"We must learn from Hillsborough and change, but already these look like hollow words as miscarriages of justice continue to be turned down for Independent Panel Inquiries." Nicole Gbangbola
Former Cabinet minister Mr Burnham is campaigning for changes to the law to ensure parity of funding for bereaved families at inquests and a new duty for public servants to act with "candour and frankness" and assist inquiries and investigations.
At the event, organised by Andy Burnham MP he said he wanted the Hillsborough inquests to mark "a fundamental rebalancing of the scales in favour of ordinary families" but "I don't think that's happened".
"I think the system has gone back to the bad old ways.”
Parents of Zane Gbangbola who are calling for a Hillsborough style Independent Panel Inquiry into their son’s death gave a deeply emotional update, to a packed room, on their fight for TruthAboutZane.
In a heart-breaking speech which had many of the audience, struggling to keep their emotions in check, Kye Gbangbola said “As a family we believed compassion was an essential element of Natural British justice, however we weep at the unrelenting cruelty that has been heaped upon Zane, and us as a family.”
Speaking about their profound concerns by the conduct, the content and the outcome of Zane’s inquest, he said, “Zane had unalienable rights to life and a beautiful future. He was let down, and by definition we were all let down. Because this could have happened to anyone. 80% of us live within 2 Km of landfill and flooding is happening everywhere. The Environment Agency (EA) own properties next door to us and secretly protected them from migrating landfill gasses with gas proof membranes. An EA report at this time; four years before Zane died, stated the migrating gases from the adjacent landfill, have a high risk of causing death and serious injury. The EA protected themselves and hid the danger from the public.”
“In addition to various areas of critical evidence being hidden; we had 5 QC’s from different authorities against us. Whilst we had to beg, borrow, and crowd fund £70K to pay for representation, right up to the day of Zane’s Inquest, because legal aid was refused 3 times. The other QC’s and barrister’s, some of the best in the country, used public money like water.”
He told the event in Parliament: "Nothing every changed without people calling for it. That’s what the ‘Hillsborough law’ does and that’s what Hillsborough families and the inquests did, and that’s what truth about Zane will do.”
"We are simple people but we are fighters," he said.
"Greater effort is definitely needed in all our cases to ensure that there is a level playing field when these controversial cases arise. These were PM Teresa May’s sentiments immediately the Hillsborough verdict of ‘unlawful killings’ were announced.
He said, “nearly a year on, nothing has changed and cases of significant wider public interest are summarily rejected for the Independent Panel Inquiries they need for justice.
Andy Burnham MP said he had reviewed the case files and ‘This was a flawed inquest,’ and ‘Justice has not been served in this case.’
The audience also heard from representatives of organisation including the Hillsborough Family Support Group, the Orgreave Truth And Justice Campaign and Justice4the21 Campaign, Shrewsbury 24 Campaign, Sean Rigg Justice & Change Campaign, amongst others.
Julie Hambleton, who lost her 18-year-old sister Maxine in the Birmingham Pub Bombings and who is the spokesperson for Justice4the 21 said, “the killers are still at liberty.”
She went on the say “there had to be a fundamental change in the way victims were treated.”
She said: "There must be a paradigm shift in how the Government supports representatives of bereaved families and survivors of crime where the state are believed to be involved.
Alongside Ms Hambleton was Christopher Stanley of KRW LAW LLP who said “the relatives of the victims, ignored since 1974, had to come to Belfast to instruct a Northern Ireland firm of solicitors.”
“All the work carried out by both solicitors and counsel has been pro bono for 2 and a half years.”
Families of the Birmingham pub bombings victims have won a major legal battle to change the law, which means they can now apply for legal aid for representation at fresh hearings into the 1974 double bombings.
Margaret Aspinall CBE and spokesperson for the Hillsborough Family Support Group suffered the ‘unlawful killing’ of her 18 year-old son James in the 1989 crush. She spoke of how they had to raise £150,000 to get a barrister for the inquest. She told how 42 families had to find £3,000 as some of the families had nothing to give.
Her main call was for the Government to create a level playing field for bereaved families in legal fights: “You have to change things in this country for the good of the ordinary people because if they can cover up 96 collective deaths what can they do to individuals?
Mr Burnham said without proper representation, highly paid lawyers representing the state were able to "discredit" and "cast aspersions" about victims and their families.
"The lawyers, hired at public expense, don't just represent their clients they actively seek to discredit the bereaved."
I would cite in support of that the decision to refuse an inquiry into what happened in Orgreave, I would also cite in support of that the treatment of those who lost loved ones in the Birmingham pub bombings."
Home Secretary Amber Rudd last year rejected an inquiry into the violent "Battle of Orgreave" clash between police and striking miners at the coking plant in Orgreave, South Yorkshire.
"The case for an inquiry is just overwhelming," Mr Burnham said.
"The injustice of the decision still burns pretty strongly."
Mr Burnham, who is introducing a "Hillsborough Bill" in March in an attempt to secure the legal changes he is campaigning for, said: "The sad truth is that bereaved families are still going through today the same experience that Hillsborough families went through 27 years ago.”
