A former British police chief constable accused of lying about his role in the Hillsborough stadium crush that killed 96 people in 1989 has had the charges against him dropped.
The crown prosecution service announced on 21 Aug. that the four charges of misconduct against Norman Bettison had been dropped following a review of evidence.
96 Liverpool football fans died in the overcrowded, fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989.
Families of those who died, the local Liverpool community and survivors have always rejected the police’s official version of events—that blamed fan’s drunken behaviour—as a cover-up for the police’s own errors.
Bettison was one of six officials, including other former regional police chiefs, facing criminal charges launched in 2017, over the deaths and alleged cover-up of their own failings.
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Sue Hemming, CPS Director of Legal Services, said that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction for Bettison after a number of “significant developments”, including changes in the evidence of two witnesses and the death of a third witness.
“I appreciate this news will be disappointing for the families and the CPS will meet with them in person to explain the decision.”
According to the BBC, the Hillsborough Family Support Group said in a statement: “We have grave concerns about the handling of this case by the CPS and can confirm that we will be exercising our right to an independent review under the Right to Review scheme.”
“It is our view that the wrong charge was brought in the first place and we will be using the review process to argue this point strongly.
“We know how our supporters will feel about this decision and, of course, we all share all of those feelings.”
The Hillsborough disaster has been subjected to various inquiries and investigations.
In 2012, a 3-year investigation concluded 41 of the victims could have been saved if police had responded more rapidly, prompting an apology from the prime minister David Cameron. The findings also detailed an apparent shifting of blame from police to fans.
In 1991 an inquest ruled the deaths of the fans as accidental. After years of campaigning by families, that ruling of accidental death was quashed in a High Court challenge in 2012, sparking a new inquest that ran until 2016.
That new inquest, concluded the victims were unlawfully killed, prompting the Crown Prosecution Service to consider criminal charges, which were announced in 2017.
