Four former senior policemen were among six people charged Wednesday over the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster in England which killed 96 Liverpool football supporters. Prosecutors said there was "sufficient evidence to charge six individuals with criminal offences" including manslaughter by negligence, perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
Barry Devonside, whose 18-year-old son Christopher died in the tragedy, was with other relatives when the charges were announced. "Everybody applauded when it was announced that the most senior police officer on that particular day will have charges presented to him," he said.
The disaster left a deep scar on Liverpool and Britain as a whole, leading to a decades-long struggle by relatives of victims to hold those in authority to account. Evelyn McDonnell Mills, who lost her brother Peter McDonnell, 21, said: "I'm really happy that we've finally got some charges after 28 years.
"I'm just sad that my brother Gerard, who campaigned for years, died in the first year of the new inquests and never got to see justice." Former South Yorkshire Police officer David Duckenfield, who was the match commander on the day of the crush, faces charges of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Prosecutors said they "will allege that David Duckenfield's failures to discharge his personal responsibility were extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths of each of those 96 people who so tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives." They added that Duckenfield could not be charged with the manslaughter of Tony Bland - the 96th casualty - since he died almost four years later.
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