Families to fight ruling over Sir Norman
■ Hillsborough: Misconduct charges dropped against former police chief
HILLSBOROUGH FAMILIES will call for a review of the decision not to prosecute former police chief Sir Norman Bettison, after the case against him was discontinued.
Sir Norman, 62, had been charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office, all relating to alleged lies he told following the disaster at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, in which 96 Liverpool fans died.
At a hearing before judge Sir Peter Openshaw at Preston Crown Court yesterday, Sarah Whitehouse QC, prosecuting for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the proceedings would be discontinued as there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.
She said that, under the victims’ right of review process, those with a “significant” interest in the case had three months to seek a review of the decision.
Speaking outside court, Lou Brookes, whose brother Andrew, 26, was one of the 96 victims of the tragedy, told The Yorkshire
Post she would “absolutely” be pushing for a review.
She said: “I am extremely disappointed. Not shocked, not surprised, I predicted it.”
She said she had “no faith, trust or confidence” in either the CPS or the Independent Police Complaints Commission, now the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which had led the investigation.
Steve Kelly, the brother of victim Michael, 38, said: “I just feel as though I have been beaten up.”
Margaret Aspinall, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: “We have grave concerns about the handling of this case by the CPS and can confirm that we will be exercising our right to an independent review under the right to review scheme.”
The court had heard that the case was being discontinued because the “state of the evidence has changed” since Sir Norman had been charged, in June last year. Mrs Whitehouse said witness Mark Ellaby, who attended evening classes with Sir Norman in 1989, had died and “significant contradictions” had emerged in the accounts of another witness.
Paul Greaney QC, defending Sir Norman, said he was an “innocent man” and that there had been “naked political interference” in the case.
Sir Norman had been a chief inspector in South Yorkshire at the time of the tragedy and later went on to become Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.
Reading a statement outside court, he said he had been “vindicated” by the decision to discontinue the case.
He said: “Six years ago, I was driven from the job that had been my vocation for 40 years, and some commentators, who didn’t really know anything about me or the facts, rushed to judgement and predetermined my guilt.
“Something I learned, though, early in my police service, is that no injustice was ever satisfactorily resolved through being unjust.”
I was driven from the job that had been my vocation. Sir Norman Bettison, former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.
SIR NORMAN Bettison’s legal team gave a withering assessment of the weaknesses of the investigation into his alleged misconduct in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster.
Speaking during the hearing in Preston Crown Court, Paul Greaney QC, counsel for Sir Norman, said the case would never have succeeded “for the simple reason he is in fact innocent”. The court heard the prosecution relied upon two witnesses, Mark Ellaby, who has since died, and an 85-year-old woman identified only as Mrs J.
It was alleged by Mr Ellaby that over a pint in a pub while on an MBA course together in 1989, Sir Norman said he had been appointed to a team, the role of which was to blame the fans.
Mr Greaney said it took “repeated requests” from the defence for the other students to be traced by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
When “eventually” they were found, 15 other students and a lecturer were contacted and “not a single one” recalled Sir Norman expressing any “inappropriate view” about Hillsborough.
The other witness, Mrs J, had given different accounts with major inconsistencies of what Sir Norman is alleged to have told her, the court was told.
Mr Greaney claimed there had been “political interference” and criticised Maria Eagle, Labour MP for Garston and Halewood in Merseyside, as well as investigators.
He said: “Contrary to public understanding, there has never been any suggestion in this failed prosecution that Sir Norman Bettison took part in a cover-up. The false understanding that he did so has been fostered, not by the prosecution, but by political figures.
“In 1998 and again in 2012, Maria Eagle MP asserted under cover of Parliamentary Privilege that Sir Norman had been part of a unit that orchestrated a black propaganda campaign to deflect blame for the Hillsborough Disaster from South Yorkshire Police on to the fans of Liverpool Football Club.
“That claim, which Maria Eagle We fully support the decision of the families to seek a review. Politicians including MP Maria Eagle and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has not been prepared to repeat outside Parliament, is untrue.”
Ms Eagle did not directly respond to the criticism, but in a joint statement with politicians Steve Rotheram, Andy Burnham, Alison McGovern and Derek Twigg, said they were disappointed to hear that the charges were being discontinued and “fully support the decision of the families to seek a review”.
It said: “As long-standing supporters of the campaign for justice, our thoughts today are with the bereaved families and survivors of the Hillsborough disaster, still re-living that day and its aftermath almost 30 years on.”
Sue Hemming, director of legal services for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “I appreciate this news will be disappointing for the families and the CPS will meet with them in person to explain the decision.”