Six people including two former senior police officers have been charged with criminal offences relating to the deaths of 96 people at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough football ground and the alleged police cover-up that followed.
David Duckenfield, the South Yorkshire officer who was in command of policing at the match, has been charged with manslaughter of 95 people – the 96th, Tony Bland, died four years later after his life support was switched off.
Sue Hemming, the Crown Prosecution Service head of special crime and counter-terrorism division, said the CPS would allege that Duckenfield’s failure to take personal responsibility on the day was “extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths of each of those 96 people who so tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives”.
Sir Norman Bettison, the former chief constable of Merseyside and West Yorkshire police, who was an inspector in the South Yorkshire force at the time of the disaster, has been charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office.
On the four charges of misconduct in a public office relating to Bettison, Hemming said the officer allegedly told lies about his involvement in the disaster. “Given his role as a senior police officer, we will ask the jury to find that this was misconduct of such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder,” she said.
Graham Mackrell, the Sheffield Wednesday chief executive and officially designated safety officer for the Hillsborough stadium, has also been charged with breaching the terms of the ground’s safety certificate and failing to take reasonable care under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The three other men are all charged with doing acts with intent to pervert the course of justice, for the process by which statements made by South Yorkshire police officers on duty at Hillsborough were subsequently reviewed and changed.
Donald Denton, the South Yorkshire police chief superintendent who operated in a senior role in that process, his deputy, chief inspector Alan Foster, and the then South Yorkshire police solicitor, Peter Metcalf, have all been charged.
Hemming added: “Following our careful review of the evidence, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, I have decided that there is sufficient evidence to charge six individuals with criminal offences.
“Criminal proceedings have now commenced and the defendants have a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
The CPS also considered bringing charges against Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, the South Yorkshire metropolitan ambulance service and the Football Association (FA). Hemming said Sheffield Wednesday could not face charges as a legal entity as it “only now exists on paper”. She added there were “no directors or others listed who form the company and therefore no-one who can give instructions to answer any criminal charge or enter a plea”.
There was insufficient evidence to prosecute senior staff from the ambulance service, she said. There was also insufficient evidence to bring a case against the FA, which was considered for breaches of health and safety legislation and the Safety of Sports Grounds Act. Hemming said “there was not a realistic prospect of a conviction against them”.
Family members who were given the news personally in a meeting with Hemming said there was a feeling of relief that charges had been brought. Leo Fallon, brother-in-law of Andrew Sefton, who was 23 when he was killed at Hillsborough, said it was gratifying to see some charges brought but said it had been too long to wait until 28 years after Andrew’s death.
He said: “There is a sense of relief among families, and we have to wait and see what the outcome will be. But our feeling is it has taken far too long; if it had been dealt with properly at the time, it would have damaged people less, and cost the public less.”
Barry Devonside, whose son Christopher, then 18, also died in the lethal crush on the Leppings Lane terrace at Hillsborough, said: “Fortunately the families have behaved with the utmost dignity. In my mind we had a son – and I don’t want to make stupid comments – but he was a perfect son in every way. He had respect for himself, and for his mum and dad, and for the public.”




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