Hillsborough criminals to face justice: UK home secretary
UK Home Secretary Theresa May says the government will pursue prosecutions against those responsible for the Hillsborough disaster, after a jury found that the Liverpool fans who died at a soccer match in Sheffield, England 27 years ago were victims of police mischief.
On April 15, 1989, 96 Liverpool soccer fans were crushed and 700 more were trampled to death at an English soccer match at Hillsborough Stadium, a tragedy that convulsed Britain and shocked the world.
“Clearly, the jury’s determination that those who died were unlawfully killed was of great public importance,” May said in an emotional session in the House of Commons on Wednesday. “It overturns in the starkest way possible the verdict of accidental death of the first inquest.”
The home secretary added that the Crown Prosecution Service is waiting for the conclusion of two criminal investigations into the disaster and will decide later this year if charges should be brought.
Senior police and security officials had initially blamed the victims for causing their own deaths, which an independent inquiry later called “the most serious tragedy in UK sporting history.”
Fans were killed after the police opened a gate in an attempt to lessen congestion outside the stadium before the game began. In the chaos that ensued, some victims were crushed against steel fencing.
Also addressing the House of Commons on Wednesday was the shadow home secretary, Andy Burnham, who has been one of the leaders of the years-long campaign for to reveal the Hillsborough truth.
Describing the finding of the inquest, which began on April 1, 2014, as “simple, clear, powerful and emphatic,” Burnham demanded that “those responsible must be held to account for 96 unlawful deaths and a 26-year cover-up.”
He also called for the chief constable of South Yorkshire police's resignation, accusing the leadership and culture of the force of “rotten to the core.”
Following strong demand both by the public and senior political figures, the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings announced Wednesday that chief constable David Crompton has been suspended.
“The continuing criticism that has been directed at the Chief Constable and the eroding trust and confidence in South Yorkshire Police I have been left with no choice other than to suspend David Crompton from his duties,” Billings said.
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