The prosecution for manslaughter of David Duckenfield, the former South Yorkshire police chief superintendent who was in command when 96 people were killed during the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, is to continue to trial, a judge has ruled.

Criminal charges against four other men in relation to the disaster and its aftermath will also go to trial after the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, rejected the defendants’ applications for them to be dismissed.

Openshaw decided that a legal bar – a “stay” on prosecuting Duckenfield, which was imposed by the judge Mr Justice Hooper when he heard the bereaved families’ private prosecution of Duckenfield in 2000 – should be lifted.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced last June that it intended to prosecute Duckenfield, following the holding of new inquests from 2014-16, and applied for the stay to be lifted.

Reading out a short ruling at Preston crown court, Openshaw said: “In respect of the defendant David Duckenfield I lift the stay. I confirm that I grant the voluntary bill of indictment to allow prosecution for manslaughter to proceed. I decline to order a stay on that charge.”

Duckenfield faces 95 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence, with the criminal indictment accusing him of breaching his duty “to take reasonable care for the safety of those attending the Hillsborough stadium as spectators in respect of the dangers from overcrowding and consequent crushing”.

The offence of manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Duckenfield, and the four other men, had applied to have the prosecutions stayed on legal grounds.

Graham Mackrell, the former secretary of Sheffield Wednesday football club, which has Hillsborough as its home ground, will face two criminal charges for alleged breaches of safety legislation and his duties as the club’s safety officer.



Mackrell is accused of one offence relating to alleged contravention by the club of its safety certificate, particularly a failure to agree the number and arrangement of turnstiles to admit Liverpool supporters to Hillsborough.

The second charge accuses him of failing to take reasonable care as the safety officer, in the arrangements particularly of having sufficient turnstiles at the stadium “to admit at a rate whereby no unduly large crowds would be waiting for admission”. That second charge also accuses Mackrell of failing to take reasonable care to draw up contingency plans for coping with “exceptionally large numbers of people arriving at the ground” and to deal with situations where the available entrances “have proved insufficient to stop unduly large crowds from gathering outside”.

The maximum sentence for the first charge is two years in prison; for the second the maximum is an unlimited fine.

The CPS was not proceeding with a third charge against Mackrell, Openshaw said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Five men who applied to have charges against them dismissed (clockwise from top left: Peter Metcalf, Alan Foster, Graham Mackrell, Norman Bettison and Donald Denton. Composite: PA/LNP/Getty

Donald Denton, a South Yorkshire police chief superintendent at the time of the disaster; Denton’s then deputy, the former chief inspector Alan Foster, and the then South Yorkshire police solicitor, Peter Metcalf, will face trial in Preston on charges of doing acts with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Their charges relate to the alleged amendment or alteration of accounts given by South Yorkshire police officers about the disaster at Hillsborough. The charge of perverting the course of justice carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

The hearing of an application by Sir Norman Bettison, the former chief constable of Merseyside and West Yorkshire police, to have four charges against him dismissed, was adjourned and will begin on 21 August. The charges are of misconduct in a public office.



The CPS has not sought a manslaughter charge against Duckenfield in relation to the 96th person who died, Tony Bland, because his death occurred four years later. The 18-year-old sustained critical brain injuries in the crush on Hillsborough’s Leppings Lane terrace, and was placed on life support in hospital. The life support was turned off in 1993 following a court application made by his family.

According to the law in 1989, a charge of manslaughter cannot be applied in relation to a person who has died more than a year and a day after the alleged criminal acts occurred.

The first trials, of Duckenfield and Mackrell, are scheduled to begin on 10 September. The trials of Foster, Denton and Metcalf were to begin in January, Openshaw said.

Duckenfield has not yet had to indicate how he intends to plead to the charges. The other defendants and their legal representatives have previously indicated their intention to plead not guilty.

Sue Hemming, the head of the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division, said the CPS would “now continue preparations” for the trials.

“May I again remind all concerned that criminal proceedings are under way and the defendants have the right to a fair trial,” Hemming said. “It is extremely important there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

About 20 relatives of the 96 people killed at Hillsborough were in the public seats at Preston crown court to hear Openshaw give his ruling.