Hillsborough disaster: Six charged
Six people including two former senior police officers have been charged with criminal offences in Britain relating to the deaths of 96 people in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
Families of the 96 men, women and children killed at the 1989 FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough football ground gathered in Warrington yesterday to hear the announcement.
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 victim, Tony Bland, died four years later after his life support was switched off — while 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.
Last year, new inquests found the 96 were unlawfully killed in the disaster. The jury also identified errors in the police planning and response, the actions of commanding officers, the safety certification of the ground, the management of the stadium by Sheffield Wednesday and the response by the ambulance service. It also found there were dangerous features in the stadium design.
The original inquest in 1991 ruled that the deaths were accidental, but those verdicts were quashed following an independent report that concluded a major cover-up had taken place to shift the blame for the disaster onto the victims.
Following the disaster on April 15 1989, it is alleged that officers from South Yorkshire Police conspired to blame the fans for the tragedy with statements being changed and evidence hidden. Police at the time briefed the media that the crush in the Leppings Lane end of the stadium had been caused by drunken, ticketless fans forcing the gates open in order to gain access to the ground.
The IPCC, which has been investigating the alleged conspiracy, said it had identified 289 police accounts that had been amended.