Nearly 34 years after the Hillsborough stadium disaster, police leaders have apologised to families of the 97 victims, acknowledging that “police failures were the main cause of the tragedy” and committing to “widespread changes”.
The apology by the National Police Chiefs Council and College of Policing was part of a long-awaited police response to a 2017 report by the Right Reverend James Jones, a former Bishop of Liverpool, on lessons of the tragedy.
Ninety six football fans were crushed to death — and another died decades later as a result of injuries — in the incident that took place during the scheduled FA cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in April 1989.
An official inquiry held in the aftermath pointed to blunders made by the police outside the Sheffield Wednesday stadium.
But for years South Yorkshire police attempted to shift blame for the fatalities, the largest number in British sporting history, to football fans, while bereaved families have spent decades fighting for the truth to come out and justice to be served.
“Policing has profoundly failed those bereaved by the Hillsborough disaster over many years and we are sorry that the service got it so wrong,” Andy Marsh, chief executive of the College of Policing, a professional body for those working in the police force, said.
“Police failures were the main cause of the tragedy and have continued to blight the lives of family members ever since,” he said, launching a joint report on the disaster and the police’s handling of it.
Martin Hewitt, National Police Chiefs’ Council chair, said all 43 forces in England and Wales had now signed up to a charter for families bereaved through public tragedy, which committed them to put the interests of victims and families above any other, and act “with candour at every turn”.
“Police chiefs today are committed to responding to major incidents with openness and with compassion for the families involved,” he said.
Jones’ 2017 report The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power reviewed the experiences of relatives of the Hillsborough victims. Speaking on BBC television on Tuesday, he said it had taken far too long for the police to come back with a response, causing further suffering to the families.
He said that “for them [the families] to wait for so long for a response . . . is intolerable and adds to their pain”.
Hillsborough Law Now, the campaign group uniting families of victims and activists, said the police response did not go far enough. The group has long argued that public officials should be governed by a legal duty “to tell the truth and proactively co-operate with official investigations and inquiries”.
The government’s own response to the Jones report had been delayed “by the need to avoid the risk of prejudice during any criminal proceedings which related to Hillsborough”, said Suella Braverman, the home secretary.
“Our focus now is on engaging in a meaningful way with the bereaved families of the Hillsborough disaster prior to publishing the government’s overarching response,” she said, adding.