Hillsborough police could face manslaughter probe

South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable David Crompton revealed today the force was looking into a number of issues after the release of the damning report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, including corporate manslaughter, manslaughter and misconduct in public office.

He also said questions should be raised about why the earlier Lord Justice Stuart-Smith report, which looked into the alteration of police statements, was accepted.

Of the officers on duty at Hillsborough on the day of the tragedy, 195 are still employed by the force and it said it was considering referring itself to the IPCC.

The report found the force had doctored officers' statements to remove criticism of its handling of the disaster and that senior officers had attempted to blame the dead.

Speaking at a South Yorkshire Police Authority meeting in Barnsley, Mr Crompton 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.

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

"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."

paddym@peoples-press.com