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The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has decided it will not investigate the complaint made on behalf of a group of Hillsborough families about alleged instructions given by suspended South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable David Crompton to his legal team at the Hillsborough inquests.

The complaint specifically alleged that Mr Crompton instructed barristers representing the force at the inquests to “pour blame” on the Liverpool fans as part of a deliberate effort to deflect blame from his force.

The IPCC has concluded that an investigation would be “significantly hampered”, as it would be unable to review any communications between Mr Crompton and his legal team due to Legal Professional Privilege (LPP). 

LPP is a legal principal which makes communication between legal professionals and their clients confidential. The IPCC asked SYP to waive this privilege in order to view any documentation that might contain legal instructions, however this was declined by the force.

Available and relevant material was assessed as part of this decision-making process, including inquest transcripts, submissions and emails between the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner and Mr Crompton. Although it was found that SYP’s barristers did ask several questions about fan behaviour, these were infrequent and did not suggest that a deliberate or calculated approach was being pursued.  

The complaint also stated that the force had tried to manipulate the media during the inquests, after former SYP employee Hayley Court alleged that she had been told to unethically influence reporting of the inquests to favour SYP.  These allegations, which did not refer to Mr Crompton, have been investigated separately by the IPCC. These enquiries are now complete and findings will be published in the coming weeks. 

Read the full rationale for the decision here.

IPCC Deputy Chair Rachel Cerfontyne said: “The approach taken by some legal teams at the inquests clearly caused distress among those affected by the disaster. However, the evidence we have assessed doesn’t indicate that a criminal or misconduct offence has occurred. This, combined with the fact we cannot review any legal instructions from Mr Crompton to his legal team has led me to conclude that an IPCC investigation could not provide any meaningful response to the complaint.”