Hillsborough police report ‘may not give answers’

As the long-awaited report into police conduct surrounding the stadium crush is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, some of the families of the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy fear they will once again be denied full accountability.

Several people who worked on the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation – including a former director – have told the BBC they doubt the report will deliver all the answers survivors and bereaved relatives were promised.

Some have warned that it could lead to further Hillsborough alleged ties.

The police watchdog has spent more than 13 years looking into the actions of the South Yorkshire Police and other forces following the 1989 tragedy, when 97 Liverpool supporters died in a FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground.

The IOPC will now release a “more focused” 400-page version of its full report, which BBC News understands will be available online later.

Sarah and Victoria Hicks, both of whom died at Hillsborough, and Jenni Hicks, one of her teenage daughters, said she would have preferred families to see the longer report before any publication choices were made.

She said, “I don’t anticipate any significant revelations.” “I’m very disappointed that we are not getting the full report.

I would have liked to have witnessed the 13-year production process.

Some insiders say the process has been hampered by internal disagreements, repeated inquiries, and lack of momentum.

Mike Benbow, who previously led the investigation for five years, said:” The investigation was partly about trying to restore faith and trust in a judicial process that had let families down for many years.

“Whether or not we have brought anyone’s life to a close is still to be seen.

Another insider, who did not want to be named, said:” It will be the equivalent of doing a house viewing through a keyhole.

“It will not tell you anything,” it says. It will simply serve as a timeline of events and an executive summary.

The IOPC said the full report would be placed in the National Archives and that the transfer would begin next year, though no deadline has been set.

Operation Resolve, a criminal investigation centered on the day of the disaster, was conducted alongside the IOPC investigation.

Both were established in 2012 as a result of revelations about a widespread cover-up in which police leaders were exposed as spreading false accounts attacking Liverpool supporters withholding evidence of their own failings.

The survivors and the families left by the disaster were courageous to feel optimistic for the first time in more than 20 years.

Investigators were aware of the weight of their responsibility, to put right the wrongs of the past.

Deborah Glass, the IPCC’s predecessor, told the BBC in 2013 that she hoped the investigation would be finished in two years.

“Hillsborough has a history of failing to conduct independent investigations by other organizations that gave the public no confidence in.” We can’t have more of that”, she said.

The most recent and conclusive investigation into Hillsborough must be presented here, so that the next generation won’t be searching for answers. We must be successful.

More than £150m has been spent across the IOPC and Operation Resolve investigations, BBC analysis of the accounts has found.

In the early years of the investigation, teams navigated practical and technological challenges.

Original police notebooks were kept in a lock-up for 25 years when the BBC visited the archive in 2016.

Some of the neglected ones required rat dropping removal before analysis could be done.

Evidence on VHS tapes and floppy disks required resurrected 1980s computers to view and modern facial-recognition tools had to be used to track fans ‘ movements frame by frame.

There was a sense of purpose and the scale was unprecedented. The sense of optimism that survivors and their families felt has faded 13 years later.

After the criminal trials ended without significant convictions and after the police commander David Duckenfield was acquitted, many bereaved relatives began to lose faith in the process.

Several people told the BBC they thought the IOPC investigation had no purpose.

They were aware that all of the police officers involved had passed away or had retired. Even if they were found to be guilty of misconduct, no sanction could be imposed.

Ms. Hicks expressed hope that it won’t be a waste of taxpayer funds.

When her father, James, died in the disaster, Charlotte Hennessy was just six years old.

She said the length of the investigations, as well as the original cover-up, has resulted in Hillsborough haunting her adult life.

She stated, “The process has been extremely long, and I have no doubt that it will only make us feel frustrated.”

We want to live our lives, but we keep getting sucked back into it.

She added: “There has been no empathy for my own mental health, no compassion for how distressing the outcome may be”.

Additionally, Ms. Hennessy is uneasy about the cost of such a lengthy investigation.

Families were given the full report on Monday, even though those who complained had already been informed.

Many have not been upheld, with the IOPC citing a lack of evidence.

For complainants, who believed they had read a lot of the evidence in the Hillsborough Independent Panel report from 2012, which exposed the cover-up, and who had heard plenty more at the subsequent inquests, it has been difficult to stomach.

Ms Hennessy had complained of police gross negligence after the 2016 Hillsborough inquests found that her father might have survived with better emergency medical care.

She has been informed that the IOPC has not yet determined an answer.

She said, “I’m really frustrated.”

Debbie Matthews, whose brother Brian was killed at Hillsborough, made two complaints alleging that officers had fabricated evidence and given false statements.

One was rejected, and the other was ruled to be outside the investigation’s purview, she claimed.

She said, “We’ve already endured hell and back, and it seems like they’re kicking us once more.”

“We are really, really frustrated. Because of this, we are experiencing very bad mental health.

When Hillsborough was the subject of renewed scrutiny, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester from Merseyside, expressed his hope that the report will lead to senior police officers being held accountable from the beginning.

“The campaign we worked on established the truth about Hillsborough… that there was a failure of police control at an unsafe ground”, he told BBC Radio Manchester last week.

“It has never achieved individual accountability for officers who attempted to blame Liverpool supporters for a cover-up,” it said.

The legislation aims to ensure that victims of major incidents receive greater transparency and accountability in future and that public bodies have a legal duty to be truthful and fully cooperate with investigations.

Sir Keir Starmer, who Ms. Hennessy claimed personally promised her that the bill would be implemented, backs the bill.

Additionally, Mr. Burnham has once more urged establishment of a permanent victims’ advocate body to assist bereaved families in holding institutions accountable.

Many of those who once felt hopeful now approach the IOPC’s findings with a sense of resignation.

Families who hailed the independent panel report’s release and cried out with joy after the 2016 inquests verdicts both hoped for truth and accountability.

We understand the frustrations of survivors, grieving families, and all those who have campaigned so desperately for answers, and we have told them that they deserve better.