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| Hillsborough: Fans' accounts and more police statements 'amended' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Statements of a further 74 police officers involved in the Hillsborough stadium disaster "may have been amended", the police watchdog has said. | Statements of a further 74 police officers involved in the Hillsborough stadium disaster "may have been amended", the police watchdog has said. |
| The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said there was also evidence suggesting "fans' witness accounts may have been altered". | The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said there was also evidence suggesting "fans' witness accounts may have been altered". |
| It is examining police conduct in the aftermath of the 1989 disaster. | It is examining police conduct in the aftermath of the 1989 disaster. |
| IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said it needed to deliver "the last, definitive account" of Hillsborough. | IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said it needed to deliver "the last, definitive account" of Hillsborough. |
| Ninety-six Liverpool fans died as the result of the crush at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium. | |
| The announcement comes a year after the Hillsborough Independent Panel reported its damning findings. | The announcement comes a year after the Hillsborough Independent Panel reported its damning findings. |
| The IPCC said it would investigate after the panel's 2012 report revealed 164 police statements had been altered. | |
| The panel found that 116 of those statements were either removed or changed to alter negative comments about the police operation at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. | |
| New inquests | |
| The watchdog is reviewing allegations surrounding amendments to statements and the actions of the police officers after the disaster. | |
| It will also look at how West Midlands Police investigated South Yorkshire Police's conduct for the original inquiry led by Lord Chief Justice Taylor. | |
| A separate team, led by former Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart, is investigating the response of all other agencies involved in the aftermath. | |
| Ms Glass said an appeal for witnesses, to be launched next week, would form a "crucial element to our investigation into how West Midlands Police conducted its inquiries into the disaster". | |
| She said: "We want to hear people's experiences of that process. We have already had a number of people contact us with concerns that their statements were amended and we have no doubt there are others who have not contacted us." | |
| She added: "We have recovered West Midlands policy books that have never been seen by previous inquiries. | |
| "We have recovered pocket notebooks from officers who were on duty on the day of the match. We are in the process of interviewing all the surviving officers whose accounts were amended." | |
| In December, the original accidental death verdicts were quashed at the High Court and new inquests will be heard after the panel found that 41 of the 96 who died had the "potential to survive". | In December, the original accidental death verdicts were quashed at the High Court and new inquests will be heard after the panel found that 41 of the 96 who died had the "potential to survive". |
| Those inquests are set to begin by 31 March at an unconfirmed location in the North West. |