Report finds widespread police failings over UK’s Hillsborough disaster

Prior to and following the deadly Hillsborough football stadium crush, which resulted in the deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters in northern England in 1989, a major investigation has revealed that there were widespread police misconduct.

The UK’s police watchdog came to the conclusion on Tuesday that 12 police officers would have faced charges for gross misconduct in the country’s worst sporting tragedy after an investigation that started in 2012.

They have all retired, so no one can take any action against them, and the victims’ families claim justice has never been served.

The families’ lead attorney, Nicola Brook, stated that “not a single officer will face a disciplinary action.” She continued, “No one will be held accountable.”

Margaret Aspinall, a long-time advocate for the victims of the 18-year-old son James’ murder that day, expressed her outrage and said the 12 officers had the right to leave “walk away scot free with a full pension.”

Charlotte Hennessy, who lost her father Jimmy in the crush, reacted similarly to her complaint that she and the others “never get justice.”

On April 15, 1989, 2, 000 Liverpool supporters were permitted to enter a standing-only area behind one of the goals at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

As a result of the subsequent crush, almost 100 people died as a result of their team’s FA Cup semifinal encounters with Nottingham Forest fans who were trampled or caught against metal fences.

Initial inquests initially discredited the police’s claim that the incident was caused by drunken supporters, but subsequent inquests disproven this theory.

The fans were “unlawfully killed,” according to a later independent investigation from 2016 who claimed police had opened an exit gate accidentally before kickoff.

South Yorkshire Police admitted that their game policing had “catastrophically wrong” in 2023.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) reported that it had “found additional evidence” that would give a more “detailed understanding” of what transpired at the stadium.

The IOPC conducted 352 complaints about police actions, of which 92 were upheld or would have required individuals to explain their actions.

Additionally, it criticized a Hillsborough tragedy review conducted by West Midlands Police as being biased in favor of their police colleagues.

No police officer has ever been found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the tragedy, with the match’s lead officer, David Duckenfield, who was acquitted in 2019.

According to the victims’ families, Norman Bettison, one of the 12 named officers who later rose to the position of head of Merseyside Police, should not be knighted.

Hillsborough, according to British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, is a “stain on our nation’s history” that “today serves as a stark reminder of one of the most significant failings in policing the country has ever seen.”

The UK parliament is currently considering a new law known as the “Hillsborough Law,” which would make public officials, including police, legally required to be honest.

This was of “no consolation” for the victims’ families, according to Brook, the lead attorney.