Individual officers could face manslaughter charges over disaster

David Crompton said the force was looking into a number of issues to refer to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) following the release of the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s 400-page report – including corporate manslaughter, manslaughter, and misconduct in public office.

The chief constable also said questions should be raised about why the 1997 Lord Justice Stuart-Smith inquiry, which first looked into the alteration of police statements but decided there had been no wrong-doing, had been accepted.

Mr Crompton, speaking at a South Yorkshire Police Authority meeting in Barnsley yesterday, said: “Clearly, there may be potential for corporate manslaughter, given some of the detail which came out the other day.

“That relates, of course, to how things were handled on the day and the view taken about the 3.15pm cut-off point (ordered at the original inquest in 1991).

“In addition to that, there may, again potentially, be the possibility of manslaughter investigations against individuals.

“Again, these are only potentials, these are things we are looking at at the moment. I’m not saying these are definitely things which are to be referred to the IPCC.

“In relation to alteration of statements, which has received a great deal of publicity this week, clearly, that is something that we are looking very closely at. It’s highly likely that will form part of the referral to the IPCC.”