Hillsborough: Police face jail
28 years after the tragedy, families welcome decision to prosecute over the deaths and ‘black ops cover-up’
THE policeman in charge of Hillsborough on the day of the stadium disaster will finally be charged with the killing of 95 football fans, prosecutors said yesterday.
Former Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, who commanded policing of the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, is one of six now facing criminal charges over the tragedy that claimed 96 lives.
The 72-year-old faces a life sentence if convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Prosecutors ruled his actions had ‘contributed substantially’ to the ‘unnecessary’ deaths, but for legal reasons Duckenfield cannot be charged over the 96th victim – Tony Bland – who did not die from his injuries until four years later.
Others charged include Sir Norman Bettison – later Chief Constable of Merseyside Police – who is accused of lying about his role in the aftermath to further his police career. His charges of four counts of misconduct in a public office also carry a maximum life sentence.
Oxford-educated Bettison, an inspector in 1989, was allegedly part of a ‘black ops’ unit at South Yorkshire Police that blamed drunken, ticketless Liverpool fans for the tragedy. The 61-year-old is accused of lying as he applied to be Chief Constable on Merseyside in 1998, when he told the local police authority that he had ‘never attempted to shift blame on to the shoulders of Liverpool supporters’.
Bettison has always denied the allegations and insisted he had nothing to hide.
Former Chief Superintendent Donald Denton, 79, ex-Chief Inspector Alan Foster, 70, and then-force solicitor Peter Metcalf, 67, each face two counts of perverting the course of justice, accused of altering officers’ statements after the tragedy on April 15, 1989.
Sheffield Wednesday FC’s then-club secretary Graham Mackrell, 67, who was responsible for ensuring the club’s ground was safe, has been charged with three offences relating to breaches of health and safety.
Prosecutors said they had considered corporate charges against Sheffield Wednesday, the Football Association and the South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service but there were difficulties because of the amount of time that had passed and there was not enough evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Separately, it emerged that for charges to be brought against the police force the then-chief constable would need to have been personally grossly negligent over the disaster.
Hundreds of victims’ relatives gathered at Warrington’s Parr Hall yesterday to be told those who had been responsible for ensuring the safety of their loved ones would finally face charges.
It follows last year’s ruling by a fresh inquest that the 96 victims had been unlawfully killed.
As the CPS’s Sue Hemming announced there was sufficient evidence to charge the men, there was
‘There are no winners in this’
applause and some relatives broke down in tears.
She said: ‘We will allege that David Duckenfield’s failures to discharge his personal responsibility were extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths.’
Barry Devonside, 70, whose 18-yearold son Christopher died in the crush in the ground’s Leppings Lane pens, punched the air.
He said: ‘We knew that something went terribly wrong at Hillsborough and it was right and proper that we fought for our loved ones.
‘I was frightened, absolutely frightened that we were going to be let down again. It is so very hard to fight for justice over the period of time. We have been smacked in the face on a number of occasions.’
Trevor Hicks, whose daughters Victoria, 15, and 19-year-old Sarah, were killed, said: ‘There will be six people facing criminal charges who might not have done if we hadn’t been resilient and all stuck together and fought this long fight.
‘There are no winners in this, it doesn’t bring anybody back. What it does do is send a message about accountability, as we keep saying, that nobody but nobody is above the law; be it the police or anybody else.’
Margaret Aspinall, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, whose son James, 18, was killed, said: ‘We can never have peace until we’ve got truth, justice, accountability.’
In the Commons, Theresa May welcomed the move and praised the victims’ families.
Duckenfield had been in the job for just three weeks and had never policed a football match at Hillsborough when he was handed the role of match commander for the fixture between Liverpool FC and Notting- ham Forest. The cause of the disaster is widely recognised as his decision to open an exit gate and let in 2,000 fans, many of whom went into the Leppings Lane pens – causing those at the front to be crushed.
At the new inquests he admitted telling the ‘terrible lie’ that fans had stormed the gate in order to deflect blame away from himself.
Duckenfield was not charged over Mr Bland’s death because the law in 1989 stated no one could be found guilty of homicide if the death occurred more than a year and a day after the injuries were sustained.
Mr Bland, who suffered severe brain damage, died in 1993 after his parents were granted permission to turn off his life-support machine.
Prosecutors said Duckenfield had yet to be formally charged because, in the failed private prosecution brought by victims’ families in 1999, the judge issued a ‘stay’ – meaning that he could not be prosecuted again. A High Court judge must now grant permission to lift the stay.
Yesterday there was no answer at Duckenfield’s home, in Bournemouth, and neighbours said he was on holiday in Portugal.
All the defendants except Duckenfield will appear at Warrington Magistrates’ Court on August 9.
Six more police officers and three ambulance workers had been referred to the CPS, but no charges were brought against them.
Files in relation to the conduct of West Midlands Police officers, who carried out the initial investigation into the disaster, were still being considered, the CPS said, and more charges could follow.