THE jury in the trial of Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield has been told it must answer five questions in order to find him guilty of gross negligence manslaughter.

Judge Sir Peter Openshaw set out the questions the jury must consider when deliberating whether the retired chief superintendent was responsible for the unlawful killing of 95 Liverpool supporters killed in a crush at the FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989.

The questions are:

1. Are you sure David Duckenfield owed a duty of care to spectators attending the match?

The jury was told the retired chief superintendent accepted he owed a duty of care as match commander.

2. Are you sure the defendant was in breach of his duty of care?

Sir Peter said the jury may consider the fact Duckenfield gave the order to open the exit gate to the ground, allowing more than 2,000 fans to enter, while responding to an emergency outside the turnstiles, but is entitled to consider the extent to which his failure to react to a developing risk contributed to that emergency.

3. Are you sure it was reasonably foreseeable that the defendant's breach or breaches of duty would cause a serious and obvious risk of death to spectators by crushing?

4. Are you sure that his breach or breaches of that duty of care caused, or at least substantially contributed to, the deaths of 95 persons named in the indictment?

Jurors were told they did not need to prove it was the only cause or the main cause.

5. Are you sure that his breach or breaches of his duty amounted to gross negligence?

The judge said the breach must be "so truly and exceptionally bad, so blameworthy, so reprehensible and so deserving of punishment" that it met the standard of the offence.