Police watchdog probe may investigate Major’s comments on Hillsborough

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed it has written to Sir John to establish further details and determine whether the matter should be incorporated into its inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans at the Sheffield stadium in 1989.

Last night the police watchdog also confirmed it had received a complaint against Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe in relation to his role at Hillsborough. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner was formerly a South Yorkshire Police inspector and was on duty at Sheffield Boys’ Club where relatives waited for news of loved ones.

The complaint follows reports that the name of Adam Spearritt, who was 14 when he died at Hillsborough, was wrongly read out by an unidentified officer from a list of people believed to be alive. Question marks have also been placed against previous accounts that Sir Bernard gave of his contact with Lord Justice Taylor’s initial inquiry into events on the day.

Last month, Sir John apologised for the failure of the Conservative government, which he led between 1990 and 1997, to heed calls for a fresh inquiry into the disaster. He described the Hillsborough Independent Panel report last year – which concluded South Yorkshire Police tried to cover up their mistakes and then pin the blame on the victims – as “pretty shocking” and suggested his Government was too quick to listen to advice from senior officers.

“When there was agitation for a Hillsborough report, we had pretty strong police views that there was no need for a report at the time,” he said. “Nowadays I’m not sure that assurance would ring as strongly as it did in the 1990s.”

Two inquiries are under way into the disaster. Operation Resolve, led by former Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart, is investigating whether fans were unlawfully killed, and the IPCC is looking into the conduct of police in the aftermath of the disaster.

Rachel Cerfontyne, the IPCC’s lead commissioner for the investigation, said the watchdog’s own inquiry will not deal with what happened in the gymnasium next to the ground, which served as a temporary mortuary. Instead, processes around the gymnasium and the boys’ club would be looked at by the criminal investigation Operation Resolve.

She said: “The reason we have made this decision is because Operation Resolve is investigating other matters which took place in the gymnasium which relate to how the deceased were treated, and there was going to be a very significant overlap between the two investigations in terms of who we wanted to speak to.”

A spokeswoman for Sir Bernard said: “As has been made clear, the Commissioner will co-operate with any inquiries from the IPCC.”

More than 2,000 police notebooks have now been located and 118 have been handed in by South Yorkshire Police officers who were on duty at Hillsborough, the IPCC said. A witness appeal had prompted responses from 1,500 people and generated more than 750 lines of inquiry.

After interviews with serving and retired police officers, the IPCC said the number of police accounts of the day which had been amended stood at 240, up from the 164 originally identified by the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

It said 101 interviews had been carried out with officers. Nine Hillsborough officers have declined to be interviewed though none are senior or suspected of criminal offences.