TOP COP FORCED OUT
Now Chief Constable’s suspended over his force’s continued attempts to blame ‘drunk’ fans
SOUTH Yorkshire’s police chief was suspended last night after the force issued an extraordinary statement saying it should not be singled out for blame over the Hillsborough disaster.
In a dramatic move, Chief Constable David Crompton was taken off duty with immediate effect after Home Secretary Theresa May and other senior MPs savaged his force’s conduct in blaming innocent fans for the tragedy.
South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner Alan Billings said he had been ‘left with no choice’ but to remove Mr Crompton following an ‘erosion of public trust and confidence’ in him in the wake of the Hillsborough verdicts. Mr Crompton, who is in line to retire this year with a £2million pension pot, was already under fire over his handling of the child- sex abuse scandal in Rotherham.
His suspension came hours after the South Yorkshire force issued a defiant statement in which it suggested it should not be singled out for blame over the deaths of 96 football fans in 1989. It said it had only ever tried to ‘assist the jury understand the facts’ – a reference to the bogus claim that drunk, ticketless fans were responsible for the deaths.
In 2012, Mr Crompton issued a full apology for his force’s failures, saying: ‘Disgraceful lies were told which blamed the Liverpool fans for the disaster.’ However at the outset of the inquests, the South Yorkshire force’s QC angered victims’ families by successfully arguing that this should not be put before the jury in case it prejudiced proceedings. The families claimed this was an attempt to row back on the admission of fault.
Mrs May said she was ‘disappointed and concerned’ by the force’s statement, adding: ‘There was a very clear verdict in relation to the decisions that were taken by police officers and the action of police officers on April 15, 1989, and I would urge the South Yorkshire police force to recognise the verdict of the jury.
‘I think they do need to look at what happened, at what the verdicts have shown, recognise the truth and be willing to accept that.’ Two hours later, Mr Crompton was suspended.
It came as 20,000 people were gathering outside St George’s Hall in Liverpool for a commemorative service. A red and white banner bearing the names of the victims stood tall against the pillars of St George’s Hall, with the words ‘truth’ and ‘justice’ in huge letters.
As the 96 victims’ names were read aloud, the crowd fell silent. Kenny Dalglish, who managed the Liverpool team on the day of the tragedy, read a passage from the Bible, and added: ‘You’ll never walk alone’, before the crowds joined together in song.
Hillsborough Justice Campaign spokesman Sheila Coleman told the crowd she was ‘ glad’ Mr Crompton had been suspended. She added: ‘I hope the investigation into his conduct is conducted with the integrity his force denied us for 27 years.’
In a powerful statement in the Commons, which moved several MPs to tears, Mrs May read out in full the verdict of the inquest jury that Liverpool fans had been blameless in the tragedy, and that the 96 who died had been unlawfully killed. She warned that senior police officers involved in
‘Rotten to the core’
both the handling of the disaster and the subsequent cover-up could face a range of criminal charges, including manslaughter by gross negligence, misconduct in public office, perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Paying tribute to the families who fought for justice for years, she said: ‘What the families faced was a combination of the state in all its various forms not believing them and all the various... attempts to cover up what really happened, together with other agencies, the media and others and indeed, dare I say it, most of the general public, who believed the stories that they read about the fans.
‘To have stood against that for so long shows a steel and determination but also an affection for their lost loved ones and passionate desire for justice on behalf of those who died.’
Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham, who played a key role in reopening the Hillsborough case, called for Mr Crompton to go, saying his position was ‘untenable’. He said the force remained ‘rotten to the core’.
He said South Yorkshire Police had gone back on its 2012 public apology following the release of the Hillsbor- ough Independent Panel report and engaged in an ‘adversarial battle’ at the fresh inquests, putting the families through another two years of ‘hell’. Mr Burnham said the families had been the victims of a ‘27-year cover-up’ by the Establishment. And he called for a change in the law to make it possible for retired officers to be subjected to disciplinary proceedings and stripped of their pensions.
The so-called ‘Hillsborough clause’ should be made retrospective so that officers involved in the disaster could be disciplined, he added. Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke said South Yorkshire Police should be disbanded and merged with other Yorkshire forces, because the ‘stain’ of Hillsborough would never be removed from its name.
Mr Crompton had previously been accused of branding Hillsborough campaigners liars in 2012 when a leaked
email revealed he had told a colleague the families’ ‘version of certain events has become “the truth” even though it isn’t’.
Mr Crompton’s father, Sir Dan Crompton, the former Deputy Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, also hit headlines for making comments about relatives of the Hillsborough victims. In October 1998, he wrote a letter defending Norman Bettison, a former South Yorkshire police officer accused of being behind the force’s attempt to blame fans for the disaster. He accused Liverpool fans of acting in a ‘vindictive and cruel’ manner for campaigning against Bettison’s appointment as head of Merseyside Police.
MPs on all sides yesterday urged Mrs May to do everything necessary to speed up consideration of possible prosecutions. She said charging decisions were a matter for the CPS, but hinted the body could get extra resources to help it deal with the unprecedented case.
It was reported last night that Mr Crompton may escape action and may still be able to retire on a full pension because, although he has been suspended, he is not believed to have been accused of a disciplinary offence.
It is understood he has not been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, The Times reported. This means rules introduced in January, which prevent officers from leaving if they face disciplinary action, do not apply to him.