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Three former senior South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officers and a solicitor who represented the force have been charged with criminal offences following the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s (IPCC) investigation into the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster.

The IPCC independent investigation examined an alleged police ‘cover-up’ following the 1989 disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans died at the FA Cup Semi Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

Evidence files containing allegations against six suspects from South Yorkshire Police and two from West Midlands Police (WMP) were formally referred by the IPCC to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in January this year.

The CPS announced yesterday (Wednesday 28 June) that it had authorised charges against the following individuals related to South Yorkshire Police from the IPCC independent investigation:

• Sir Norman Bettison, a former chief inspector and superintendent with SYP and subsequently Chief Constable of Merseyside and West Yorkshire Police. He is charged with misconduct in public office related to alleged lies about his involvement in the aftermath of Hillsborough and the culpability of Liverpool fans;
• Peter Metcalf, the solicitor acting for SYP in 1989, is charged with perverting the course of justice. He is alleged to have made material changes to police officers’ accounts for which there appears to be no justification;
• Former Chief Superintendent Donald Denton, and former Detective Chief Inspector Alan Foster are charged with perverting the course of justice for their involvement in the amendment process.

The CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to charge two SYP officers who were also involved in the amendment process.

The CPS also authorised charges against two individuals investigated by Operation Resolve, the investigation examining the causes of the disaster. The IPCC provided oversight of the part of Operation Resolve which examined the actions of SYP on the day of the disaster. These individuals are:

• Former Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, match commander on the day of the disaster is charged with manslaughter by gross negligence;
• Sheffield Wednesday Football Club Secretary Graham Mackrell is charged with contravention of terms of the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975.

Decisions on two WMP suspects referred to the CPS remain under consideration.  At the request of the CPS, further investigative work has been undertaken and further evidence was submitted last month so that fully informed decisions could be made by CPS.

This week the IPCC sent another evidence file to the CPS relating to a SYP officer and a civilian contracted to work for the force. This follows an investigation into a complaint received from a group of Liverpool fans in May 2015. They alleged evidence was falsified about a police horse being burnt by a cigarette outside of the stadium.

The CPS has indicated it will announce these remaining charging decisions together in due course.

IPCC investigations into 170 allegations of misconduct against police officers both on the day of the disaster and its aftermath are almost complete. Evidence is now being considered from these individual investigations and will be detailed in the wider Hillsborough report covering the IPCC independent investigation and the investigation into the conduct of SYP officers on the day of the disaster.

IPCC Deputy Chair Rachel Cerfontyne said: “The CPS has announced charging decisions on six of the eight suspects formally referred by the IPCC in January this year. We have also referred a further two individuals. We will be working closely with the CPS on the prosecution case and provide any further assistance necessary while decisions on the remaining IPCC files are under consideration.

“Following criminal proceedings, we will consider whether any former police officers, including all of those referred to the CPS for a charging decision, would have had cases to answer for misconduct if they were still serving. The evidence supporting these findings will be set out in the final investigation report.”

The information the IPCC has provided to the CPS about WMP and SYP runs to around  60,000 pages and nearly 3,000 documents respectively.

A detailed overview of the investigation that was published in January can be found here.