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Surname CUTLER
/03£/F orenames
Age
Address
Qc cupat ion
T elephone
IC
Hair colour
ij^^r type
Eyes
Facial hair
Glasses
Number of Pages
Dated
DAVID ANTHONY
38
HQ CCLO
POL P C -1274
EXT 3362
Height
Use
Date of birth
Build
Complexion
Ac cent
Si gned
On Saturday 15 April 1989 (150489), I was on duty in full uniform for
the FA Semi Final Nottingham Forest V Liverpool. I commenced duty at
8 am that date parading at West Bar Police Station.
tfi+ m -CI was assigned to SERIAL 14 under the supervision of PS 690 Hall, our
duties were outlind as ’busing’ of fans from Midland Railway Station
to the Hillsborough Football Ground. The briefing was held at 9 am
and the duties at Midland Railway Station commenced.at about 11 a m .
PS Hall, SERIAL 14, including myself were engaged on the duties of
placing the arriving fans from the trains on the buses to be taken
straight to the ground and there were no incidents, the fans being in
a good mood. Several of the serial accompanied the fans on the buses
PAGE 2S32S7
to the Football Ground and back, but I remained at the g^ ^ ^ n unti 1
we were instructed to leave at about 2.35 pm.Leave au aboul cl.-3z> di
At 2.40 pm that date along with other officers of the serial I boarded
one of the buses and we were taken to Hillsborough Football Ground via
j_eppings Lane. As we passed the Leppings Iy4ne entrance to the ground
I could see clearly from the top deck of/The bus, a large number of. /
fans outside the Leppings Lane entrance' trying to get into the ground.
/The crowd was squashed up against th^ inner wall to the ground and I
/saw a Policeman on horseback trying/to get the crowd back. The smal1
number of officers on duty at thi# entrance were far out numbered by
the fans a nd had an impossible task in trying to control the numbers,/
The fans were climbing on walIs and anything they could find in
attempts to gaTn entrance t o ^ h e ground. The fans were in a wedge
stretching from the inner w^ll of the ground right out and into the//
Leppings Lane. The time oi this sighting would have been about 2.50
iThe bus we were on thefi went into Penis tone Road, the main entrance to
/ 1 l_” " irn/
the ground, were there were only a handful of fans still outside thef
gates. We then went/into the ground by this entrance and went
straight into the gymnasium w hich is situated under the North Stand.
Our serial was than on standby in the gymnasium from about 3 pm
onwards, the serjfal was complete.
At 3.Q4 om our serial was instructed by a senior officer to go to the
Leppings Lane efnd stand immediately and give assistance to other
officers re th® crowd.
\
PAGE 3S3287
We all left the gymnasium and walked in front of the North Stand*
along the walkway at the side of the pitch, the game at this time was
in progress. I could see at a point half way long the North Stand
that a number of fans had climbed on to the pitch in front of the
Leppings Lane stand. I could see fans still clambering over the stand
barriers and on to the pitch all the time we were making our
way towards that end of the ground.
Myself and other officers cut across the pitch some 40-50 yards from
the Leppings Lane stand and were met with hysterical fans of all ages
screaming and saying "they are dying in there," indicating the
Leppings Lane stand. Myself and the rest of the serial then made our
way through the fans on the pitch and up to the railings of that
stand. At this time I was close to PC E611 Parkin, but shortly after
reaching the fence I lost sight of PC Parkin.
At the fence I could see row upon row of fans pushing and being
pushed forward into the fence. Lots of fans were being squashed and
trampled by other fans either up against the fence or in front of it.
I could see that many people up against the fence were being squashed
to death, their bodies pressed that tightly up against the fencing
that they could not breathe. I climbed on to the small concrete wall
at the bottom of the fence and managed to pull several people over the
barbed wire of the high fencing onto the pitch. If they could not
walk I took them well on to the pitch and rendered first aid, then
returning to the fence to repet the procedure. Fans and Police
Officers were doing the same as myself while some fans were managing
to climb over the fence themselves onto the pitch to safety.
The unconscious and semi-conscious were rendered first aid and placed
PAGE 4S32S7
in the coma position. I organised other partially injured fans along
with some stewards to continue the assistance to those left on the
pitch whilst I returned each time to the fence.
Sometime during this I met up with PC Parkin again and he informed me
that it appeared that several people were dead inside the enclosure.
I went with him up to the fence at a point to the left of the
Leppings Lane goal, there I saw dozens of people with their fac^s
squashed up against the fencing, their faces grey, they were
unconscious but held upright by the pressure of the people behind them.
It was impossible to get to these people as the wire fencing was
between us and there was a barbed wire section of the fencing at the
top bending over back into the stand making it impossible to reach
over.
I then }ost sight of PC Parkin and engaged in the recovery of anyone I
could reach from behind the fencing. At this time there were no
ijb * senior officers organising the manpower, police and fans and stewards
scene, it was left, to the individual to effect escape forat th”
the fans. I can recall at leat one male w ho was lifted on to the
pitch and he appeared dead, he was carried well into the pitch where
his breathing and pulse were checked, he was grey and cold, a man who
stated he was a doctor came up to me and pronounced life extinct. I
removed this male from the pitch with the assistance of the fans on an
advertising board that had been ripped from nearby to the gymnasium.
^ j was instructed to remain with the body for a while while officers on----------- T T f ® & rtZotirl
a Ajj duty in the gymnasium, including KS McSloy and KS Buxton, acted as
f a J t N * coroners officers. I was instructed to write my name and rank on the
J hand of the deceased and return to the ground which I did, Of ^ ------------------------
- a v
0 ° '
PAGE 5S3287
I returned to the fence of Leppings Lane and at some stage either
before or after going to the gymnasium organised fans to kick the wire
fencing down at a point to the right of the Leppings Lane goal, this
was then used to recover people from the stand.
I then joined other officers to form a line across the centre of the
pitch.
I can state that initially when we passed the Leppings Lane entrance
to the ground I could see several fans obviously drunk, wandering
about or stood with cans of beer in their hands. Also I can state
that a large number of those fans I came into contact with, either
unscathed, conscious or semi conscious smelt at alchaal and some were
drunk. Those that were drunk were causing problems for the people
effecting the rescues, by shouting swearing and even assaulting Police
officers. I do distinguish between those that were drunk and
those fans that were grief stricken and overwhelmed by the events. On
the whole the fans were tremendous in their effort to assist.
Also during the period I assisted friends and relatives to find others
lost and comforted those people who were suffering greatly to the
point of collapse due to the loss and trauma of the events.
At some stage during the events of the afternoon I stayed a while near
to the gymnasium under the rear of the North Stand to recover from the
shock of the incident.
At about 5 pm when things were becoming a little more organised I was
instructed to go into the North Stand with other officer where a si^ort
de briefing took place and I completed a statement of evidence which I
PAGES3287
have still retained. (completed at 5.50 pm).
I. returned to West Bar Police Station at 7 pm, that date and went off
duty at 8 pm.
D A CUTLER POL PC 1274 SIGNED
STATEMENT TAKEN PLACE;
TIME: DATE:
WITNESS TO SIGNATURE:
OFFICERS SIGNATURE:
END OF REPORT
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