Hillsborough


In June 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced it had authorised charges relating to the deaths of 96 people at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at the Hillsborough football stadium and the alleged police cover-up that followed against six people.


They include Graham Mackrell, the Sheffield Wednesday chief executive and officially designated safety officer for the Hillsborough stadium, who was charged with breaching the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and failing to take reasonable care under the Health and Safety at Work Act.


Hillsborough match commander for the South Yorkshire Police, David Duckenfield, will face charges of manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 people after a legal restriction, or stay, preventing his prosecution was lifted. Other individuals were charged with misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice. The CPS conducted a review of the evidence after inquests into the tragedy concluded in 2016 that the 96 football fans that died at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989 were unlawfully killed. The inquests into the Hillsborough disaster constitute the longest case ever heard by a jury in British legal history.