Hillsborough law passes first test

A proposed “Hillsborough law” that would demand police officers and other public authorities be open and truthful in court has passed its first Commons test.

Former shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said families who lost loved ones were often “denigrated” at inquests into their deaths.

A PROPOSED “Hillsborough law” that would demand police officers and other public authorities be open and truthful in court proceedings has passed its first Commons test.

Former shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said families who lost loved ones were often “denigrated by lawyers for public bodies” at inquests into their deaths.

The Labour MP also said the establishment had failed to learn lessons from the Hillsborough cover-up, as he introduced draft legislation through a 10-minute rule motion yesterday.

Mr Burnham’s Public Authority (Accountability) Bill would make it a criminal offence for the police and other public bodies to cover up wrongdoing.

It would also give bereaved families the same resources to make their case at inquests.

Introducing his Bill in the Commons, Mr Burnham said: “The brutal and uncomfortable truth is this.

“Bereaved families are not just denied legal funding, they have their character questioned and denigrated by lawyers for public bodies. They are thrown into court rooms raw with grief, pitched into an adversarial battle and effectively put on trial.

“How much longer are we in here going to let vast sums of public money be used to torment families in this way?

“And if the state can cover up 96 deaths at a football match, shouldn’t we be concerned at what it might do to individuals?”

The so-called “Hillsborough Law” has backing from families of all the victims of the disaster in 1989, Mr Burnham said.

He added Hillsborough should have been “a watershed moment” where the scales of justice “are tipped firmly in favour of ordinary families fighting for loved ones”.

Mr Burnham said: “Until then, the true lesson of Hillsborough will not have been learned.

“What has disappointed me most in the last year is to see how things have reverted to business as usual.

“For the Establishment, it seems Hillsborough is seen as the one that got away, rather than what it should have been, the catalyst for change.” Mr Burnham said his Bill would create “a permanent legislative legacy for the 96 people who died on April 15 1989”.

He cited other examples of families who faced barriers in their fight for justice.

“There are thousands of other hidden, individual cases where bereaved families are denied legal representation while the public bodies they are up against in court spend public money like water, hiring the best QCs in the land,” Mr Burnham said.

Mr Burnham said the parents of Zane Gbangbola, seven, who died during the 2014 floods in Surrey, were “left feeling as though they had been put on trial” at their son’s inquest.

He added Des James, whose daughter Cheryl was killed at Deepcut barracks in 1995, was accused by a QC at her reopened inquest of distracting police during the Milly Dowler investigation.

Mr Burnham also mentioned victims of the contaminated blood scandal, saying: “As with Hillsborough, clear evidence of serious wrongdoing is there, if only people care to look for it.”

The Bill was introduced to the Commons unopposed and will be debated further on Friday May 12. However, it is unlikely to become law without backing from the Government.

For the Establishment, Hillsborough is seen as the one that got away. Former shadow home secretary Andy Burnham Andy Burnham