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Six people have been charged over the 1989 Hillsborough stadium crush that killed 96 people, with the police officer who was in charge on the day accused of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Key points:
- 96 people died in the Hillsborough stadium crush when thousands of fans flooded into over-full, fenced-in section
- David Duckenfield was the police match commander who opened the exit gate to let more fans in
- Duckenfield has now been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence
The victims of Britain's worst sporting disaster died in an overcrowded, fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
The Crown Prosecution Service issued a statement announcing the charges on Wednesday morning (local time).
"I have decided that there is sufficient evidence to charge six individuals with criminal offences," said Sue Hemming, head of the special crime and counter-terrorism division.
Former senior police officer David Duckenfield has been charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 men, women and children, she said.
Duckenfield was in charge of police operations at Hillsborough on the day of the disaster.
"We will allege that David Duckenfield's failures to discharge his personal responsibility were extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths of each of those 96 people who so tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives," Ms Hemming said.
He was not charged over the death of the 96th casualty, who died four years after the disaster, because of legal time limits that were in force at the time.
Police officers, lawyer and safety officer also charged
Former South Yorkshire Police chief Norman Bettison has been charged with misconduct in public office for lying about the disaster and its aftermath.
"Given his role as a senior police officer, we will ask the jury to find that this was misconduct of such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder," Ms Hemming said.
The attorney for the South Yorkshire Police was charged with acting "with intent to pervert the course of public justice" relating to changes in witness statements during an inquiry into the tragedy.
The other people charged were two other ex-police officers and a safety officer at the Hillsborough stadium.
Charges included perverting the course of justice, contravening safety regulations and misconduct in public office.
The defendants, other than Duckenfield, will appear at Warrington Magistrates' Court on August 9 for a first hearing in their prosecution.
Relatives of the victims, who were told of the decision to bring charges in private shortly before it was made public, were seen embracing outside the building where they were briefed in Warrington, northern England. One man pumped his fist.
How the Hillsborough disaster happened
The tragedy unfolded when the police match commander, Duckenfield, opened an exit gate and more than 2,000 Liverpool football fans flooded in.
They piled in to the already over-full to a standing-room only terracing pen behind a goal, causing a fatal crush.
The victims were smashed against metal anti-riot fences or trampled underfoot. Many suffocated in the crush.
At the time, hooliganism was common, and there were immediate attempts to defend the police operation and assign blame to the Liverpool fans.
A false narrative circulated that blamed ticketless and rowdy Liverpool fans — a narrative that their families have challenged for decades.
The original inquest recorded verdicts of accidental death. But the families challenged it and campaigned for a new inquiry.
They succeeded in getting the verdicts overturned in 2012 after a far-reaching inquiry that examined previously secret documents and exposed wrongdoing and mistakes by police.
Some 23 suspects, including individuals and organisations, had faced the possibility of charges.
The Hillsborough disaster prompted a sweeping modernisation of stadiums across England. Top division stadiums were largely transformed into safer, all-seat venues, with fences around fields torn down.
"All we want is accountability, nothing more and nothing less," said Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died in the disaster.
Reuters/AP
Topics: accidents, disasters-and-accidents, english-premier, uefa-cup, sport, world-politics, law-crime-and-justice, england, united-kingdom
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