David Dinsmore 'must go' - sister of Hillsborough victim calls for ex-Sun editor to stand down as parkun trustee
Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham died in the football stadium disaster, said she will be protesting at Birkenhead parkrun
The former Secretary of the Hillsborough Family Support Group** has called for new parkrun trustee David Dinsmore to step down from his role.
Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham was killed during the football stadium disaster in 1989, said she is “absolutely disgusted” by the appointment of the former editor of The Sun.
parkrun, which holds weekly events at which people can run, walk or wheel their way round 5km at 9am on Saturday mornings, named David Dinsmore as a trustee earlier this month.
The move has led to criticism from some volunteers and runners at the free event, despite parkrun calling him an “outstanding” candidate.
The charity held a Q&A with Mr Dinsmore earlier this week in an attempt to address some of the issues raised.
Mr Dinsmore edited The Sun from 2013 to 2015 before being promoted to Chief Operating Officer of News UK - a position he still holds.
During his time at the newspaper, Mr Dinsmore defended the publication of Page 3 girls leading to him being named Sexist of the Year by End Violence Against Women in 2014.
He was later found guilty of breaking the law after the paper inadvertently identified the victim of a sexual offence while under his watch.
The Sun remains hugely unpopular on Merseyside due to the way it reported the Hillsborough disaster.
On April 15, 1989, during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, a crush at the stadium in Sheffield developed into the UK's worst sporting disaster.
Ninety-four people died, with another dying in hospital days later, and another in 1993. In July 2021, a coroner ruled Andrew Devine, who died 32 years after suffering severe and irreversible brain damage on the day, was the 97th victim.
Following the disaster, The Sun published a front page story under the headline ‘The Truth’ which claimed Liverpool fans urinated on police, pick-pocketed dead victims and prevented officers giving the kiss of life to some of those injured.
The allegations were untrue and people on Merseyside were left so angry that the newspaper is still boycotted there to this day.
Mr Dinsmore did not start his career in newspapers until 1991, when he joined the Scottish Sun, but his relationship with The Sun and News UK makes him a divisive figure.
Ms Roberts, who regularly attends Birkenhead parkun, told Running Tales: “I have nothing but respect for the volunteers at my local parkrun. I don’t want it to suffer, but I’m absolutely disgusted.
“My objection is to who he is, who he has worked for and what they stand for, and the damage they do to everyday people.
“They did it pre-Hillsborough, during Hillsborough and after Hillsborough.
“Surely now he has seen the objections he will step back.”
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She added: “Anybody with an ounce of decency wouldn’t have gone to The Sun after Hillsborough. Now he’s a bigwig, rubbing shoulders with the top people. He’s there in the thick of it.
“That pixelated picture of the young girl should never have been used. What was he thinking? You can’t defend that.
“He wanted Page 3 to continue. He’s not the sort of person who has any of the ethos of parkrun.”
Ms Roberts, who has run parkruns in New Zealand and even made a donation to Birkenhead parkrun just days before she found out about Mr Dinsmore’s appointment, had originally planned to boycott the event completely.
However, following conversations with other parkrunners, she now intends to show her dissent by finishing the event, but not handing over her barcode.
Barcodes at parkrun are used to determine which position someone finishes in, and help keep track of their times and position.
Ms Roberts said: “I don’t want this to ruin my weekend, but the barcode idea works for me.
“We get 600 runners at Birkenhead parkrun. If I don’t turn up, it makes no impact.
“I would be losing out and wouldn’t be supporting my community. I love all the runners and volunteers.
“Why should I miss out when it would have no impact on him [Mr Dinsmore]?
“If I don’t hand in my barcode, and others don’t, that would have an impact. If 1,000 people did that then maybe parkrun would take notice.
“I’m on about 60 parkruns and was hoping to reach 100, but I don’t need another t-shirt.”
She said other runners were thinking about wearing parkrun milestone t-shirts inside out, and adding an anti-Dinsmore slogan to them.
“I will definitely run with a message,” she said. “Something like ‘Bin the barcode, shun The Sun. David Dinsmore is not welcome’.”
During parkrun’s Q&A session, Mr Dinsmore said he had been parkrunning since around 2009 and had taken part in 280 events.
He told listeners he had always been “massively passionate” about parkrun, adding: “It is one of the defining moments of my week.”
Calling his new position a “dream trusteeship,” he said he was really excited about the potential of parkrun.
During the session, Mr Dinsmore addressed concerns over his role at The Sun, including his backing of Page 3 and the newspaper’s publication of a pixelated, but ultimately identifiable, picture of a 15-year-old who had been the victim of a sexual offence.
You can listen to the Q&A in full here and via the embedded YouTube video in this article.
Asked by parkrun’s head of communications, Kirsty Woodbridge, to explain his values and how they dovetailed with those of the charity, he said: “I believe in opportunities for all, I believe in people being the best versions of themselves.
“I believe in meritocracy. I also believe in safety nets where they are required.
“I think parkrun offers real opportunities to mirror those values. I would say I have pretty normal values for a 54 year old, British man.”
He later added that parkrun had brought him “nothing but joy”.
“To be rejected by elements of the community, I found really upsetting,” he said.
“I am part of this community, I do think it is a massively inclusive community.
“If you are going to create something brilliant, you do need to have input from all areas of society… everyone on this call, and I, have common ground in that we parkrun every Saturday.”
Towards the end of the session, he was asked about the level of the feeling towards The Sun in Liverpool and any potential boycott of parkrun there.
“It [Hillsborough] was an horrific incident,” he said. “And the way in which The Sun tackled it was horrific as well.
“I think the current editor has described it as the biggest mistake The Sun has made. Several editors over a number of years have apologised.”
Asked about the impact of the Hillsborough disaster on her family, Ms Roberts said: “My brother was one of the 97. My family have had a total ban on The Sun ever since.
“The fans weren’t pickpocketed. Graham had money still in his pocket. He was wearing a gold chain.
“It was an awful, awful time, and at the lowest point of our lives we had to defend those lies.
“We are always tarnished by what they wrote, having to defend ourselves. The coverage tarnished the whole of Merseyside.
“Thirty-four years on and families are still suffering. If David Dinsmore can’t see the damage he is doing and walk away, then he doesn’t love parkrun as much as he says.
“There are people who must have known the damage it would do.
“As soon as I heard about it, I thought I cannot believe this newspaper is still having such a big impact on my life all these years later.
“I now want to turn it into a positive and try to do something to spread the word, to get him to step down or get parkrun to reconsider.
“I do hope this leads to him not being a trustee.”
Running Tales approached parkrun for comment, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
What do you make of parkrun’s decision to appoint David Dinsmore as a trustee? Let us know in the comments below
** The Hillsborough Family Support Group has now been disbanded