Hillsborough inquest police sacking ‘wrong’

By SOUTH Yorkshire Police’s decision to sack its most senior officer is a “mistake” and will be “corrected” in the High Court, the head of a police watchdog has said.

Sir Tom Winsor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, heavily criticised the decision to suspend David Crompton and then fire him, saying it was prompted by three words in a press release that had been misconstrued.

Mr Crompton had delivered a statement after the Hillsborough inquest during which he alluded to “other con- tributory factors” to blame for deaths. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Alan Billings, South Yorkshire’s police crime commissioner, said Mr Crompton was told to step down after showing unacceptable insensitivity to Hillsborough disaster victims.

Mr Crompton has said he will take legal action over the decision, which was made against the advice of the Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

Sir Tom said: “Dr Billings is not firing the Chief Constable for anything other than three words in a press release which could not fairly mean anything other than he was not blaming the fans.” He said “other contributory factors” alluded to failures among the ambulance crews and local authority at the disaster in April 1989, not the fans, who were “completely exonerated”. He added: “The police and crime commissioner cannot fire the chief because people have misunderstood what was said.”

Dr Billings had claimed Mr Crompton resorted to “self-justifying” claims and defended tactics by the force’s legal teams at the inquest which questioned the behaviour of fans. He said the officer had failed to understand the hurt and anger this caused among the families of those killed in the football tragedy.