Hillsborough trial: 'Extraordinarily bad failings' by match commander David Duckenfield caused fatal crush, court hears

Mr Matthews calls the loss of life "appalling" and says the scale of tragedy was "extraordinary".

"Undoubtedly each of the deceased, and all 50,000 who attended, were entitled to rely upon those who had such responsibility to discharge it, to have carried out their jobs with appropriate care and having regard to the safety of all. Each of the deceased has been failed by many in many ways, over a protracted period of time - before, during and even after this disaster."

Mr Matthews says it's the prosecution's case that none of the individual failures that also contributed to the deaths of the 96 men, women and children lessen Mr Duckenfield's "gross failure" to discharge his responsiblity to ensure their safety.

"Mr Duckenfield's criminal responsiblity for the deaths of the 95 flows from his gross failure to discharge his responsibility as match commander," he says, accusing Mr Duckenfield of failings in planning, roles, responsiblity and command of the match.

The prosecutor says the arrival of thousands of fans into a confined area in a short time before kick-off was "uncontrolled, unsupervised" and resulted in the forcing of "far too many people into a terribly confined space".

Mr Matthews says no one was charged with monitoring numbers for safety and that officials had been ordered to keep access gates to the pitch closed, and only open them with the command of a senior officer.

"Mr Duckenfield owed a duty to each of those who died, to take reasonable care to discharge his duty as match commander for the safety of spectators" for entry, filling of and departure from the stadium, he tells the jury.

Mr Matthews says the Leppings Lane end of the ground was where about 24,000 Liverpool fans were directed.

"Almost inevitably bearing in mind what was in place there, but certainly the prosecution allege reasonably forseeably, even obviously, there became pressure to get through limited turnstiles and a bottleneck of a crowd."

Mr Matthews says an exit gate known as Gate C was opened following requests for Mr Duckenfield to do something to alleviate the crush just outside the gates, and fears people would be crushed outside the stadium

"He didn't at any time cause the start of the match to be put back wtih a view to avoiding any crush at the turnstiles or calm the desire of a large crowd seeking entry to the match," he adds.

"Beyond gate C, fans were confronted by a prominent sign labelled 'standing' in front of a tunnel leading to two pens."

Pens 3 and 4, the central pens behind the goal, were fenced with no visible exit, he says.

All 10,100 tickets for the terraces at Leppings Lane were marked standing. By the time Mr Duckenfield ordered gate C to be opened they were "packed", Mr Matthews tells the jury, but "at no time" did the commander do anything to check capacity.

"He did nothing to ensure those pens or their capacity were monitored, he did nothing to ensure the crowd were directed in any way into emptier pens or that most critically access to the tunnel leading to pens 3 and 4 was stopped or even inhibited to prevent what was the inevitable crush of fans, effectively carried down the slope of a tunnel into the packed pens."

Mr Matthews says the crowd were "naturally drawn" into the pens and Mr Duckenfield "gave no thought to that inevitable consequence of the flood of people through Gate C. He made no attempt to even monitor what was occuring, let alone take a step to avert the tragedy."

Mr Matthews says the jury may hear that some of Mr Duckenfield's failings in the aftermath of the crushing were also "exceptionally bad" but the prosecution's case that his failure to show reasonable care as match commander prior to 3.05pm when the crushing had already occured, that failure was a significant cause of the deaths.

"His failings substantially led to the pressure of crushing in pens 3 and 4 that caused the fatal injuries to all those whose lives were lost," he adds.

Mr Matthews is now moving onto Graham Mackrell, Sheffield Wednesday’s safety officer, who he says "was in a position of real responsibility for managing how the club followed the safety guidance in what was known as the Green Guide – A Home Office publication entitled ‘Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Football)’."

The prosecution brings two charges against him – the first relates to the club’s breach of one of the terms of its safety certificate, the prosecutior says.

The Safety of Sports Grounds Act in 1975 required that certain designated sports stadia, with a capacity of more than 10,000 spectators, were required to hold a safety certificate and that violating the conditions was an offence

Hillsborough stadium was granted a safety certificate in 1979 by Sheffield County Council, Mr Matthews says. It set out various conditions, including to ensure the safe operation of the stadium for large crowds