Six people charged over the Hillsborough disaster

Six people will be or have been charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in relation to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

One of those is superintendent David Duckenfield, who was match commander on the day of the disaster in Sheffield, where 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives.

Duckenfield is to be charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 people. Prosecutors confirm Mr Duckenfield cannot be charged over the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland, for legal reasons, as he died four years after the disaster.

The CPS has applied to the High Court to lift an order which was imposed after Mr Duckenfield was prosecuted privately for two counts of manslaughter by gross negligence in 1999. This order must be lifted before he can be charged.

Former Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison faces four charges of misconduct in a public office in relation to alleged lies he told in the aftermath of the disaster and the culpability of fans.

Former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell has been charged with health and safety offences.

Peter Metcalf, who was a solicitor acting for South Yorkshire Police, is charged with perverting the course of Justice in relation to the changing of witness statements.

Former Chief superintendent Donald Denton and former detective chief inspector Alan Foster are also both charged with perverting the course of justice.

The defendants, other than David Duckenfield, will appear at Warrington Magistrates' Court on August 9.

No organisation will face corporate charges and no-one from the ambulance service will face charges.

The CPS made the announcement after a private meeting with the families of the 96 victims in Warrington on Wednesday morning.

The charges were brought after the CPS collected evidence from two separate investigations into the disaster in January.

Operation Resolve investigated the causes of the disaster while the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigated the conduct of both South Yorkshire Police and West Midlands Police in its aftermath.

A decision regarding West Midlands Police, which was brought in to carry out the original investigation into the conduct of South Yorkshire Police, will be made at a later date.

Both investigations were launched in September 2012 following the publication of a report by the The Hillsborough independent panel, which had reviewed round 450,000 documents regarding the disaster.

Later that year the original inquest verdict of accidental death in 1991 was quashed, with fresh inquests beginning in 2014.

Last year, those inquests concluded that the 96 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed, overturning the verdict of accidental death at the original inquest.