Following the latest investigation, families who lost relatives in the 1989 football stadium crush say they will never get justice.
At the end of an investigation that began in 2012, the UK police watchdog concluded on Tuesday that 12 police officers must answer for gross misconduct in the United Kingdom’s worst sporting tragedy.
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However, no action can be taken against them as they have all retired, with the victims’ families saying they will never get justice.
Nicola Brook, the families’ lead lawyer, said, “Not a single officer will face disciplinary action.” “Nobody will be held responsible,” he said.
Long-time campaigner Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James was murdered that day, expressed her anger, calling it “a disgrace to this country” that 12 officers could “get away with full pensions”.
Meanwhile, Charlotte Hennessey, who lost her father Jimmy in the crush, also complained that she and others would “never get justice”.
The disaster occurred at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on 15 April 1989, when 2,000 Liverpool supporters were allowed into the standing section behind one of the goals.
Nearly 100 people died in the ensuing crush, as fans who had come to watch their team play Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final were trapped in metal fences or crushed under foot.
Police initially tried to blame drunken supporters for the incident, but subsequent inquiries discredited this version of events.
A 2016 independent investigation later ruled that fans were “unlawfully killed”, adding that the fatal crush was caused by police errors in opening the exit gates before kickoff.
In 2023, South Yorkshire Police admitted that their policing of the game had gone “horribly wrong”.
The latest report, published by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), says it has “found additional evidence” which provides a more “detailed understanding” of what happened at the stadium.
Of the 352 complaints the IOPC investigated about police actions, 92 were upheld or required individuals to explain their actions.
It also condemned the West Midlands Police review of the Hillsborough tragedy, describing it as biased in favor of its police colleagues.
No officials have been convicted of the disaster, with police commander David Duckenfield in charge of the match being acquitted of murder in 2019.
The families of the victims said on Tuesday that one of the 12 officers named, Norman Bettison, who went on to become chief of Merseyside Police, should be stripped of his knighthood.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called Hillsborough “a stain on our country’s history”, adding that “today is a reminder of one of the country’s most significant failures in policing ever”.
A proposed new law – dubbed the “Hillsborough Law” – is currently being passed in the UK Parliament, which aims to introduce a legal duty of candor for public officials, including the police.
Brooke, the lead lawyer for the victims’ families, said this was “no consolation” to those affected.
“They have suffered another bitter injustice: the truth was finally acknowledged but accountability was denied,” he said.
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