Pressure growing on police over Hillsborough cover-up

Pressure is growing for the police officers responsible for the Hillsborough cover-up to face prosecution.

As South Yorkshire Police considered referring itself to the police watchdog last night, the former MP revealed as one of the sources behind The Sun's controversial coverage of the tragedy, said he was "deeply and sincerely sorry".

But ex-Sheffield MP Sir Irvine Patnick insisted he had been given "wholly inaccurate" information by officers.

On Wednesday a damning report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel revealed a cover-up took place to shift the blame on to the victims and that 41 of the 96 lives lost at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989, could have been saved.

Sir Irvine said tonight he was "appalled" at the extent of the cover-up surrounding the disaster which saw Liverpool supporters die in a crush at the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

The panel found that 164 police statements were altered, 116 of them to remove or alter "unfavourable" comments about the policing of the match and the unfolding disaster.

South Yorkshire Police, which still employs 195 officers who were on duty at Hillsborough on the day, said the force "is currently reviewing a wide variety of matters raised in the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel with a view to making a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission".

The force added that it was looking in detail at the material released by the panel and its report before making a decision on whether any specific matters should be referred to the IPCC, the police watchdog.

Deborah Glass, deputy chairman of the IPCC, said: "The detailed and rigorous report of the Hillsborough panel into the tragic deaths of 96 people raises extremely serious and troubling issues for the police.

"Clearly there is a huge amount of information contained within the report and supporting documentation that needs to be analysed and digested.

"We are reviewing the panel's report and we are aware that South Yorkshire Police are also carrying out a detailed assessment of the report with a view to making a referral to the IPCC.

"We also await the decision by the Attorney-General in respect of the inquests, and will liaise with the relevant parties to identify what should be investigated, and by whom."

Earlier today, Sir Norman Bettison, the most senior serving police officer who was involved at the time, said he had "nothing to hide".

The former South Yorkshire inspector, who is now Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, also claimed fans at the stadium had made the job of the police "harder than it needed to be".

The comment appears to contradict yesterday's report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel which said fans played no part in the unfolding disaster.

The panel said: "The evidence shows conclusively that Liverpool fans neither caused nor contributed to the deaths of 96 men, women and children."

Sir Norman was an off-duty South Yorkshire Police inspector when he attended the game, and was involved in an internal inquiry held by the force in its aftermath.

He said: "Fans behaviour, to the extent that it was relevant at all, made the job of the police, in the crush outside Leppings Lane turnstiles, harder than it needed to be.

"But it didn't cause the disaster any more than the sunny day that encouraged people to linger outside the stadium as kick off approached."

Sir Norman said that by the time he was involved in South Yorkshire Police's internal inquiry, West Midlands Police had taken over the formal investigation into the tragedy.

"I never altered a statement nor asked for one to be altered," Sir Norman added.

"Two South Yorkshire Police teams have been conflated in the minds of some commentators."

He said a second team of officers, which did not involve him, was created by South Yorkshire Police to "work with solicitors who were representing South Yorkshire Police at the Taylor Inquiry and to vet statements from its officers that were intended to be presented to the inquiry".

West Yorkshire Police Authority said tonight it will "review" the Panel's report and the West Midlands authority said it has asked their Chief Constable, Chris Sims, to "update" them on the matter.

West Yorkshire Police Authority chairman, Councillor Mark Burns-Williamson, said: "Anyone involved in any wrongdoing should be prepared to face the consequences of their actions."

The families of the football supporters killed 23 years ago said the report had vindicated them, and have pledged to carry on their fight by pursuing criminal prosecutions against those who they said should "hang their heads in shame".

Margaret Aspinall, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, who lost her son James, 18, in the tragedy, called for Sir Norman's immediate resignation.

"He is still saying the fans made the job more difficult for the police. He ought to be ashamed of himself," she said.