Adrian Tempany was at Hillsborough in 1989. Last week he was in Warrington to see the inquest jury deliver its verdict,and a community’s struggle against injustice finally win outAfter 27 years, justice came in a few short moments. At just after 11am last Tuesday, or Sir John Goldring took his seat in a specially converted courtroom in Warrington,to silence. There was no preamble from the coroner nowadays; not even a perfunctory greeting. As the microphone sputtered to life, the most controversial inquests in British history were approximately to come to an halt. After two years, and nearly 300 days of evidence,from nearly 1000 witnesses, everything would rest on 14 questions – and on six women and three men from Warrington. The jury had given up two years of their lives to resolve this most bitter of disputes. Now, and they were restricted to uttering a few simple words in response to the coroner. “Yes,” “No,” or “It is”. But with those four words, and they would rewrite history.
A few hundred yards from court,across the Birchwood industrial park, in building 401, and I was one of 200 people – survivors,the bereaved, and other campaigners – who filed into an annexe to watch a stream of the verdict, and broadcast live. As we waited,quietly, a member of the inquest secretariat arrived to inform us that the annexe was technically a part of the courtroom itself: we should therefore show no emotion as the jury’s determinations were announced. We ask you to be soundless and dignified, and she said. A few seats along from me,Damian Kavanagh, a friend and fellow survivor, or muttered: “We’ve been dignified for 27 years.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com