UK charges 6 in Hillsborough stadium tragedy that killed 96

Families of victims of fan stampede get vindication 28 years later

LONDON — Prosecutors charged a former senior police commander with manslaughter Wednesday in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster that left 96 people dead — long-awaited vindication for the families of the victims after authorities spent years blaming fans for the catastrophe.

The charges announced against former Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield and five others were met with applause from victims’ relatives who had waged a decades-long quest for justice for their loved ones after the deaths were ruled accidental — a decision that was overturned in 2012 after a wide-ranging inquiry found a cover-up by police.

The disaster, in which many victims were crushed against metal fences, prompted a sweeping modernization of stadiums across Britain, where standing-room-only sections like the one that contributed to the trampling of fans in the overcrowded stadium were commonplace. Top division stadiums were largely transformed into safer, all-seat venues, with fences around the playing surface torn down to avoid further tragedies.

Last year, a new inquest found that all 96 fans had been unlawfully killed and an independent police investigation asked prosecutors to consider criminal charges in the case. The Crown Prosecution Service announced its highly anticipated decision on Wednesday, filing charges against four police officers, a lawyer and an official of the team whose stadium was the venue for the April 15, 1989 match.

Barry Devonside, whose 18-year-old son, Christopher, was among those killed, pumped his fist after the indictments were made public.

“Everybody applauded when it was announced that the most senior police officer on that particular day will have charges presented to him,” Devonside said.

Duckenfield, the police commander on the day of the tragedy, faced the most serious charge — gross negligence manslaughter in the deaths of 95 men, women and children. Duckenfield’s failures in discharging his “personal responsibility were extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths,” prosecutors said in a statement.

They declined to issue a manslaughter charge related to the 96th fatality because the young man died four years after the fateful match.