Saturday, September 15, 2012

South Yorkshire Police Reopen Hillsborough Case

South Yorkshire police are reopening investigations in the force's conduct over the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

This follows reports that police statements were changed in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster on 15th April 1989, shifting the blame onto Liverpool fans for the crush which killed 96 people.

On Wednesday an independent panel, who had spent the last 18 months going through over 400,000 documents regarding the tragedy, announced their findings.

In a statement from the force, South Yorkshire's Chief Constable said that those who broke the laws should then face charges.

The statement read, the BBC Reports: "South Yorkshire Police is currently reviewing a wide variety of matters raised in the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel with a view to making a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission."

South Yorkshire Police also confirmed that they still employed 195 officers working for the force at Hillsborough that day.

West Yorkshire Police force is also investigating the role played by Chief Constable, Sir Norman Bettison, who was an off-duty inspector with South Yorkshire Police at the game and took part in an internal inquiry after the 1989 tragedy.

Due to Sir Norman's involvement in the case Liverpool Mayor, John Anderson, has asked Liverpool John Moores University to strip Sir Norman of an honorary fellowship that was given to him in 2004.

Since the independent panel announced their finding on Wednesday, high numbers of people involved with politics and the media have come out and publicly apologized for statements or pieces they wrote following the disaster. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, offered his apology for the article he wrote in 2004 that said that the fans were partly to blame for the death the 96 Liverpool fans.

The editor of the Sun, Dominic Mohan, said he was deeply ashamed for the infamous 'The Truth' headline, sanctioned by then-editor Kelvin MacKenzie.

Another to release a statement of apology was MP Sir Irvine Patnick, who was identified as one of the sources contributing to the Sun's reporting of events that day. Many in and around Liverpool believe that the apology is not enough, especially as it was 23 years and 30 hours too late.

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