BREAKING NEWS: Acting chief constable of South Yorkshire to step down

She will resume her former duties while another temporary chief constable is sought, South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner said.

The news comes as lawyers representing many of the families of victims of the Hillsborough disaster have confirmed that they are already taking legal action against South Yorkshire and West Midlands Police.

The statement follows the inquest ruling that the 96 Liverpool fans who died at the stadium, in Sheffield, in 1989, had been unlawfully killed.

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Lawyers acting for the families said the conclusions, at the end of the longest jury case in British legal history, had completely vindicated their tireless 27-year battle for the truth.

Now Saunders Law has confirmed that it is already taking legal action against two police forces on behalf of many of the families

A statement said: “We issued High Court Claims for Misfeasance in Public Office against South Yorkshire and West Midlands Police in 2015 on behalf of several hundred of those affected. The claims concern the cover up and actions intended to wrongly blame the deceased and Liverpool Football Club supporters for the tragedy, for which there has still been no proper admission or apology. Despite a half hearted admission after publication of the Hillsborough Independent Report, we now learn South Yorkshire Police spent an estimated £19m of tax payers’ money on defending the indefensible at the inquest.”

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It added: “We hope to meet the IPCC and Operation Resolve in the near future. They have been investigating allegations against individual officers, and so have material relevant to the misfeasance action. Our clients also wish to ensure that the right of any suspects to a fair criminal trial is not diminished by the action.”

The Hillsborough deaths had been ruled accidental at the end of the original 1991 inquest.

But those verdicts were quashed following the 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel report, which concluded that a major cover-up had taken place in an effort by police and others to avoid the blame for what happened.

The new jury concluded that blunders by the police and ambulance service on the day had “caused or contributed” to the disaster and that the victims had been unlawfully killed.

The chief constable of South Yorkshire Police was suspended following the Hillsborough inquest findings.

South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Alan Billings said he felt he had no choice but to suspend David Crompton, 52, due to his concerns “about the way public trust and confidence was beginning to drain away”.

Mr Crompton’s suspension came as thousands of people, including families of the 96 victims of the 1989 disaster, gathered in Liverpool for an emotional commemorative service to reflect on their 27-year quest for justice.

At St George’s Hall in the city, crowds applauded the families as they made their way down the steps following the jury’s conclusion that fans had been unlawfully killed.

As they walked hand-in-hand, the sea of people chanted: “Justice for the 96.”

Many bowed their heads as prayers were said for those who had died, as well as the families, campaigners and the jury, who had “put their lives on hold” for two years.

Mr Crompton’s suspension, after a four-year tenure, came just a day after he admitted the force got the policing of the match in Sheffield between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest “catastrophically wrong” and “unequivocally” accepted the inquest jury’s landmark verdict of unlawful killing.

But Dr Billings acted after a day of strident criticism of the South Yorkshire force, especially from shadow home secretary Andy Burnham, including some calls for the whole organisation to be disbanded.