Operation Resolve – An Incomplete Conclusion To Decades Of Anguish
The Hillsborough Disaster must be one of the most investigated events in British legal history and yet so little has been concluded. Amongst the few, incontrovertible, facts are that the Disaster took place on 15 April 1989 in which 97 people were killed. Following the Disaster, the media and the police wrongly blamed the fans for these deaths. 26 years later, after a second inquest into the deaths of the victims, the families of those victims and survivors achieved a modicum of justice when it was recognised at last that the 97 had been unlawfully killed. In spite of this, and tragically, no one has ever been held responsible.
Although the second set of inquests rightfully concluded that the police had materially contributed to or caused the deaths of the victims, Coroner’s Courts are not a court of blame. They cannot apportion responsibility, only conclude on the facts.
It was with bated breath therefore, that the Hillsborough families waited for the criminal prosecutions for those in the police (and elsewhere) responsible for the disaster and the subsequent cover-up. That hope for justice was cruelly extinguished due to the inadequacy of the criminal investigations and prosecutions that followed the inquests.
Following the collapse of the criminal trials, what was left, therefore, was the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (‘IOPC’) report into the misconduct of the South Yorkshire Police and West Midlands Police both before, during and after the Disaster. Having worked with many families for nearly a decade now, it was clear that very few had many expectations for this report. And yet, it is perhaps only human to hope that maybe, maybe,… the justice system could get it right this time.
It did not.
A (broadbrush) summary of the 366 page report’s conclusions is that:
- 12 police officers would have a case of gross misconduct to answer (were they still in post today);
- A further 92 complaints were upheld by the IOPC and / or those involved would have had cases of misconduct to answer;
- The IOPC found:
a. There were failures in the police’s planning prior to the Disaster;
b. There were failures in decision making and communication at the Leppings Lane entrance which caused the fatal crush;
c. There were failures in decision making and communication relating to the emergency response to the crush;
d. In the hours following the disaster the police reaction was chaotic and lacked compassion;
e. That South Yorkshire Police attempted to deflect blame for the Disaster onto the fans and there were “deliberate and concerted” efforts to amend police officer accounts; and
f. That West Midland Police’s subsequent investigation into the Disaster was flawed and inadequate.
Whilst these are all important findings, they remain empty of any real impact. All those identified in the report have long since retired from the police, many with significant pensions, and so cannot have misconduct proceedings brought against them.
More than this, there was a baffling failure to identify the systemic and cultural nature of the police’s actions. Despite an acknowledgement of concerted efforts to deflect blame, the IOPC concluded that the police were entitled to “put their best case forward” and that as there was no enhanced duty of candour at the time, police were under no obligation to be more transparent.
In my opinion the IOPC are clearly wrong. Putting forward your best case does not extend to dishonesty and fraud. The lack of a duty of candour does not excuse the fact that police officers repeatedly and as an organisation, did everything they could to blame innocent people for the police’s own failures, destroying the lives of the families who lost loved ones, and have now spent nearly 30 years being institutionally gaslit.
A cover up does not need to involve a sophisticated conspiracy. It only requires that those in power refuse to accept the responsibility and consequence of their actions.
Although this marks the end of the official investigations into the tragedy that was the Hillsborough disaster, the deep trauma and anguish that the Hillsborough families and survivors have endured remains. The one consistent fact from the last 30 years, is that these families and the survivors of the Disaster have been failed by yet another public institution, who has failed to provide them with adequate redress.