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An extensive inquiry into the police behaviour linked to the Hillsborough disaster has uncovered instances where officers reportedly followed a relative of one of the victims. The investigation, conducted by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), reviewed 27 complaints from 25 individuals connected to the tragedy, specifically addressing claims of police surveillance. According to the report published on Tuesday, if still active, 12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct charges.
The disaster, which claimed 97 lives due to a fatal crush at the stadium, was ultimately attributed in part to failures within South Yorkshire Police (SYP). The report criticised SYP for inadequate planning before the event and for attempting to shift blame onto the supporters in the aftermath. Among the implicated officers were SYP Chief Constable Peter Wright and match commander Chief Inspector David Duckenfield. Over many years, there have been persistent allegations that families of Hillsborough victims and campaigners endured police surveillance, including reports of unusual clicking noises during phone conversations.
All 25 complainants believed their telephone calls had been intercepted, and 16 suspected other types of surveillance such as being followed. While many complaints lacked sufficient detail for thorough investigation, one specific case was upheld where a family member was closely followed by police officers for nearly a week and directly spoke to them during the period. The force involved in this incident was not disclosed. Another upheld complaint involved West Midlands Police officers reportedly acting in an unnecessarily intimidating manner when asked to collect a document from a family member. The IOPC found that West Midlands Police had shown bias in favour of South Yorkshire Police during their investigation of the original disaster-related issues.
The investigation also explored a series of burglaries in the Merseyside region, including break-ins at the Hillsborough Centre and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC) shop, as well as at the home of an HJC member. Five complaints raised suspicions of police involvement because stolen documents reportedly contained information mainly valuable to law enforcement. Merseyside Police’s response to requests for burglary investigation records was “disappointingly slow,” necessitating escalation to senior officers before cooperation improved. When records were eventually provided, the IOPC found inconsistencies and poor documentation, including confusion over incident logs. Nevertheless, there was no evidence supporting police involvement in these burglaries, with some accounts attributing them to local youths.
The IOPC report summarised that there were “fundamental failures” by the police and a deliberate campaign to blame the victims. Laws changed in 2017 now permit former officers to face misconduct proceedings, though they do not apply retroactively to past cases. After the report’s release, Charlotte Hennessy, whose father James died at Hillsborough, stated: “We will never truly know the full extent of South Yorkshire Police force’s deception, but there is no hiding, there is no destroying, and there is no way to cover up that they failed their duties and then they sought to blame the victims.
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