Following the verdict that 96 people were unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough disaster, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is considering whether there should be any criminal charges brought against those deemed to blame.
Sue Hemming, head of the special crime and counter terrorism at the CPS, said:
“Following the inquest’s determinations the CPS team will continue to work closely with Operation Resolve and the Independent Police Complaints Commission as in due course, the CPS will formally consider whether any criminal charges should be brought against any individual or corporate body based upon all the available evidence, in accordance with the code for Crown Prosecutors.
We would ask that everyone is mindful of the continuing investigations and the potential for future criminal proceedings when reporting or publicly commenting on the inquest’s conclusions.”
Deputy chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Rachel Cerfontyne said:
“The conclusion of the inquests is another milestone and a day when my thoughts are with the families and friends of those who died as a result of the disaster.
Now the inquests have ended our role in providing documents and other material to support the coroner is over. However the end of the inquests does not mark the end of the process.Our attention now focuses on concluding our criminal investigation into the aftermath of the disaster. This is by far the biggest and most complex investigation ever undertaken by the IPCC.
We have made significant progress on the investigation and we will continue to work closely with Operation Resolve and the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue our remaining lines of enquiry as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. I anticipate we will conclude the criminal investigations by the turn of the year.”
What a disgraceful decison, so now its ok for thousands of drunken fans to turn up and rush the gates to force entry. Unbelieveable.
Well the where there is blame there is a claim ambulance chasers will be in their element.
How can Steve Paul justify describing this as a disgraceful decision? My only area of mild surprise is the jury’s response to question 7 as a straight “no”. for ref; Question 7: Was there any behaviour on the part of football supporters which caused or contributed to the dangerous situation at the Leppings Lane turnstiles? Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If your answer to the question above is ‘no’, then was there any behaviour on the part of football supporters which may have caused or contributed to the dangerous situation at the Leppings Lane turnstiles? Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If your… Read more »
Steve Paul – did you not read or hear the reports following this decision? There was no evidence of “thousands of drunken fans turning up to rush the gates” and safety professionals should focus on evidence and not discredited reporting from the time. The facts that did bring this decision about, are the scandalous and possibly criminal perjury and lies by the police and others directly involved on the day. Lessons were not learned from previous incidents and the fact that police knew of these incidents and then tried to cover their ineptitude through lying for over 20 years is… Read more »
I caught my breath, and had to take time before composing this, in view of the first comment here. Either ‘steve paul’ is being deliberately and distastefully provocative, or has been locked in a very closed mind for the last (at least) 4 years since the independent inquiry in 2012. One might expect to see this type of comment in a popular newspaper forum – but not in a specialist H&S journal such as SHP where the readership is (I thought) trained, intelligent and thoughtful health and safety practitioners. Disgraceful is a term I would apply to the comment. The… Read more »
Appalling first comment.
I wonder who this really was posted by – doesnt seem viable that it was a real H&S practitioner.
On the topic of “money” then bear in mind that the police wanted to send Sheffield Wednesday a bill for “policing” the match (they didn’t but they thought about it), and Sheffield Wednesday club asked the FA for financial help as “the disaster has cost the club dearly”. This is a club with legal responsibilities which didn’t even have a safety certificate.