Turnstile operator 'feared for his life' at Hillsborough

A turnstile operator has described fearing for his life as a crush developed at the Leppings Lane entrance to Hillsborough stadium in 1989.

Stephen Copeland told the fresh inquests into the deaths of 96 men, women and children that he believed the turnstiles were "coming down" and let people in without tickets.

Speaking on a videolink from Aberdeen, he said:

Mr Copeland initially said between 150 and 200 people came through his turnstile without tickets, jumped over, had wrong tickets or were allowed in without checking.

He later accepted he had overestimated the figure.

The court heard a police officer had initially been ejecting those without tickets but he later disappeared.

Mr Copeland said: "I didn't have a police officer there to eject them once they came through. There was no option but for them to go through. It would have taken longer for them to jump over or climb over, tailgate. It was too long. It was just too much.

"The turnstiles felt to me as though they were coming down. The crush, the fear, the scared, from my own point of view as well, I just kept my foot on that pedal and I get them through as fast as I possibly could."The witness said he believed overcrowding in the west stand and late, ticketless fans had contributed to the disaster.

"Everybody that I've talked with and I had a laugh and a joke with prior to 2 o'clock had come early enough and was stood at the front of the west stand. My own personal view is that people that came too late without tickets crushed them," he said.

Pete Weatherby QC, representing 22 bereaved families, said: "There came a time when it simply became your task to let as many people through as possible. At that point it wasn't relevant to you whether they showed you a ticket or not?"

Mr Copeland replied: "At that time it wasn't relevant because I feared for their lives. They were telling me that people had died outside. And I feared for my own life."

The barrister asked: "Is it right that in fact you couldn't let them in quick enough because there simply weren't enough turnstiles?"

"Yes," he replied.

Mr Weatherby continued: "It’s right that you as a turnstile operator were reliant on the police, both outside the turnstile in regulating the fans to go through your turnstile in some kind of order, and in fact for some support on the other side of the turnstiles; is that right?"

The witness said: "Yes. I'd always believed that the police on the outside of the turnstiles were checking for any dangers as well as checking for a ticket in their hand. And if you can get past them, then there’s no hope for me. I can't stop them."