The families of those who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster have expressed their anger over the fact that officers involved will never face any penalty.
The watchdog’s report today found 12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases had they still been serving. But because they are all retired, or have died, authorities are not able to launch any legal action.
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Police were to blame
The families have welcomed the police watchdog’s report, noting it comprehensive and detailed.
But none of the main facts were new. Police culpability, the South Yorkshire Police Force’s mismanagement of the disaster, were established 36 years ago at the first official inquiry into the disaster, and again at the second inquests from 2014-2016.
“The report confirms what families and survivors knew all along,” said Charlotte Hennessy, whose father Jimmy was killed.
Police lied and lied again, she said. They blamed the victims themselves, the Liverpool fans, for the disaster in a bid to save their own reputations. The officer in charge at the match, David Duckenfield, was directly addressed by Hennessy and other relatives today, for blaming victims instead of telling the truth. The watchdog found that he would have faced 10 gross misconduct cases, were he still serving. He faced manslaughter charges in 2019 but was acquitted.
The families said they will never accept his apology. He has walked away “scot-free, with a full pension”, said Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James was killed.
She was “very, very angry” that none of the officers identified in the IOPC report, will ever face punishment and that no action can be taken against them.
“When you think of all the 97 who died, unlawfully killed, and yet no one’s been held to account. To me that’s a disgrace.”
Hennessy said: “We’ll never get justice. Nobody’s ever going to go to prison for killing them.”
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