By Andrew Warshaw
September 13 – The new criminal investigation into the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster, in which 96 fans died, could lead to manslaughter charges, according to the head of the inquiry.
Jon Stoddart, a former highly distinguished police officer brought out of retirement and put in charge of the operation following last year’s damning and shaming report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, says various parties were being investigated for possible “gross negligence manslaughter”.
Stoddart said he was looking at the actions of South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield Wednesday football club, Sheffield City Council and the English Football Association.
“We are exploring all liability, both public and individual,” he told the Guardian newspaper. “We are looking at unlawful killing; who is responsible for the deaths.
“It is about the safety of the stadium, certification, the planning and preparation, the engineering and design that went into the Leppings Lane end [where the supporters died].”
The original accidental death verdicts were quashed last December at the High Court after the Hillsborough Independent Panel found that 41 of the 96 who died had the “potential to survive”.
The first priority for Stoddart’s team will be to provide evidence for the fresh inquest, which is set to start by March 31 next year.
Once the inquest concludes his team will concentrate on the criminal side of the investigation and eventually hand its findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for consideration.
“We are here to try and prove or disprove the unlawful killing of 96 people and clearly the DPP will have to make a very important series of decisions on this,” he said.
Stoddart said the inquiry could ultimately take up to three years. “It’s a massive, massive investigation, it’s the biggest criminal inquiry in the history of the English and Welsh police services. Some people have criticised the pace of the inquiry but we can’t afford to rush anything here.
“This is so important. It’s so important for the families, we have got to get this right. We are absolutely determined to be able to look the families in the eye at the end of this and say we have done our absolute best to uncover and root out and identify exactly what happened.
“And if there is any culpability from an organisation or an individual, that we have done our level best to get that culpability held to account, we can do no more than that.”
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