Judge tells Hillsborough families: ‘get over it’

A RETIRED judge who led the inquiry into the 1985 Bradford City stadium fire has provoked fury by telling Hillsborough campaigners to "move on". In a letter to The Times today, Sir Oliver Popplewell said Liverpool campaigners should learn from the "quiet dignity" of Bradford fans.

Popplewell, who chaired the public inquiry into the Bradford fire which killed 56 supporters, praised the bereaved for accepting the tragedy.

"The citizens of Bradford behaved with quiet dignity and great courage," he wrote. "They did not harbour conspiracy theories. They did not seek endless further inquiries. They buried their dead, comforted the bereaved and succoured the injured. They organised a sensible compensation scheme and moved on."

Popplewell finished by asking: "Is there, perhaps, a lesson there for the Hillsborough campaigners?"

The former judge’s letter followed an emotional Commons debate on Monday which finished with Home Secretary Teresa May pledging to fully disclose files from government discussions of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which killed 96 Liverpool supporters. The government had previously committed to releasing the files, prompted by a petition signed by over 130,000 people.

Steve Rotheram, the Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, reacted angrily to Popplewell’s "ignorant" letter, and pointed out there were critical differences between the disasters.

"How insensitive does somebody have to be to write that load of drivel? It is unbelievable," Rotheram told The Times. "To mention other tragedies simply because they are football-related, as if there is some common denominator just because they happened in football stadiums, beggars belief.

"Was there a conspiracy after the Bradford fire? Did the Government try to blame Bradford City fans for setting fire to the stadium on purpose?"

The Hillsborough campaigners maintain that they are the victim of a cover-up by police and government, who they feel have shifted the blame for their failure to ensure crowd safety on to Liverpool supporters.

Liverpool fans were widely slandered in the media after the event, and a new petition is demanding that The Sun – which viciously smeared them – now disclose its sources.

The most sought-after documents concern a meeting between former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South Yorkshire Police chiefs. Trevor Hicks, president of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: "We believe we are justified to believe that the stitch-up occurred probably on that morning."

Some government papers have already been handed over to the Hillsborough Independent Panel, and Prime Minister David Cameron has promised that the rest will follow. ·