Hillsborough disaster report live: ‘no one will be held to account’ – bereaved and survivors respond

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'Report confirms what families and survivors knew all along'

Charlotte Hennessy, whose father James was among the 97 unlawfully killed, says the watchdog’s report “confirms what families and survivors knew all along”.

She says the families welcome the IOPC’s conclusions in relation to 12 police officers that:“their actions or a lack thereof amounts to a case to answer for gross misconduct.”

While some conclusions are disappointing we respect that the process was investigated and accept the element of closure.

“Many remind us that Hillsborough was 36 years ago, but nobody is more acutely aware of that than those who lost loved ones and those who survived.”

'Not a single officer will be held to account'

The press conference has begun with a statement from lawyers representing the families, summarising the watchdog’s findings that more than 100 cases of gross misconduct allegations were found against former police officers.

But there is no accountability, they say.

“Not a single officer will face a disciplinary action,” says the lead lawyer Nicola Brook. “No one will be held to account.”

She says the findings of the IOPC report is vindication for survivors who have “fought for decades to expose the truth’, but it also exposes “a system that allows officers to simply walk away, retiring without consequence”.

We’re about to hear from bereaved families and survivors responding to the IOPC’s report today.

My colleague Raphael Boyd is at the press conference in Liverpool.

West Midlands police also failed to investigate South Yorkshire force

For the first time, authorities also examined the actions of West Midlands Police (WMP), the force tasked with investigating the disaster.

“We found this investigation to be wholly unsatisfactory and too narrow,” the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found.

“We also found evidence to indicate that the actions of two senior WMP officers were biased in favour of South Yorkshire Police.”

There has disappointment among some survivors that the IOPC has not criticised the West Midlands police investigation more extensively.

The watchdog did uphold some complaints, but said it had not found West Midlands officers were generally intimidating towards the survivors they interviewed, asked them excessively about supporters drinking, or were biased towards South Yorkshire police.

Fundamental failures by South Yorkshire police

Just pulling out a key line from the IOPC report:

We found South Yorkshire Police (SYP) fundamentally failed in its planning for the match, in its response as the disaster unfolded and in how it dealt with traumatised supporters and families searching for their loved ones.”

'Absolutely ridiculous that so few police face a case over lies and cover-up we've had to fight for 36 years'

Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James was one of the 97 people unlawfully killed, has criticised the lack of accountability.

I cannot accept or understand how 97 people can be unlawfully killed, the police can lie, and nobody is held accountable,” she says.

“I recognise that the IOPC and Operation Resolve have worked hard and some of these findings are strong. But it’s absolutely ridiculous that so few people have been accused of gross misconduct for the lies and cover-up we’ve had to fight for 36 years.”

She was the last chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, and successfully campaigned with other families for the “Hillsborough law”, introduced into parliament by Keir Starmer’s government in September. It is aimed at deterring official cover-ups by introducing a duty of “candour, transparency and frankness” for police officers and public officials.

'Deeply unsatisfactory' for families still looking for answers

Raphael Boyd

This morning, the IOPC deputy director general Kathie Cashell admitted that for some families the report has still left some questions unanswered.

She says it’s “deeply unsatisfactory that over 36 years later we are still looking for those answers.”

Rob Beckley, who previously headed the investigation into Hillsborough, said the report omitted the use of the phrase “cover up” as there was not a strong- enough legal basis for it.

But during the process of interviewing members of the police, he said “there was evasiveness, and there was defensiveness,” with senior figures in particular exhibiting what he described as a “veneer of cooperation”.

Home Secretary: 'Hillsborough killings one of the most significant failings in policing the UK has ever seen'

The Home Secretary has issued a response to the police watchdog’s findings:

The unlawful killing of the 97 at Hillsborough 36 years ago is a stain on our nation’s history and today serves as a stark reminder of one of the most significant failings in policing the country has ever seen.”

Shabana Mahmood goes on to pay tribute to the families and survivors of Hillsborough.

She says they have faced “years of mistreatment and delay”, but thanks to their campaigning the government is introducing the Hillsborough Law which will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities.

Mahmood notes there are now also laws in place which mean that police officers can no longer evade misconduct proceedings by retiring or resigning, “so these failings can never be repeated”.

As we reported earlier, the 12 officers identified today for gross misconduct cases will not face any sort of disciplinary proceeding because when the watchdog’s investigation began, they had already retired or had died, and under laws at the time, this precluded any disciplinary action.

