Chief Constable David Crompton has responded to the verdict of 96 Liverpool supporters being unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 due to police failure by "unequivocally" accepting the result of the inquests.
Related - Hillsborough inquest: 96 victims unlawfully killed, Liverpool fans exonerated
The ruling was made Tuesday, with the South Yorkshire police being found culpable for the devastating events 27 years earlier, rather than the fans who went to watch their side compete in the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
"I want to make absolutely clear that we unequivocally accept the verdict of unlawful killing and the wider findings reached by the jury in the Hillsborough inquests," Crompton said on behalf of the region's police force.
"On the 15th of April 1989, South Yorkshire police got the policing of the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough catastrophically wrong. It was and still is the biggest disaster in British sporting history."
Crompton confessed the force "failed" the 96 victims of the crush, and their families, and apologised for what became "the longest inquests in British legal history."
He continued: "The Hillsborough disaster has changed the way in which major sporting events are policed and many lessons have been learnt as a result."
The implications on the South Yorkshire police could be widespread. David Duckenfield, the police officer who was in charge of crowd safety that day, could face prosecution, while 290 of the force's accounts of the disaster are being investigated for any misleading or tampered evidence.
"We recognise that this is an important day for the families of those who died at the Hillsborough disaster, and for everybody affected by what happened," Crompton added. "They have waited 27 years for this outcome; our thoughts are with them."
The 22 families will continue to strive for justice, and are seeking complete transparency in what had been a fatal error followed by a painful, long-running police cover-up. This could result in the resignation of Crompton, following the revelation in the Hillsborough Independent panel report of 2012 of his knowledge of altered statements from the disaster
"Such a comprehensive admission of responsibility, not only for the disaster and loss of life, but also for the dishonest and outrageous cover-up was not honoured in these current inquests," said Stephen Wright, whose brother Graham Wright was a victim that day in Sheffield.
"For this reason, we the 22 families call for the immediate resignation of David Crompton, the chief constable."
