An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) into police conduct after the Hillsborough disaster has found that officers do not have a case to answer for misconduct – though they did try to ‘deflect blame’.
The IOPC’s investigation into the 1989 tragedy in which 97 Liverpool fans died during the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, began in 2013.
Bereaved families received a letter from the watchdog’s deputy director-general, Kathie Cashell, in which she said they will be informed of the outcomes of complaints made about police conduct. In the letter she said:
“Our investigations did find evidence to support allegations that, in the aftermath of the disaster, South Yorkshire Police sought to deflect the blame from themselves. We found no evidence to support claims that the behaviour of supporters was a contributing factor.
“In the majority of cases, we were unable to find that officers had a case to answer for misconduct because the professional standards for policing at the time did not include a specific duty of candour. Despite the wider public interest to gain answers about what happened, South Yorkshire Police was entitled, within the law at the time, to present its ‘best case’ and be selective with the evidence it presented.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to bring forward a Hillsborough Law, which would include a legal duty of candour, by the time of the next anniversary of the disaster on April 15.
Debbie Caine, director of Hillsborough Law Now said:
“We’re encouraged by the support from the IOPC and the recognition that codes of conduct are simply not worth the paper they are written on.
“Yet it is clear that there is still opposition to a duty of candour applying to all public officials, and that is concerning. Our campaign will not accept a watered-down version of a Hillsborough Law and expect the promised Bill from the Prime Minister that the duty of candour will apply to all officials. We eagerly await the government’s draft Bill.”
Elkan Abrahamson, solicitor at Broudie Jackson Canter and director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, said:
"In our meetings with Government officials over recent months, we have made it clear to them that the Hillsborough Law must be enacted in full to ensure that the law imposes a legal duty of candour on public authorities and officials to tell the truth and proactively co-operate with official investigations and inquiries. Nothing less will do.
“We sincerely hope and expect the new legislation matches the assurances given to us by ministers and delivers what so many have campaigned for over the years. We have been told that the draft Bill will be shared with us this month.”
The IOPC investigation, launched following publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012, supported new inquests into the deaths – which concluded in 2016 and found fans were unlawfully killed and that errors by South Yorkshire Police caused or contributed to their deaths.
Officers who left the police force before 2017 could not face disciplinary proceedings regardless of findings due to the legislation in place at the time, she said.
The only person to be convicted as a result of investigations into the disaster is former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell, who was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs after he was found guilty in 2019 of failing to ensure the health and safety of fans arriving at the ground.
Match commander on the day David Duckenfield was cleared of gross negligence manslaughter after a retrial in 2019.
Retired officers Donald Denton and Alan Foster and former force solicitor Peter Metcalf were acquitted of perverting the course of justice in 2021 after a judge ruled there was no case to answer.