Watchdog found 110 cases against police, including for lying, abuse of authority and neglect

The police watchdog in their report has found 110 cases against former officers, including for “falsehood and prevarication”, “discreditable conduct”, “abuse of authority” and “neglect of duty”.

The 366-page report marks the culmination of 14 years’ work by the IOPC, which describes it as “the largest independent investigation into alleged police misconduct and criminality ever carried out in England and Wales”.

Their investigation began in 2012 after the Hillsborough Independent Panel made landmark findings on police culpability, which led to the quashing of the verdict of accidental death from the first inquest in 1991.

Relatives outraged there weren't more cases to answer for police who blamed Liverpool fans

The report has been delivered to bereaved families in the past days. My colleague Raphael Boyd is in Liverpool to hear from some of them at a press conference shortly.

But some have already told the Guardian that while they welcome the gross misconduct allegations, they are outraged the watchdog did not find more cases to answer against South Yorkshire police officers for falsely blaming Liverpool supporters.

The officer in command on the day at the stadium told a lie at the time that Liverpool fans had forced open a gate to get into the stadium and that had contributed to the crush.

Families and survivors have long described that lie, and other actions as part of a police cover-up campaign. They have spent decades fighting for the truth as to what really happened and for justice for victims and survivors.

Liverpool fans paying tribute to the 97 victims of the Hillsborough disaster before a match Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Details of the gross misconduct cases police should have faced action for

The watchdog has found that 12 officers, all men, would have faced disciplinary cases of gross misconduct.

• Ten were in the South Yorkshire force, including senior officers responsible for safety at Hillsborough.

• South Yorkshire’s Chief Constable Peter Wright, in charge at the time of the disaster, would have faced six gross misconduct allegations, among them seeking to minimise police responsibility and deflecting blame on to the victims, Liverpool football club supporters.

• Two other men were senior officers in West Midlands police, which had been appointed to investigate the South Yorkshire force after the disaster.

• Mervyn Jones and Michael Foster would have faced allegations that they “failed to investigate effectively” and were “biased against supporters in favour of South Yorkshire police”.

Victims and families 'repeatedly let down - before, during and after the horrific events'

In a press release, the IOPC deputy director general Kathie Cashell thanked those who supported the police watchdog’s investigation through sharing “very personal accounts”. She paid tribute to the “courage they have shown in revisiting those events”.

The 97 people who were unlawfully killed, their families, survivors of the disaster and all those so deeply affected, have been repeatedly let down—before, during and after the horrific events of that day.

First by the deep complacency of South Yorkshire Police in its preparation for the match, followed by its fundamental failure to grip the disaster as it unfolded, and then through the force’s concerted efforts to deflect the blame onto the Liverpool supporters, which caused enormous distress to bereaved families and survivors for nearly four decades.

They were let down again by the inexplicably narrow investigation into the disaster conducted by West Midlands Police, which was a missed opportunity to bring these failings to light much sooner.

What they have had to endure over more than 36 years is a source of national shame.”

Link to full report

The full findings of the 366-page report can be found here.

The Guardian’s report of today’s landmark findings is below:

None of the former officers will face disciplinary proceedings

The police watchdog has identified 12 police officers who “have a case to answer” for gross misconduct.

But none will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired, or have died.

Peter Wright, the chief constable in charge of South Yorkshire police at the time of the disaster, died in 2011.

No police officer has been convicted of any criminal offences in relation to the Hillsborough failings, and none faced disciplinary proceedings at the time they were serving.

Welcome

After 36 years of fighting for justice, the families and friends of 97 people killed in the Hillsborough disaster have received the findings of a 14-year investigation by the police watchdog into police conduct over the tragedy.

Twelve police officers, most of them senior, should have faced disciplinary cases of gross misconduct for failings related to the mass crush, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has ruled.

The watchdog found police officers sought to minimise the force’s responsibility and culpability by deflecting blame on to victims, Liverpool football club supporters.

In the inquiries that followed the crush, investigating police were also biased in trying to protect their colleagues, changing evidence and presenting conclusions which led to families describing the process as a police “cover-up”.

The IOPC said the 97 people killed, their families, survivors and all those deeply affected were: “repeatedly let down—before, during and after the horrific events of that day.”

“What they have had to endure over more than 36 years is a source of national shame.”

We’ll have rolling coverage of this major report’s findings, and the reaction from families.