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CPS drops all charges against former Hillsborough officer CPS drops all charges against former Hillsborough officer
(about 4 hours later)
The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped all criminal charges against Sir Norman Bettison relating to his conduct as a South Yorkshire police officer in the force’s response to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people were killed. The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped all criminal charges against Sir Norman Bettison relating to his conduct as a South Yorkshire police chief inspector in the force’s response to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
Bettison, who was subsequently appointed as the chief constable of Merseyside and West Yorkshire police forces, was charged last year with four counts of misconduct in a public office for statements he had made about his post-Hillsborough role, which the CPS alleged were untrue. Bettison, who was subsequently appointed as the chief constable of Merseyside and then West Yorkshire police, was charged last June with four counts of misconduct in a public office for statements he allegedly made about his post-Hillsborough role, which the CPS claimed were untrue.
Bettison had made an application for the charges to be dismissed, which was due to be heard at Preston crown court on Tuesday, but the CPS told the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, that all the charges were being withdrawn and the prosecution discontinued. Bettison had made an application for the charges to be dismissed, which was due to be heard at Preston crown court on Tuesday, but the CPS barrister, Sarah Whitehouse QC, told the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, that all four charges against Bettison were being withdrawn and the prosecution discontinued.
The collapse of the case will be a profound disappointment to the families of the 96 Liverpool fans killed in the human crush due to overcrowding at Hillsborough. Sheffield Wednesday’s ground hosted the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989. The collapse of the case against Bettison came as a profound disappointment to relatives of the people who were killed in a human crush at Hillsborough while supporting Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989. Families have long been aggrieved about Bettison’s involvement for South Yorkshire police following the disaster, particularly when he then became the chief constable at Merseyside in 1998.
Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, whose 18-year-old son James was killed in the disaster, said the families had “grave concerns” about the CPS’s handling of the case and would be exercising their right to a review. Bettison was not charged for his actual conduct or role in the South Yorkshire police’s response to the disaster; instead, the CPS alleged that Bettison lied about his role in statements he made years later, in 1998 and 2012. Two charges alleged that in late 1998, during his application for the Merseyside position, Bettison described his Hillsborough role as “peripheral”, and told the Merseyside Police Authority he had “never attempted to shift blame on to the shoulders of Liverpool supporters”.
Families have been deeply aggrieved about Bettison’s involvement as a South Yorkshire police chief inspector after the disaster, particularly when he then became the chief constable at Merseyside in 1998. He remained in that role until 2005, when he retired from the police force. A year later he was knighted and in 2007 he rejoined the service as the chief constable of West Yorkshire police, until his resignation in October 2012. The two further charges related to press releases he issued in September 2012 after the Hillsborough Independent Panel published its report, in which he stated that he had never “besmirched” Liverpool supporters or suggested privately or publicly that they had caused the disaster.
The Liverpool MP Maria Eagle first alleged in a speech in parliament in May 1998 that Bettison played a significant role in South Yorkshire police’s response to the disaster. Many families were outraged when Bettison was appointed to head the Merseyside force and it then emerged that he had not mentioned his Hillsborough-related work in his job application. Bettison has always argued that it was not relevant to the type of experience required. Whitehouse told Openshaw the case was being discontinued because one key witness to Bettison’s alleged statements and whose evidence supported three of the charges, Mark Ellaby, had died. Then, last week, the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) revisited another key witness, an 85-year-old woman, and “significant contradictions” emerged in her evidence.
Further evidence of work Bettison did emerged from internal South Yorkshire police documents published by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which reported in September 2012, and during the new 2014-16 inquests into the disaster, at which he gave evidence in 2015. There was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction on three of the four charges”, Whitehouse said, which left the single charge that Bettison had lied in 1998 when he described his Hillsborough role as peripheral.
In November 1989, after Lord Justice Taylor had produced his official report, Bettison went to parliament on behalf of the force to show a group of MPs a video about the disaster. Paul Greaney QC, representing Bettison, told the court it had always been his client’s case that he was referring to his involvement on the day of the disaster as peripheral, not what he did in relation to South Yorkshire police’s response to it.
