Criminal charges have been brought against six individuals relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of Liverpool fans, including a 21-year-old from Ealing .

Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield has been charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 of the 96 disaster victims, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Wednesday (June 28).

Former Merseyside and West Yorkshire chief constable Sir Norman Bettison has been charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office

Former South Yorkshire Police officers Donald Denton and Alan Foster, as well as force solicitor Peter Metcalf, are charged with doing acts with intent to pervert the course of justice, and former Sheffield Wednesday secretary Graham Mackrell is charged with three offences relating to health and safety and safety at sports grounds.

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The announcement comes 28 years after the fans were crushed to death at Sheffield Wednesday’s home ground.

Last year, a coroner ruled the supporters were unlawfully killed and said the fans were in no way to blame for the disaster.

The coroner criticised police planning and preparation for the FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the neutral Hillsborough ground.

Among those to lose their lives was 21-year-old Joseph McCarthy , who lived in Amherst Road, Ealing, and was known to family and friends as Joe.

Hillsborough victim Joe McCarthy, pictured with his girlfriend Penny Evans

The student, who was studying in Sheffield, had gone to school at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Kensington .

His older brother Jeremy, 22 at the time, was due to join him on the terraces but changed his mind at the last moment.

The CPS announcement was welcomed by Prime Minster Theresa May, who praised the “absolutely exemplary” campaign by the Hillsborough families and others.

She said: “Obviously today will be a day of really mixed emotions for them, but I welcome the fact that charging decisions have been taken. I think that is an important step forward.”

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The CPS said it was unable to charge Duckenfield with the manslaughter of Tony Bland - the 96th casualty - because he died almost four years after the incident.

Fresh inquests into the deaths of the Liverpool supporters, crushed to death in the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough Stadium, were ordered in 2012 after the High Court threw out the original accidental death verdicts which had stood for more than 20 years, and began in 2014.

At the beginning of the new inquests in 2014, Joe’s cousin Anthony Goggins read a statement at the purpose-built courtroom in Warrington.

Liverpool fans were crushed in the Leppings Lane end the Hillsborough Stadium in April 1989

The jury was told he was one of two children born to devout Roman Catholics Sean and Anne McCarthy, and attended Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Primary School in Little Ealing Lane, and grew up to be a dedicated sportsman and keen Scout member.

He was an award-winning gymnast and when at Cardinal Vaughan captained the first XI football team. He played for the cricket team and was a prefect and chairman of both the debating society and the economic/business society.

Hillsborough tragedy during the FA Cup Semi Final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Referee Ray Lewis abandons the game as the full horror of the ongoing events are relayed to him by a policeman who has made his way on to the pitch.

Mr Goggins went on to describe Joe as “a natural leader, confident without being arrogant”.

“Joe was one of life’s good guys," he said. "He was genuinely a lovely human being, full of you with a zest for life. We all miss him.”

Hundreds of mourners attended his funeral on May 2, 1989, held at Ealing Abbey. The Gazette reported at the time: “He was laid to rest in the colours of the club he loved.”

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