Hillsborough retrial ruled out

David Duckenfield and wife Ann want to rebuild their lives

The judge in the Hillsborough trial has ruled that the police officer in charge during the tragedy should not face a retrial for manslaughter.

The jury was discharged on Monday after failing to reach a verdict on charges against former chief superintendent David Duckenfield.

The Hillsborough families appeared before Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday morning in the hope of obtaining a fresh trial, but their application was rejected.

We may have lost the war but we have certainly won a lot of battles on the way

Trevor Hicks, Hillsborough Family Support Group

In a statement Mr Duckenfield said the jury had not concluded that he had committed any criminal offence and asked to be left alone to try and rebuild his life.

"David Duckenfield is very relieved and pleased that this process is finally over," said his solicitor, Simon Eastwood.

"As a husband and a father he has every sympathy with the victims' families for the loss of their loved ones.

"He respectfully asks that he and his family are now left alone to try and rebuild their own lives, away from the glare of publicity."

Mr Duckenfield, 55, of Bournemouth, Dorset, denied two specimen charges of manslaughter which were brought by the Hillsborough Family Support Group in a private prosecution.

On Wednesday Alun Jones, QC, told the judge that he was seeking a retrial against Mr Duckenfield after consulting the families of the victims.

Limited victory

But Mr Duckenfield's counsel, William Clegg, QC, successfully argued that a new trial would put unfair pressure on the former officer and his family.

He also said that there was no realistic prospect of a conviction if a new trial were to take place.

Hicks: "We accept the decision of the court"

At a press conference chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Trevor Hicks, said the families did not regard the lack of a verdict on Mr Duckenfield and the refusal to grant a retrial as a defeat.

"It is not quite the result we would have liked but it is a limited victory," he said.

Deputy cleared

"We may have lost the war but we have certainly won a lot of battles on the way."

He said the campaigners took heart from the fact they had got the prosecution to the point of a trial.

Mr Duckenfield's deputy, ex-superintendent Bernard Murray, 58, of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, was cleared of the same charges by the jury at Leeds Crown Court last Friday after four days of deliberation.

The case into the cause of the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters is estimated to have cost a total of £4m in prosecution and defence costs.