Shocking footage of fans spilling onto the pitch at Hillsborough EIGHT YEARS before the disaster that killed 96 Liverpool supporters is shown to the jury at match commander's manslaughter trial

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Footage of fans spilling onto a pitch-side track at Hillsborough eight years before the tragedy that killed 96 football supporters has been shown to a jury in Preston.

Match commander on the day the 1989 tragedy, David Duckenfield, 74, and Sheffield Wednesday's safety officer Graham Mackrell, 69, are both on trial.

Footage was shown today of Tottenham fans being allowed on to the pitch perimeter track following a crushing incident on the terrace at the match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1981.

Footage from a match eight years before the Hillsborough disaster shows Tottenham fans at the stadium climbing out of a crowded Leppings Lane End

Footage of the match was shown to the jury to show of an incident in 1981

The jury heard that, on that day, some Tottenham fans were turned away from Leppings Lane

Like the Liverpool-Nottingham Forest match eight years later, that was an FA Cup semi-final being played at a neutral ground.

The 1981 footage shows fans climbing over a fence from a packed Leppings Lane End, where the Liverpool fans were crushed in 1989.

However, the jury heard, on that occasion, fans were turned away from full terraces.

The court also heard from Tottenham fan James Chumley, who said he had been unable to watch the 1981 semi-final because he was stopped from entering the Leppings Lane terrace.

In a letter which Mr Chumley wrote to the club after the match, he said: 'One police officer advised me I was at the "worst end" and that the situation at big games was always the same. In his opinion the capacity of the stand was over declared.'

Ninety-six Liverpool fans attending the FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989 died. 

Ex-match commander David Duckenfield (left), 74, is on trial for the manslaughter of 95 supporters. Graham Mackrell (right), 69, the club secretary at Sheffield Wednesday who also had responsibility for safety, faces two health and safety charges

Outlining key issues in the case today, Jason Beer QC, representing Mackrell, told the jury the former secretary was not charged with anything to do with the construction and layout of the Leppings Lane terrace. 

He said: 'The prosecution, you would have noted, has opened the case on the basis that in many respects the scene was already set for Mr Mackrell by the way this club had developed in the 1970s and 1980s up to his arrival. We strongly agree with that.

'The critical decisions as to the layout of ground, that would in the end have a significant effect on how the crush occurred, had already been taken, been taken by experts, signed off and approved by regulatory authorities long before Mr Mackrell's arrival.'

He added: 'These two charges are to be viewed not with the eyes of 2019 but in relation to what was known before April 15 1989 and the standards of the day then.'

Mr Beer said Mackrell was accused of breaching a condition of the safety certificate by not agreeing the methods of admission for the match with the chief constable or police officer in charge on the day.

But he said it would be the defence case that Brian Mole - who had been the match commander at Hillsborough until he was replaced by Duckenfield less than three weeks before the match - had been aware of the turnstile arrangements, although Mr Mole would not be giving evidence as he was dead.

The court heard from Tottenham Hotspur fan James Chumley, who was stopped from entering the Leppings Lane terrace in 1981. His letter asking for a refund is pictured

Mr Beer told the jury to consider to what extent Mr Mole had determined the planning of football matches, especially FA Cup ties, and the extent to which structural engineer Dr Wilfred Eastwood, who is also now dead, had exercised control over anything to do with the safety of the ground.

Mackrell, of Hertfordshire, denies contravening a term or condition of the stadium's safety certificate, by failing to agree the methods of admission for the match, and failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety Act by not taking reasonable care in respect of arrangements for admission and the drawing up of contingency plans.

Duckenfield, of Bournemouth, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 people at the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the 96th victim, Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after the disaster.

The trial will continue on Monday.

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