Hillsborough inquests: Fans leaving stadium after disaster called police 'murderers'

Police carrying dead and injured people were called "murderers" by Liverpool fans in the minutes after the Hillsborough disaster, a court has heard.

The inquests into the deaths of 96 men, women and children heard evidence from police officers on duty on the day of the disaster.

Anthony Humphries, an inspector for South Yorkshire Police, was one of 1,100 officers detailed to police the FA Cup semi-final. He was in charge of about 30 sergeants and constables working outside the stadium but responded to a request over his radio for all police to go to the ground.

The witness told the court how he saw a "pile of bodies" in the corner of one of the pens and tried to bring them out from the terrace.

"We were putting injured people on one side and people we thought were dead we put just on the other side," he said.

Mr Humphries said fans before the game were excited and happy but that the mood of the fans changed after the crush in a "very highly charged" situation.

He said: "They were very, very angry. At first I couldn't quite understand it... They were really, really angry, blaming us for being murderers and things like that and shouting and swearing. There was some spitting. But there were a lot of them shaking fists and shouting abuse. I suppose, having seen what they had seen…"

The witness, who has never previously been called to give evidence about his experiences on the day, was asked who he thought was in charge of the response to the disaster.

He replied: "The radio was basically everybody talking at once. There didn't seem to be anybody that was actually pulling it together. There were loads of people trying to get through, trying to talk… and basically where we went and where we pulled the people through, I accepted responsibility and took charge in there.

"Christina Lambert QC, counsel to the inquests, asked: "Did you ever receive instructions from anyone more senior than you as to what to do?"

"No," he replied.

Mr Humphries said he had seen fans drinking beer and bottles of wine in the street before the game kicked-off and remembers being "continually asked for directions to licenced premises".

However, he said nobody was drunk or disorderly.

"There was no nastiness and nobody incapable. They were just drinking and basically up for a good day," he said.

The court also heard there was a complaint from a resident that supporters were urinating in her garden.

Mr Humphries told the court he had attended but did not find any trouble.

Reports about fans drinking were not included in the former inspector's pocket notebook but did appear in a later statement, the court heard.

Mr Humphries said nothing influenced the contents of his report apart from being asked general questions about fans' behaviour.