Former West Ham Club Secretary faces trial

Former West Ham United club secretary Graham Mackrell has been charged with health and safety, and safety at sports grounds offences over his involvement in the Hillsborough disaster. The trial of  Mr Mackrell is currently listed to start on 10th September.

Mackrell, who was the Sheffield Wednesday club secretary and safety officer at the time of Hillsborough, told reporters directly after the disaster that a surge of supporters caused a crush on the Leppings Lane terraces. But speaking at the inquests into the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans in Warrington, he said he couldn’t remember who gave him this information and that when he found out it wasn’t true, he did nothing about it.

During the inquest into 96 football fans, Mackrell said he left West Ham for “a number of reasons”. The barrister representing families of the deceased said: “You resigned, didn’t you, because West Ham United, on your watch, had played Emmanuel Omoyinmi, a young footballer, whom one of your staff had failed to register?”  Mr Mackrell said: “I didn’t resign.”