Within hours of the poignant celebrations in Liverpool as the Hillsborough families marked the Inquest verdict, and called for ‘Justice’, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police was suspended. This was not directly related to the tragic events of 27 years ago. Nor was it about the shameful cover-up. The reality is that Peter Crampton could not sensibly remain in post following the stance adopted by South Yorkshire Police’s legal team at the recent Inquest.

Newspaper reports claim that individual Police chiefs and the S Yorks force spent £12m – £14m on legal fees. It took twice as long as expected and heard 296 days of evidence. Victims’ families and other campaigners argued that this was largely due to the Police barrister and his team persisting to challenge witnesses’ testimonies and argue the case that an unruly mob of drunken louts had, at least in part, caused the disaster. So were these over-zealous lawyers pushing the envelope so-to-speak? Or were they merely carrying out the instructions of their clients – South Yorkshire Police and certain named individuals?