NAMED AND SHAMED AT LAST... BUT STILL NO ACCOUNTABILITY

FOR the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, Monday evening will have been another full of tension, anxiety and deep frustration.

- By LIAM THORP

As they sat sifting through the near 400-page report into the appalling police failings that led to the unlawful deaths of their sons, brothers, sisters and daughters - and the culture of defensiveness and downright dishonesty across two police forces that saw those same loved ones and their friends and fellow supporters wrongly blamed for the tragedy, they must have had a familiar sinking feeling.

Because the next day, they would once again find themselves at the centre of a huge national story about how their loved ones were so badly failed - only to be reminded that no one has faced real proper punishment for their devastating loss.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct report is certainly a valuable document and yet another vital piece of evidence to condemn those senior figures at South Yorkshire Police who allowed the 1989 disaster to unfold before trying to shift the blame onto Reds fans, but it lacks one real, crucial element - true accountability.

As Sue Roberts, whose brother Michael was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough said yesterday, it is good that the report names and shames the 12 former senior officersfrom both South Yorkshire Police and the West Midlands force that did such a poor job of investigating the disaster - and states clearly for all to see that they would have faced gross misconduct cases were they still serving officers today.

But the reality is that they are no longer serving officers. They were all allowed to retire without facing that misconduct panel that the IOPC says they deserved to face.

Some of them are living comfortable lives with solid pensions and nice houses - and will see out their days in peace.

As the families made clear, they can't live in peace. Their entire lives have been dominated and devastated by what happened on that day - and by the enormous failures of those who were tasked with keeping their loves ones safe.