Hillsborough inquests - November 12

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 - November 12

The senior officer who stopped the match at Hillsborough told the inquests the latest a football match could be delayed was considered a "matter of judgement" and said safety was "paramount".

But when Roger Greenwood was asked if a match could be delayed once the players were on the pitch, he said "not necessarily".

Giving evidence to Jonathan Hough, counsel to the inquests, Mr Greenwood said that with a crowd of 50,000, the fans' reaction would have to be taken into account.

Last week, the jury heard from retired officer Graham McKay, who said that at a planning meeting held before the 1989 semi-final, Chief Superintendent Brian Mole referred to an instance where kick off was delayed at a similar cup tie. He went on to say that under no circumstances would the kick off be delayed on April 15.

At today's hearing, Mr Hough asked Mr Greenwood if he was aware that before 1989 there had been problems of overcrowding on the Sheffield Wednesday terraces, including Leppings Lane.

Mr Greenwood agreed he was, and accepted that he attended a meeting where police officers had expressed concerns over the Leppings Lane capacity.

He said he was also aware that there was no precise method of monitoring the number of fans entering the Leppings Lane pens, and agreed this could only be done by visual assessment.

He said at a semi-final at the ground in 1981, he believed the primary responsibility for this was on the police control box.

Asked by Mr Hough if it was the same in 1989, he said: "I am not as categoric on that one. I think the primary responsibility lay with ground control but that isn't to say that it was their sole avenue of checking or observation.

"There were other facets to do that in my view that could be utilised."

Mr Hough asked Mr Greenwood if the police at pitch side had a better or worse view to monitor the crowd levels in the pens, compared to police in the control box?

Mr Greenwood said: "I think I would have to say that, probably, the better view would be the officers on the ground on trackside. That would be the better view."

Mr Hough said: "Wouldn't it be difficult because they are looking up into the crowd?"

Mr Greenwood said he thinks the best method was a co-ordinated approach.

Mr Hough said: "Drawing together those various sources of knowledge from those different officers, would it be those in the control box who were able to draw on all the sources of information and make a decision based on the monitoring of the pens, as to whether they were overcrowded?"

Mr Greenwood: "Yes, that's correct."

Mr Greenwood was also asked about a pre-match briefing by David Duckenfield on April 14, after which Mr Greenwood briefed the officers under his own command.

Asked if he highlighted any potential problems with overcrowding on the Leppings Lane terraces, he said he thinks he had made that point.

Asked if his briefing was weighted in terms of public disorder, he said: "I think, in fairness, one possibly would say in that era there was a concentration on public disorder. But I think it's a fine dividing line, you know, between the question of disorder and, you know, the spin off on safety to spectators - and safety is a real issue."

He added that it might be correct he didn't highlight the overcrowding issue, but said that he didn't necessarily need to be as thorough in this briefing as his officers were experienced in policing Hillsborough.

The inquests continue.