Hillsborough trial: Duckenfield may have medical reason for 'lack of emotion'
Judge Sir Peter Openshaw directed the jury to not take Duckenfield's "demeanour" in court as an indication聽of his state of mind.
Friday 25 October 2019 16:09, UK
Jurors in the trial of David Duckenfield, the match commander on the day of the Hillsborough disaster, have been told there may be a "medical explanation" for his lack of emotion throughout the case.
Duckenfield, a retired police chief superintendent for South Yorkshire Police, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans in April 1989.
He was not charged over the death of the 96th victim Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after the disaster.
On Friday, Judge Sir Peter Openshaw directed the jury at Preston Crown Court to not take his "appearance and demeanour" in court as an indication of his state of mind.
He explained that on the basis of medical expert opinion, it is recognised that Duckenfield is a sufferer of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Speaking before evidence from Dolores Steele, whose 15-year-old son Philip died in the disaster, Sir Peter said: "My prediction is that Mr Duckenfield will show no emotion at all, because he has not shown any physical reaction at all throughout the trial.
"You may have noticed that and you may have thought it strange, or even odd, but there may be a medical explanation for that and I think it fair that you should have it now before we go any further and, in particular, before we hear evidence from Mrs Steele."
Mrs Steele proceeded to tell the court she had been sitting in the West Stand of the stadium with her husband Les as their sons, Philip and Brian, 13, had standing tickets for the terraces below them.
She said she knew something was "wrong" in the central pens of the terrace and later saw fans being carried onto the pitch before an ambulance arrived.
She said: "To my mind, that pitch just became a battlefield. People were coming out of the gate and then they were just lying on the pitch.
"I saw two people's heads being covered up and I presumed they had died."
She and her husband later found Brian in the concourse of the ground but did not find Philip until they identified his body in the gymnasium at around 9.30pm.
The court also heard from Liverpool Ian McDermott, who said he had been caught in the crush in pen three of the terraces. He described struggling to breathe and losing consciousness.
He said: "When I knew I was going, obviously that was extremely terrifying. I can still visualise that today, that's never left.
"I've been told by doctors it was pre-death terror."
He was taken to hospital after being resuscitated at the ground, the court heard.