"They are forced to scrape together their own legal costs and find themselves up against top QCs hired at great public expense by public bodies.
"It is not a level playing field and it does not secure truth and justice.
"That is why we are calling today for the law to change."
At the event, organised by Andy Burnham MP he said he wanted the Hillsborough inquests to mark "a fundamental rebalancing of the scales in favour of ordinary families" but "I don't think that's happened".
"I think the system has gone back to the bad old ways.”
Parents of Zane Gbangbola who are calling for a Hillsborough style Independent Panel Inquiry into their son’s death gave a deeply emotional update, to a packed room, on their fight for TruthAboutZane.
In a heart-breaking speech which had many of the audience, struggling to keep their emotions in check, Kye Gbangbola said “As a family we believed compassion was an essential element of Natural British justice, however we weep at the unrelenting cruelty that has been heaped upon Zane, and us as a family.”
Speaking about their profound concerns by the conduct, the content and the outcome of Zane’s inquest, he said, “Zane had unalienable rights to life and a beautiful future. He was let down, and by definition we were all let down. Because this could have happened to anyone. 80% of us live within 2 Km of landfill and flooding is happening everywhere. The Environment Agency (EA) own properties next door to us and secretly protected them from migrating landfill gasses with gas proof membranes. An EA report at this time; four years before Zane died, stated the migrating gases from the adjacent landfill, have a high risk of causing death and serious injury. The EA protected themselves and hid the danger from the public.”
“In addition to various areas of critical evidence being hidden; we had 5 QC’s from different authorities against us. Whilst we had to beg, borrow, and crowd fund £70K to pay for representation, right up to the day of Zane’s Inquest, because legal aid was refused 3 times. The other QC’s and barrister’s, some of the best in the country, used public money like water.”
He told the event in Parliament: "Nothing every changed without people calling for it. That’s what the ‘Hillsborough law’ does and that’s what Hillsborough families and the inquests did, and that’s what truth about Zane will do.”
"We are simple people but we are fighters," he said.
"Greater effort is definitely needed in all our cases to ensure that there is a level playing field when these controversial cases arise. These were PM Teresa May’s sentiments immediately the Hillsborough verdict of ‘unlawful killings’ were announced.
He said, “nearly a year on, nothing has changed and cases of significant wider public interest are summarily rejected for the Independent Panel Inquiries they need for justice.
Andy Burnham MP said he had reviewed the case files and ‘This was a flawed inquest,’ and ‘Justice has not been served in this case.’
The audience also heard from representatives of organisation including the Hillsborough Family Support Group, the Orgreave Truth And Justice Campaign and Justice4the21 Campaign, Shrewsbury 24 Campaign, Sean Rigg Justice & Change Campaign, amongst others.
Julie Hambleton, who lost her 18-year-old sister Maxine in the Birmingham Pub Bombings and who is the spokesperson for Justice4the 21 said, “the killers are still at liberty.”
She went on the say “there had to be a fundamental change in the way victims were treated.”
She said: "There must be a paradigm shift in how the Government supports representatives of bereaved families and survivors of crime where the state are believed to be involved.
Alongside Ms Hambleton was Christopher Stanley of KRW LAW LLP who said “the relatives of the victims, ignored since 1974, had to come to Belfast to instruct a Northern Ireland firm of solicitors.”
“All the work carried out by both solicitors and counsel has been pro bono for 2 and a half years.”
Families of the Birmingham pub bombings victims have won a major legal battle to change the law, which means they can now apply for legal aid for representation at fresh hearings into the 1974 double bombings.
Margaret Aspinall CBE and spokesperson for the Hillsborough Family Support Group suffered the ‘unlawful killing’ of her 18 year-old son James in the 1989 crush. She spoke of how they had to raise £150,000 to get a barrister for the inquest. She told how 42 families had to find £3,000 as some of the families had nothing to give.
Her main call was for the Government to create a level playing field for bereaved families in legal fights: “You have to change things in this country for the good of the ordinary people because if they can cover up 96 collective deaths what can they do to individuals?
Mr Burnham said without proper representation, highly paid lawyers representing the state were able to "discredit" and "cast aspersions" about victims and their families.
"The lawyers, hired at public expense, don't just represent their clients they actively seek to discredit the bereaved."
I would cite in support of that the decision to refuse an inquiry into what happened in Orgreave, I would also cite in support of that the treatment of those who lost loved ones in the Birmingham pub bombings."
Home Secretary Amber Rudd last year rejected an inquiry into the violent "Battle of Orgreave" clash between police and striking miners at the coking plant in Orgreave, South Yorkshire.
"The case for an inquiry is just overwhelming," Mr Burnham said.
"The injustice of the decision still burns pretty strongly."
Mr Burnham, who is introducing a "Hillsborough Bill" in March in an attempt to secure the legal changes he is campaigning for, said: "The sad truth is that bereaved families are still going through today the same experience that Hillsborough families went through 27 years ago.”
"They are forced to scrape together their own legal costs and find themselves up against top QCs hired at great public expense by public bodies.
"It is not a level playing field and it does not secure truth and justice.
"That is why we are calling today for the law to change."
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