Ex-officers facing Hillsborough charges seek funds for defence
FORMER POLICE officers facing charges in connection with the Hillsborough disaster have asked for public funding to pay for their legal fees.
The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Alan Billings, has confirmed three former officers have formally applied for their defence costs to be met from the public purse.
The PCC’s office said no decision had been made on whether to provide funding and indicated a Home Office review of the current official guidance may affect the final decision.
The three officers seeking financial support are former Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, who would be charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 victims of the 1989 disaster, former Superintendent Donald Denton and former Detective Chief Inspector Alan Foster, who are both charged with perverting the course of justice.
Sir Norman Bettison, who faces charges of misconduct in public office, has not currently applied for public funding.
Any application from Bettison, who ended his career as West Yorkshire chief constable, would have to be made to his final employer, the West Yorkshire PCC, who confirmed no approach has been made.
The public funding issue came into sharp focus during the twoyear-long Hillsborough inquests when around £22.5m was paid to lawyers representing 16 officers taking part in the hearings.
More than £2m more was spent on representing the force itself, through the office of thenchief constable David Crompton.
The South Yorkshire PCC was able to recoup just under £21m from the Home Office through a special grant but still had to find £4.3m from the force’s own budget.
A spokesman for Mr Billings said: “The PCC has received applications for legal funding from three former officers facing prosecution. He will consider all applications for funding
on their own merits and no decision will be made without solicitors providing full information in support of the applications, including an estimate of the amount of costs that are likely to be involved.
“The Home Office states that it has consulted with policing partners on updating the Home Office circular that deals with this issue and this may impact on the final decision.”
Mr Billings has also recently published a protocol for any officers applying for legal funding which includes reference to the PCC having “due regard to the finite resources available to him (the annual budget available for policing and crime services in South Yorkshire), and the effect that an application might have on other budget commitments.”
The current Government guidance is based on a 16-year-old Home Office circular which details the circumstances in which legal funding can be provided.
The final decision is taken by the local PCC.
A Home Office spokesman confirmed the guidance is now under review: “We have consulted with policing partners on updating Home Office circular 43/2001, and a decision on next steps will be taken in due course.”
The circular was written in the era of police authorities but the responsibilities have since been transferred to PCCs. Two key paragraphs refer to how applications for funding should be approached.
They say: “It is for individual police authorities to decide in the particular circumstances of a case, and on the basis of legal advice if necessary, whether, when and to what extent, to make financial assistance available to officers in criminal proceedings.
“In summary, police officers must be confident that police authorities will provide financial support for officers in legal proceedings where they have acted in good faith and have exercised their judgment reasonably. Police authorities will need to decide each case on its own merits, but subject to that there should be a strong presumption in favour of payment where these criteria are met.”