Having completed its investigation and reached provisional conclusions, WMP submitted reports to SYP, for SYP to determine what (if any) disciplinary action to take, once other legal processes had been completed. This was in line with normal practice for finishing complaint investigations.
At the end of the Popper Inquests in March 1991, ACC Anderson, who was responsible for complaints and discipline at SYP, wrote to the PCA stating that the force did not feel disciplinary action was appropriate in respect of any of the complaints. He included a rationale for each of the complaints, which largely followed the views WMP had set out in its reports. ACC Anderson added that, following the verdicts of the Popper Inquests, there was no additional evidence that would make it necessary to refer the matters back to WMP for further investigation.
The PCA accepted this in most cases. However, in the cases of Ch Supt Duckenfield and Supt Murray, it recommended that SYP start proceedings on the basis of the disciplinary offence of neglect of duty. The PCA argued that this was not the same as any criminal offence that had been considered by the DPP.
SYP did not do so. After a prolonged period of correspondence, the PCA sought to use its powers to direct (that is, force) SYP to begin disciplinary proceedings. However, various administrative and evidential issues meant that there was a further delay before a tribunal could begin. By this time, Ch Supt Duckenfield had been on sick leave for a sufficient period that he was permitted, under the Police Pension Regulations 1987, to apply for early retirement on medical grounds. He retired in October 1991.
Because at the time police disciplinary proceedings could only be taken against serving officers, this meant that no proceedings could be taken against him. Regarding Supt Murray, the PCA then determined that: “it would be unjust and inappropriate to pursue the charge against the Superintendent alone, in the absence of his superior officer.”
In a statement to the IOPC, Captain Noel Taylor, who had been the PCA representative overseeing WMP’s work in relation to the Hillsborough disaster, recalled this sequence of events. He said that when Ch Supt Duckenfield’s retirement was announced, both he and the Chair of the PCA at the time were angry “because the timing of the decision seemed very convenient for both Duckenfield and SYP”.
