Leader comment: Families of 96 deserve quick decisions

The Crown Prosecution Service is now considering bringing criminal charges against 23 people following the Hillsborough disaster. Lets just remind ourselves that Britain's worst sporting disaster happened in 1989.

The Crown Prosecution Service are now considering criminal charges against 23 individuals over the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives. Picture: David Cannon/Allsport

It is a national disgrace that it took so long to get justice for the 96 football fans who were killed at the stadium in Sheffield where the FA Cup semi-final tragedy between Liverpool and Nottingham Forrest was taking place. It adds to the sense of anger and betrayal that it has taken until now for possible criminal charges.

A trial after this length of time is only usual in war crimes hearings, or more commonly now in historic sex abuse where either victims have not come forward or police, usually at a fairly low level, have not treated complaints properly.

Of course with the Hillsborough disaster the scandal is compounded by the spreading of untruthful stories that said the actions of fans contributed to their deaths.

Now the possible criminal charges come after two criminal investigations ordered in 2012, one looking at the disaster itself and the other looking at the cover-up. The possible criminal charges come from both inquiries.

It beggars belief that for an event of such magnitude, which was rightly the centre of a huge amount of public attention, the truth of the matter has only come about after 28 years and only because the families never gave up in their fight against the establishment.

In the light of that, the Crown Prosecution Service must proceed with a decision as quickly as possible, because as many as possible of the real victims of this should get to see proper justice enacted.