Lack of Hillsborough accountability is a scandal, says minister

Nobody being held accountable for the Hillsborough disaster was "the greatest scandal of British policing of our lifetimes", a senior minister said.

Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg was speaking following the acquittal of three men who were accused of altering police statements.

Labour MP Maria Eagle had called for a change in the law to "prevent another catastrophic failure of justice".

Mr Rees-Mogg said: "We can't allow this ever to happen again."

A judge ruled two retired police officers and an ex-solicitor had no case to answer after being on trial for perverting the course of justice.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans died as a result of the crush at the FA Cup semi-final match at Sheffield Wednesday's ground on 15 April 1989.

Ms Eagle asked for government action during Business Questions in the Commons.

The Garston and Halewood MP said 32 years after 96 innocent people had been "unlawfully killed by the negligence of others" nobody had been held to account.

"This catastrophic failure of justice has seriously compounded the grief, pain and anger of the families," she said.

Ms Eagle said she wanted to reintroduce the Public Advocate Bill which would establish an independent public advocate to represent families in the aftermath of disasters.

It would also set up an independent review, similar to the Hillsborough Independent Panel process, but at a much earlier stage.

Deanna Matthews, whose uncle, Brian Matthews, was one of the 96 people who died, said she wanted to stop other families "falling into the same pitfalls".

"The legacy we want to leave in the memory of our 96; that change will come.

"Our biggest fears now are that people [affected by other disasters] are going to be met with the same disappointing outcome because the law is broken."

"We should be fixing the law," she said.

Mr Rees-Mogg said the lack of accountability over Hillsborough "surely indicates that something has gone wrong in our criminal justice system".

"We can't allow this ever to happen again," he said.

Mr Justice William Davis said retired Ch Supt Donald Denton, retired Det Ch Insp Alan Foster and former solicitor Peter Metcalf had no case to answer because the statements they were accused of changing had been prepared for a public inquiry which was not considered "a court of law", so it was not a "course of public justice" which could be perverted.

Ms Eagle said: "Thirty two years later we shouldn't still be relying on court cases to establish guilt or otherwise."

The bill would stop this "huge delay" and would "go a long way to ensure this will never happen again," she said.

She added: "There should be a legal duty for those working for public authorities to tell the truth to tribunals."

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