Bradford fire: Labour’s Andy Burnham calls for fresh investigation
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Version 0 of 1. Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary and one of the prominent campaigners for justice from the Hillsborough tragedy, has called for a fresh investigation into the Bradford City disaster after the revelations about the club’s former chairman Stafford Heginbotham’s history with major fires. Burnham has also joined Martin Fletcher, the author of a new book about the tragedy that killed 56 football fans at Valley Parade in May 1985, in saying that the Popplewell inquiry into the fire, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was unsatisfactory and “conducted with undue haste”. The now-retired Popplewell has also said the police should reopen their investigation after Fletcher’s book revealed that the tragedy at Valley Parade was the ninth major fire to affect a business either owned, or linked to, Heginbotham in 18 years. Fletcher, who escaped from the inferno but lost three generations of his family, has spent the last 15 years investigating the fire and Popplewell said that the police had a duty to “see if there was anything sinister”. Burnham, widely acclaimed for his campaigning around the Hillsborough disaster, believes the original inquiry was flawed and that the evidence presented by Fletcher merited a new investigation. “These are allegations of the most serious kind, and if a bereaved family member feels that they need to be investigated then they should be,” he told the Guardian. “I have always felt that the original Popplewell inquiry was conducted with undue haste, and there is a concern that these matters were not thoroughly looked into at the time. “I would call on the police to re-examine the quality of the original investigation into the fire at Bradford City, and in the light of this new information, consider whether a new investigation should be reopened.” Popplewell’s inquiry did not just focus on the Bradford fire but also took in the riot that happened on the same day at a game between Birmingham City and Leeds United. The testimony lasted a mere five days and the inquiry was held barely three weeks after the fire. Fletcher’s argument, detailed in Fifty-six: The Story of the Bradford Fire, is that the inquiry was wholly inadequate. Fletcher does not make any direct allegations about Heginbotham but does ask why there was never a criminal investigation into a “mountain of coincidence”. His book also delves into Heginbotham’s financial problems and history of insurance payouts. Popplewell’s conclusion was that the fire was an accident, probably started by a spectator dropping a cigarette into rubbish that had accumulated under an old timber stand. He stands by that ruling, saying there was no evidence of arson, but has admitted that he was never informed of Heginbotham’s history with other blazes. “I don’t think it’s going to affect what we decided but I think it is important from a public point of view that the police look at the other fires and see if there was anything sinister. It is a remarkable number. I think it’s important to satisfy people’s minds that the other fires are unconnected.” West Yorkshire police said the force would consider any new evidence concerning the fire. Det Supt Mark Ridley, of the homicide and major inquiry team, said: “The jury at the inquest in 1985 delivered a verdict of misadventure. However, should any evidence come to light which was not available to Her Majesty’s coroner at the original inquest, then we will consider its significance and take appropriate action.” The secretary of the Bradford City supporters’ club at the time of the fire, Patsy Hollinger, said he considered Fletcher’s book to be the truth and called on the people of the city to demand a full inquiry. Addressing critics of the book, he told the Guardian: “Don’t these people think about the 56 people, good people, who were killed and want the truth? Get it out. Let’s get it in the papers, get it right and let everyone know the true story, at last. Liverpool got the truth with Hillsborough and, now, finally, it’s our turn. We can’t waste this opportunity.” Janice Lloyd was the policewoman who was assigned as the Fletchers’ family liaison officer after the tragedy, at the age of 19. She has kept in touch with the family ever since and praised him for writing a book. “It’s how strongly Martin feels and I think if he gets some answers he will get closure because at the minute the impression is he doesn’t have that closure.” |