‘It’s appalling no one will be held accountable for Hillsborough’: Sheila Coleman

The West Stand of Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium, where the disaster unfolded, seen two years later in 1991 (Picture: Steve Daniels)

A Hillsborough justice campaigner has slammed the lack of accountability for those responsible for the 1989 football disaster.

The police watchdog, the IOPC, published its final report into the disaster this week after 14 years of investigation. Its findings include that 12 former officers would have had cases to answer for gross misconduct, but they are long retired or dead. 

Some 97 Liverpool football fans died as a result of a crush at Sheffield’s Hillsborough ground in April 1989. South Yorkshire Police allowed thousands to enter the stadium through a single tunnel with no plan in place. The following decade have been filled with cover-ups, scapegoating of innocent fans and the evasion of accountability.

Sheila Coleman from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign has fought for accountability for decades. She told Socialist Worker, “The question you have to ask yourself is what has this report actually told anyone that they didn’t already know before?”

Sheila said that survivors, the families, and other campaigners “had always known the truth, why it happened and who was responsible”.

“I think that the whole investigation has been an indulgence. It’s absolutely appalling that no one will be held accountable,” she said.

“The investigation has been running since 2012—look at how much money it costs. And what has come out of it? Just more and more of the same.

“Justice for all was the badge of our campaign—and that’s what our campaign fought for from day one. It was a major move forward when the campaign managed to get that verdict quashed and changed to ‘unlawful killing’ in 2016.”

That came after 27 years of police lies that tried to paint fans as drunken hooligans. But, despite the verdict of unlawful killing in 2016, not one police officer has been held to account. 

Sheila said, “Looking at Hillsborough and the cover-up through a bigger lens, it is an example of just how corrupt the society we live in actually is. It is an example of how those at the top and institutions protect their own.”

Many campaigners had given over half their lives in the pursuit of the truth. But Sheila said that the campaign had drawn its strength to continue from other struggles, including the Bloody Sunday campaign.

“Our strength came from other justice campaigns, knowing that there are others who have fought for far longer,” she said. “We know how similar our fight is to those other struggles—what we have in common.

“On the other hand, there are others who have drawn strength from us. That’s our only hope for the future, coming together and making all injustices a collective, class issue. That’s how you get real change.”