A damages action brought by 465 people over an alleged police cover-up in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster has reached the high court.

Lawyers have applied for a group litigation order as the most efficient and cost-effective way to manage the claim for misfeasance in public office against the chief constables of South Yorkshire police and West Midlands police.

The claimants are either relatives of the 96 Liverpool supporters who died as a result of the crush at the stadium on 15 April 1989, or those who were present and survived, or their family members.

On Thursday, Heather Williams QC said: “They allege that they suffered damage as a result of the anguish caused by the prolonged cover-up, additional to damage suffered by the events of the disaster itself.



“The damage relied upon is predominantly psychiatric injury.”

Williams told senior high court master Barbara Fontaine it was contended that “senior South Yorkshire police [SYP] officers constructed and propagated a false narrative intended to deflect blame for the disaster away from their own officers and on to Liverpool supporters, and furthered this by suppressing and altering evidence indicating the disaster was caused by the failings of SYP”.

“From 20 April 1989, West Midlands police were the force appointed to investigate the disaster and thereafter assisted or facilitated SYP in this cover-up.”

Williams said the 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel report was a “significant breakthrough”. She added that the latest Hillsborough inquest, which ended in April 2016, concluded that the 96 people were unlawfully killed and criticised a number of organisations, including SYP.

The inquest jury was not directly concerned with post-death events and was not asked to arrive at conclusions in relation to the alleged cover-up.

Williams said that both the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Operation Resolve, which was conducting the fresh criminal investigation, were expected to hand over evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service by the end of this year.

The hearing in London, which Williams said involved allegations of the “utmost severity”, is expected to last a day.