Top prosecutor "sorry" Hillsborough families have not had "justice and accountability"

The director of public prosecutions has said he is "sorry" the families of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster have not had "justice and accountability" through criminal proceedings.

The trial of two retired police officers and a solicitor accused of perverting the course of justice following the 1989 disaster collapsed last month after the judge ruled there was no case to answer.

Max Hill QC, director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), told MPs on the Justice Committee on Tuesday: "I have to start by paying tribute to the 96, the friends and the families who have gone through, year after year, decade after decade, a search for justice and accountability."

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He said he had previously met with many of the families and will be doing so again in the next two or three weeks.

He said a dedicated team set up within the CPS had given "their all to try to generate criminal justice outcomes".

He said: "They - and I speak for them - are first in saying how sorry we all are that this process has not led to the closure which the 96 have sought."