Theresa May under pressure to hand over any remaining Hillsborough files

THE Home Secretary is under pressure to order all police forces to hand over any Hillsborough files they hold.
 PRESSURE: Home Secretary Theresa May is feeling the heat 
 

It has become clear that the Hillsborough Independent Panel (HIP), whose 2012 report exposed a huge cover-up of police failings, did not see all paperwork related to the tragedy.

Fresh investigations sparked by the panel’s findings have uncovered documents held by two police forces.

And a refusal last month by the Metropolitan Police to confirm or deny whether it holds files on Hillsborough added weight to campaigners’ calls for a nationwide trawl.

At least 25 forces have links to the Sheffield stadium disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool football fans.

Families of the victims say it is paramount that investigators have access to everything police hold on the case.

Labour MP Steve Rotheram and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have been working together to press the issue with Home Secretary Theresa May.

Mr Rotheram, MP for Liverpool Walton, said: “The Independent Police Complaints Commission and [ex-Durham Chief Constable] Jon Stoddart’s investigations must ­provide the most definitive conclusions on any wrongdoing on the part of key agencies including the police before, during and after the disaster.

“I am working with Yvette Cooper to persuade the Home Secretary to issue a nationwide directive to all police forces to hand over any information or evidence relating to the Hillsborough disaster, the victims, survivors and families, to the ongoing investigations.

“I hope that Theresa May will take our concerns on board and act upon them.”
Since the HIP’s report, South Yorkshire Police and investigating force West Midlands have handed investigators material which had not been given to the panel.

The report’s principal author Professor Phil Scraton said: “Despite our in-depth analysis of a vast archive of material, we identified gaps and presumed some documents had been destroyed or retained.
“Regrettably, it is now evident that not all documents were provided to the panel.

“Given the number of police forces directly or indirectly involved in Hillsborough’s aftermath, it is beholden on them to ensure that all documents in their possession are made available to the IPCC and the criminal investigations.”
Hillsborough Family Support Group chairman Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, died in the disaster, said: “How can we ever get the truth if there are files out there? They need to be handed over.

“Every force should be asked to search for anything relating to Hillsborough and for it to be handed over.” Some campaigners have long suspected they were put under surveillance, with suspicions of phone tapping and mail being tampered with. The suspicions have never been confirmed by any police force.
A spokesman for the Met police said officers would comply with a request to search for files should the IPCC approach them regarding “material they believe we may hold”.

He added: “To the best of our knowledge no recent searches for material relating to the Hillsborough disaster have been undertaken. The IPCC has not requested any such searches or material.”