Liverpool Football Club today welcomed news that the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Director of Public Prosecutions are to launch 'massive' investigations into possible crimes committed in relation to the Hillsborough disaster.
In a statement released at 11.30am on Friday, it was announced that the DPP will review evidence relating to how the 96 fans died and their findings may lead to charges of manslaughter through gross negligence.
Commenting on today's announcement, Ian Ayre, managing director of Liverpool Football Club said: "We welcome today's announcement by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Director of Public Prosecutions.
"This is another significant step forward in the campaign for justice for Hillsborough families and survivors.
"We will follow the progress of this investigation and remain resolute in our support of the families and survivors as they continue with their battle to bring those responsible for the tragedy to justice."
The statement in full reads as follows:
"The police watchdog and director of public prosecutions are to launch massive investigations into possible crimes committed by South Yorkshire Police and others in relation to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
The DPP will review evidence relating to how the 96 fans died. This may lead to charges of manslaughter through gross negligence.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it will look at whether there was a criminal cover-up inside West Yorkshire Police of failings by the force.
The police watchdog said the investigation will be the biggest ever independent investigation into police wrongdoing.
The Independent Hillsborough Panel Report disclosed potential crimes committed before, during and after the disaster, said the IPCC.
The parallel investigations will cover possible offences of:
Manslaughter
Perverting the course of justice by changing police statements
Perjury by officers who gave evidence on oath
Perverting the course of justice by misleading journalists
Misconduct in public office
The IPCC said that its investigation into an alleged cover-up would look at who ordered police officers to change their statements to remove comments that were critical of the police in the football ground.
A large number of current and former officers will be under investigation, including Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West Yorkshire Police.
The IPCC investigation will include examining the actions of officers from West Midlands Police who had carried out the official investigation into the actions of South Yorkshire Police.
There will also be a separate IPCC investigation into whether Sir Norman attempted to influence the decision by West Yorkshire Police Authority to refer him to the IPCC in the wake of the Hillsborough report.
The watchdog said it was now asking the Home Secretary for more resources because of the scale of the investigation. It said it couldn't put a timescale on the work which would only become clearer once the team had trawled hundreds of thousands of pages of material gathered by the Hillsborough Panel.
The decision by the IPCC is the first legal move since the report was published.
Families are also waiting to hear whether the Attorney General will ask the High Court to order fresh inquests. The panels report questioned the original inquest verdicts of accidental death, saying the coroner had not looked at all the evidence.
Background
Following the publication of the report, the IPCC described it as "detailed and rigorous" and that the Panel's findings had raised "extremely serious and troubling issues for the police".
Just over three weeks ago, the watchdog confirmed it had received a referral from West Yorkshire Police Authority in relation to complaints against Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison.
Sir Norman was an off duty South Yorkshire inspector at the game and was subsequently involved in the force's internal review. Hillsborough families accuse him of being part of a cover-up in which 116 police statements were altered ahead of the 1989 inquiry to remove negative comments about the force.
Sir Norman denies wrongdoing and had said he will retire in March next year. He has separately apologised for a statement he made following the panel's report in which he said the behaviour of fans made the police's job harder.
South Yorkshire's current chief constable, David Crompton, says there should be criminal charges if police broke the law. Richard Wells, who headed the force between 1990 and 1998, says prosecutions are 'absolutely essential'."
