Hillsborough Slurs Probe: Andy Burnham Vows Civil Servants Who Made 'Sickening' Wikipedia Edits 'Will Be Held To Account'

Hillsborough Slurs Probe: Andy Burnham Vows Civil Servants Who Made 'Sickening' Wikipedia Edits 'Will Be Held To Account'
The Huffington Post UK/PA | Posted: 26/04/2014 09:52 BST | Updated: 26/04/2014 09:59 BST

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/26/hillsborough-slurs-probe-andy-burnham-wikipedia_n_5217182.html

Hillsborough campaigner Andy Burnham has vowed to hold to account the "rogue civil servant" responsible for using government computers to post "sickening" comments about the football disaster.

The Liverpool-born MP and relatives' groups will monitor an investigation into who was behind inflammatory and offensive changes about the 1989 tragedy on the website Wikipedia.

The Liverpool Echo revealed that computers on a secure government network were used to make the amendments.

The newspaper said revisions to the online encyclopaedia began five years ago on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, and again in 2012.

Among the changes to the Hillsborough section was an insertion saying "Blame Liverpool fans", and two years ago the phrase "You'll never walk alone" was altered to "You'll never walk again" and later "You'll never w*** alone."

The Cabinet Office warned it may not be possible to identify those responsible, saying the passage of time and the number of people using the Whitehall intranet would make finding them "challenging".

But Mr Burnham, MP for Leigh and shadow health secretary, said he would not accept "fudges".

He told the Echo: "There's no party politics in this, there never has been, it's way beyond that. As I've said before, the families have been let down by all sides over the years and now nothing must be allowed to set things back.

"We need these individuals named and they need to be held to account. It's unacceptable for a civil servant, a rogue civil servant probably, to have behaved in this way, if that's what the inquiry finds.

"The Government offered for me to be involved and I'm willing to take part. As ever, my main concern will be the families, their welfare and having right done by them.

"I'm not going to let anything stand in the way of that. I won't accept second best and I won't accept fudges, my objective is to find out who did this and for them to be held to account."

The Cabinet Office said an investigation had begun, led by Permanent Secretary Richard Heaton, and that the matter was being treated with "utmost seriousness".

It said "important stakeholders" including the Hillsborough Family Support Group, the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Hillsborough Disaster and Mr Burnham would be kept updated of any findings.

A spokeswoman said: "The amendments made to Wikipedia are sickening. The behaviour is in complete contravention of the Civil Service Code. It is entirely unacceptable."

She added: "At this time, we have no reason to suspect that the Hillsborough edits involve any particular department, nor more than one or two individuals in 2009 and 2012."

I have no time for Burnham or his politics, but good luck to him in bringing some truth of this despicable cover up out into the public domain.

Hear hear, ms!

malena stool wrote:I have no time for Burnham or his politics, but good luck to him in bringing some truth of this despicable cover up out into the public domain.

They will be able to tell from the IP address on the edit which computer was used.  Then all they have to do is look at the log in records of all of the staff that day.  It will probably be a time consuming exercise more than anything else.  Of course some people may have left that employment since then, or died, but it should still be possible to find out who was responsible.

Iris wrote:

malena stool wrote:I have no time for Burnham or his politics, but good luck to him in bringing some truth of this despicable cover up out into the public domain.

They will be able to tell from the IP address on the edit which computer was used.  Then all they have to do is look at the log in records of all of the staff that day.  It will probably be a time consuming exercise more than anything else.  Of course some people may have left that employment since then, or died, but it should still be possible to find out who was responsible.

Thanks Iris.
Once identified they should make an example of the culprit, whover it is.

SACKING THEM,GIVE THEM NO BENEFITS WILL SEE TO THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOUR.

Badboy wrote:SACKING THEM,GIVE THEM NO BENEFITS WILL SEE TO THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOUR.

These are the same people who will claim at the drop of a hat that they are overworked. Plainly they have time to use their workstations to surf the net posting inflamatory comments.

HR staff at one site I worked at used to take off their identity badges and go into town to do their shopping. It was pointless blowing the whistle...their manager was doing it also.

THE INDIVIDUAL CONCERNED HAVE BEEN TRACED AND SACKED.

Badboy wrote:THE INDIVIDUAL CONCERNED HAVE BEEN TRACED AND SACKED.

But sadly not named and shamed...