Bettison has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Hillsborough, saying in his evidence at the inquests that he had no leadership or management role and only carried out tasks he had been given. Whitehouse said the prosecution had been “reduced to the interpretation of a single word”, and the CPS decided that misconduct in a public office could no longer be proven to the “very high criminal standard” required.
In November 2016, while new criminal investigations were proceeding into the disaster and South Yorkshire police’s response, Bettison had a book published, Hillsborough Untold, in which he maintained that he had never done anything improper and argued that he had been “unfairly scapegoated”. In his speech to the court, Greaney criticised the IOPC, saying that for years its investigators had not pursued obvious lines of inquiry to sufficiently test the strength of the witness’s evidence.
The CPS charged Bettison last June, not for his actual conduct or role in the force’s response, but for his description of it and other statements he made some years later. He also criticised the Liverpool MP Maria Eagle, for making speeches in parliament in 1998 and 2012 after the independent panel’s report, in which she highlighted Bettison’s role in the South Yorkshire police response. That work included Bettison going to parliament in November 1989, following Lord Justice Taylor’s landmark official report into the disaster, to show a group of MPs a video compilation.
Two charges concerned assertions in late 1998, during his Merseyside application process, in which Bettison was alleged to have described his role as “peripheral” and to have told the Merseyside police authority that he had “never attempted to shift blame on to the shoulders of Liverpool supporters”. In October 2012, Bettison resigned from his then position as chief constable of West Yorkshire police and retired. Further evidence of his work after the disaster emerged at the new 2014-16 inquests into the 96 deaths.
The two further charges related to press releases he issued in September 2012 after the independent panel report was published, in which he stated he had never “besmirched” Liverpool supporters or suggested privately or publicly that they had caused the disaster. The criminal indictment alleged that these four statements were untrue and amounted to wilful misconduct in a public office. Greaney alleged that during its investigation, the IOPC had encountered “naked political interference” and came under “considerable political pressure to place the ‘peripheral’ issue at the heart of its investigation”.
Bettison had indicated his intention to plead not guilty, then made his application for the charges to be dismissed, before the CPS decided to discontinue the case. In a short statement outside the court, Bettison said he had been “driven from the job” in 2012.
In a statement, Aspinall said: “It is our view that the wrong charge was brought in the first place and we will be using the review process to argue this point strongly. “My involvement in the events around Hillsborough has often been misrepresented, even in parliament,” he said. “Since then, I have been forced to deny, strenuously, that I was guilty of any wrongdoing in the aftermath of the disaster. Today’s outcome vindicates that position.”
“We know how our supporters will feel about this decision and, of course, we all share all of those feelings.” In a statement, Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, and whose 18-year-old son James was killed in the disaster, said: “We have grave concerns about the handling of this case by the CPS and can confirm that we will be exercising our right to an independent review under the right to review scheme.“It is our view that the wrong charge was brought in the first place and we will be using the review process to argue this point strongly.“We know how our supporters will feel about this decision and, of course, we all share all of those feelings.”
Pledging to “fight on” while saying that the families struggle at times to “find the strength to keep going”, Aspinall urged supporters to be restrained with any comment, so as not to prejudice the prosecutions of five other men. Pledging to “fight on” while saying that the families struggle at times to “find the strength to keep going”, Aspinall urged supporters to be restrained with any comment so as not to prejudice the prosecutions against five other men which are continuing.
David Duckenfield, the South Yorkshire police chief superintendent in command of the semi-final at Hillsborough, is charged with 95 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence. Graham Mackrell, Sheffield Wednesday’s former secretary and safety officer, is charged with three breaches of safety legislation. Former Ch Supt Donald Denton and Ch Insp Alan Foster are charged with doing acts tending and intending to pervert the course of justice, as is the force’s former solicitor, Peter Metcalf. David Duckenfield, the South Yorkshire police chief superintendent in command of the semi-final at Hillsborough, is charged with 95 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Graham Mackrell, Sheffield Wednesday’s former secretary and safety officer, is charged with three breaches of safety legislation; ex South Yorkshire police chief superintendent Donald Denton and chief inspector Alan Foster are charged with doing acts tending and intending to pervert the course of justice, as is the force’s former solicitor, Peter Metcalf.
Duckenfield’s trial, which is listed first, is due to start in January.Duckenfield’s trial, which is listed first, is due to start in January.
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