overfilled with people. On the day, Liverpool fans
were allocated the smaller stadium entrance, despite there being more of them. It ended up with
just 7 turnstiles for 10,100 people. Entry was so slow that a crowd built up outside the stadium. One
of the police officers, Robert Marsh, asked for gate C to be opened to let more fans through, as he
thought someone was going to be killed in the crush outside. David Duckenfield, the police
superintendent in charge, opened the gate. However, there was no control through the gate, so all
the fans rushed down the central tunnel, into the central pen, leading to it being overfilled. Metal
bars within the pen stopped people being able to move sideways, so people were trapped with little
ability to move. Then one of the bars in the pen broke due to the weight of everyone, causing people
to fall forwards. People tried desperately to escape the pen, with other fans and officers trying to
help. Afterwards, Duckenfield lied and blamed Liverpool fans for what had happened.
Evidence + validity
Evidence can be physical or testimonial and it provides proof of events that occur. In the
Hillsborough disaster, there were many different types of evidence such as CCTV evidence. CCTV is
an accurate measure of what transpired, as it reveals events with no bias. There were also police
statements which turned out to be inaccurate as they had been altered. This made them biased as
sections which portrayed the police in a bad light had been removed. Also, statements are based on
opinion, of what the police thought happened and who they believe is to blame. Another example of
evidence is the blood alcohol levels, of all the victims, that were read out in court by the coroner
Stefan Popper. This evidence is circumstantial as it doesn’t prove that this was the cause of the
crush. Also, Stefan’s evidence no longer has currency as it was found that blood alcohol levels were
not the cause.
Media reports + validity
Media reports are how an event is presented by the media. Soon after the disaster, the Sun printed
an article with the headline ‘The truth; some fans picked pockets of victims; some fans urinated on
the brave cops; some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life’. Other articles and interviews were released
saying similar things. These reports were later found to be inaccurate as they were lies spread by the
press but they held currency at the time as many people believed the stories. Newspaper reporting
is also a matter of opinion, which in this case involved the police being portrayed very positively. This
makes the articles biased as it was only the police/writers’ views of what happened that were
printed. Even if they were accurate, the articles are circumstantial as they don’t show that fan
behaviour started the crush, only that fan behaviour was negative. One police officer came forward
about the truth of what happened, in an interview on TV. It could be argued that this account is
biased if he just wanted to be on TV. However, he had evidence of the altered statements to back up
the claims he made, showing that his comments had accuracy.
Judgements + validity
Judgements are decisions made relating to a case such as whether someone is guilty. They can all be
seen as opinion, as different people may have come to different conclusions, even with the same
Example from BRIEF in exam entered here
R v Hillsborough
The Hillsborough disaster happened on 15 th April 1989 in a football stadium in Sheffield. It occurred
during an FA cup semi-final when Liverpool was playing Nottingham. 96 Liverpool fans got killed in a
crush when the central pen behind the goal got overfilled with people. On the day, Liverpool fans
were allocated the smaller stadium entrance, despite there being more of them. It ended up with
just 7 turnstiles for 10,100 people. Entry was so slow that a crowd built up outside the stadium. One
of the police officers, Robert Marsh, asked for gate C to be opened to let more fans through, as he
thought someone was going to be killed in the crush outside. David Duckenfield, the police
superintendent in charge, opened the gate. However, there was no control through the gate, so all
the fans rushed down the central tunnel, into the central pen, leading to it being overfilled. Metal
bars within the pen stopped people being able to move sideways, so people were trapped with little
ability to move. Then one of the bars in the pen broke due to the weight of everyone, causing people
to fall forwards. People tried desperately to escape the pen, with other fans and officers trying to
help. Afterwards, Duckenfield lied and blamed Liverpool fans for what had happened.
Evidence + validity
Evidence can be physical or testimonial and it provides proof of events that occur. In the
Hillsborough disaster, there were many different types of evidence such as CCTV evidence. CCTV is
an accurate measure of what transpired, as it reveals events with no bias. There were also police
statements which turned out to be inaccurate as they had been altered. This made them biased as
sections which portrayed the police in a bad light had been removed. Also, statements are based on
opinion, of what the police thought happened and who they believe is to blame. Another example of
evidence is the blood alcohol levels, of all the victims, that were read out in court by the coroner
Stefan Popper. This evidence is circumstantial as it doesn’t prove that this was the cause of the
crush. Also, Stefan’s evidence no longer has currency as it was found that blood alcohol levels were
not the cause.
Media reports + validity
Media reports are how an event is presented by the media. Soon after the disaster, the Sun printed
an article with the headline ‘The truth; some fans picked pockets of victims; some fans urinated on
the brave cops; some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life’. Other articles and interviews were released
saying similar things. These reports were later found to be inaccurate as they were lies spread by the
press but they held currency at the time as many people believed the stories. Newspaper reporting
is also a matter of opinion, which in this case involved the police being portrayed very positively. This
makes the articles biased as it was only the police/writers’ views of what happened that were
printed. Even if they were accurate, the articles are circumstantial as they don’t show that fan
behaviour started the crush, only that fan behaviour was negative. One police officer came forward
about the truth of what happened, in an interview on TV. It could be argued that this account is
biased if he just wanted to be on TV. However, he had evidence of the altered statements to back up
the claims he made, showing that his comments had accuracy.
Judgements + validity
Judgements are decisions made relating to a case such as whether someone is guilty. They can all be
seen as opinion, as different people may have come to different conclusions, even with the same
