Hillsborough inquests - October 8
The Hillsborough inquests commenced on March 31, 2014 and are the subject of reporting restrictions that have been imposed by the Attorney General's office. Liverpool Football Club is respectful of these restrictions and will therefore only be making available updates from other media channels for the duration of the inquest.
The report below - and the witness testimony contained within it - does not necessarily reflect the views of Liverpool FC. Please be aware that the reports on these pages will contain evidence about the day of the disaster which may be distressing.
To view archive reports from each day of the inquest hearings, click here.
Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo - October 8
A senior Hillsborough officer hadn't had a single day of crowd safety training before working at the FA Cup semi-final which resulted in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
Giving evidence at the inquests, former Superintendent Roger Marshall was asked by Paul Greaney QC, barrister for the Police Federation, if he thought it was a "disgrace" that South Yorkshire Police had not provided him with any crowd safety training.
Mr Marshall said all training was done in accordance with the perceived needs of the situation and that SYP was a "jolly good force".
Mr Greaney asked Mr Marshall if he accepted that this lack of training was "unacceptable", given it was not difficult to predict that gathering crowds generated dangers.
Mr Marshall said it is difficult to apply the standards of today to 1989.
He admitted it would have been a good idea for training to be provided but added: "Now, if you think that [lack of training] it is reprehensible on the part of the force, so be it, but I mean that was the situation that applied."
Referring to the events of the day, Mr Marshall said he believes that himself, match commander David Duckenfield, second-in-command Bernard Murray and superintendent Roger Greenwood had "collective responsibility".
He said he believed it was good practice for match commanders to walk around the stadium on matchday, but when asked by Mr Greaney if he thought it was good practice of Mr Duckenfield not to do that, Mr Marshall refused to criticise him.
The coroner asked Mr Marshall to answer with his view as to whether Mr Duckenfield was not adopting good practice by staying in the police control room during the "critical" period between 2pm and 3pm.
Mr Marshall said: "I honestly don't feel I can answer that question because the control room was the nerve centre of operations on the day. The match commander's job was to oversee those operations.
"Perhaps it is for others to judge whether it was good or bad practice. I really don't know what I would have done in his position."
Asked again if he accepted that remaining in the control box during that critical period wasn't best practice, Mr Marshall said: "Can I say that, with the benefit of hindsight, it was probably not the best practice."
Mr Marshall was also asked by Mr Greaney about his decision to call for the exit gates to be opened at Leppings Lane.
Mr Marshall reiterated that the decision was made in order to relieve the crush that was building up outside the ground before kick-off.
Mr Greaney asked Mr Marshall if he was prepared to accept that Mr Murray and Mr Duckenfield should have put measures in place to deal with the consequences of opening the gates.
Mr Marshall said: "Yes."
He accepted it was a "critical failure" to not arrange for officers to meet the fans who flooded through the gate when it was opened.
Mr Marshall was asked by Mr Greaney if he felt he was entitled to more support from senior officers in the control room, with regards to organising officers to meet those fans.
Mr Marshall said: "Yes I will accept that... but as I said last week it is a regret of mine I didn't tell them to do so, or suggest they do so."
Mr Greaney said: "But at end of day those are the ones who should have been making decisions?"
Mr Marshall said: "Yes."
Proceedings continue.