U.K. Police Watchdog Rules Out Inquiry Into Misconduct In Bradford City Stadium Fire

The Independent Police Complaints Commission "has ruled out an inquiry into potential misconduct by police" during the English football side Bradford City stadium fire that killed 56 people, according to Josh Halliday of the London GUARDIAN. On Thursday, the police watchdog said that there was "no indication of potential misconduct by individual police officers" after the West Yorkshire force "voluntarily referred itself to the commission." But the IPCC recommended that the force "should consider making the records of its investigation" into the causes of the '85 disaster available to the public. The incident was referred to the IPCC in '15 after a senior officer met with Martin Fletcher, whose father, brother, uncle and grandfather died in the "Valley Parade blaze," and who wrote a book about the disaster. Fletcher claimed in his book that the fire was was "one of nine that occurred at businesses owned or linked to Stafford Heginbotham," the club’s chair at the time (GUARDIAN, 1/26).