The jury that heard the prosecution of David Duckenfield at Preston crown court failed to reach a verdict in April on their eighth day of deliberations, following 10 weeks of evidence heard between 14 January and 25 March. Duckenfield was charged with manslaughter in relation to 95 of the 96 people killed by the crush at the semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium. Richard Matthews QC, the lead barrister for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, on the day the jury failed to reach its verdict that the CPS intended to seek a retrial of Duckenfield. Benjamin Myers QC, representing Duckenfield, told Openshaw he would be opposing the application. Mackrell negligently allocated too few turnstiles, only seven, for the 10,100 people with tickets to stand and support Liverpool on the Leppings Lane terrace, and only 23 turnstiles altogether for the 24,000 people with tickets allocated to Liverpool supporters.

Source: The Guardian June 24, 2019 06:00 UTC