Hillsborough Disaster: Inquiries continue over West Midlands Police role in 'cover-up'

A file was passed to prosecutors at the start of the year but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said more work needs to be done before they can make a decision on whether any criminal charges can be brought.

Investigators are also looking at how the force handled evidence and what it knew about 1,100 police officers' accounts of the 1989 disaster, which may have been tampered or altered.

Prosecutors have revealed they will make their charging decision separately from files involving South Yorkshire Police.

Rachel Cerfontyne, deputy chairwoman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), said: "The CPS has informed us that it will make charging decisions on the West Midlands Police (WMP) aspect of the IPCC investigation separately to the South Yorkshire Police (SYP) strand.

"It has identified additional investigative work that needs to be completed on the WMP file before fully informed decisions can be made.

"While the CPS has worked with the IPCC throughout the investigation, providing early advice on various aspects, the first opportunity it had to examine the entire evidence file was when we formally referred it in January.

"This contained material the CPS had not previously seen. The additional work is well advanced and we expect to finish and submit this by the end of May.

"It is important to note that the CPS intends to deliver all charging decisions on the SYP evidence file within its original six-month timeframe."

The IPCC is also examining over 170 allegations of misconduct against police officers. These include complaints from Hillsborough family members and survivors of the disaster, and matters that have been identified during the course of the inquiry.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans died in the disaster, which happened during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium on April 15, 1989. Fresh inquests last year found the supporters had been unlawfully killed.

More than 250 former West Midlands police officers and staff have been contacted over allegations the force was part of a cover-up with the police watchdog taking 161 statements from ex-West Midlands personnel.