Hillsborough probe finds more police statements changed

The UK’s Independent Police Complaints Commission believe up to 55 more police statements on the Hillsborough disaster may have been changed.

Already 164 officers have been identified as having changed their statements, and they will begin interviewing that group at the end of July, but the IPCC have now found 55 more statements that they believe were also amended in the aftermath of the 1989 disaster.

West Midlands police had declared all documents on the disaster were in the South Yorkshire police archive, but it has now emerged new documents – which were not given to the independent panel that issued its report on Hillsborough last September – were found on the West Midlands premises.

“As a result of this discovery, the IPCC, which is investigating West Midlands police’s role in the initial investigation into the disaster, has asked for confirmation that there are no further documents in existence,” the IPCC said.

“West Midlands will now conduct a thorough search to determine whether there is any addition documentation … and if found, this will be handed to the IPCC.”

The IPCC said the interviews of the 164 officers would be carried out by both them and members of another team launching a fresh inquiry into the deaths of the 96 Liverpool fans before the 1988/89 FA Cup semi-final.

“In conjunction with the investigation team … we have developed an interview plan with advice from the Crown Prosecution Service for all these officers,” the IPCC said.

“These (interviews) will be joint interviews conducted by the two investigation teams.”