The pilot whose plane crashed in the Shoreham airshow disaster, killing 11 men, will be charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced.
Andrew Hill also faces charges of endangerment of an aircraft under air navigation laws after the Hawker Hunter jet plummeted on to the A27 in West Sussex at 1.22pm on 22 August 2015.
The crash occurred after the 1950s fighter bomber failed to pull out of a loop the loop, crashed and burst into a fireball.
Hill, a trained Royal Air Force instructor and fast jet pilot, was thrown clear of the aircraft but taken to hospital with serious injuries and placed in an induced coma before being discharged.
Simon Ringrose, of the CPS special crime division, announced the news to families of the victims at a private meeting in Lewes, East Sussex, on Wednesday evening.
Edwina Abrahams, whose husband died in the crash, said she was “very relieved” to hear the news. “We are very pleased it has got to this point and know that things are going forward. It’s taken such a long time to get here. Now we think that this time next year it will all be behind us. It has taken too long.”
She said she had found comfort in seeing the families of the other victims regularly since the crash and had been supported by a police liaison officer, adding that the police had been “brilliant”.
In a statement Ringrose said: “Following a careful review of the evidence I have found there is sufficient evidence to charge Andrew Hill with the manslaughter by gross negligence of the 11 men who died. I have also authorised a further charge against Mr Hill of endangering an aircraft, contrary to Article 137 of the Air Navigation Order 2009.”
There was no sign of Hill at his country home in Sandon, Hertfordshire on Wednesday but it is understood he was informed of the charges by phone and will be formally notified by post.
Hill, who turns 54 on Thursday, is due to appear before Westminster magistrates court on 19 April.
He will be charged with 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and one count of endangering an aircraft, which can incur a jail term of up to five years, the CPS said.
Ringrose added: “Sussex police conducted a thorough and detailed investigation into the incident and in November 2017 submitted a full file of evidence to the CPS in relation to the actions of the pilot.
“In accordance with the code for crown prosecutors, I have considered whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Mr Hill with any offence and if so whether it is in the public interest to do so.”
Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove where some of the victims’ families live, said: “This is the right decision. My instinctive first reaction is that for the families this must be just an enormous moment for them to hear this and an unbelievable relief. I want this to move forward with the pace it has been missing to date so that families can get the justice they all need and deserve.”
Announcement that charges have been laid in Shoreham Airshow crash will give families of victims opportunity to raise many outstanding questions in court but should not haven taken 31 months to take that decision & has only compounded their grief
— Tim Loughton MP (@timloughton) March 21, 2018
Kyle said no family should have to endure a “torturous” wait of 31 months for authorities to “pass information from one to another” and that he and Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, would be “pressing hard” for changes in regulation and legislation.
On Twitter, Loughton said the long wait had compounded the grief of the victims and that they had “many outstanding questions”.
The news came on the same day the CPS announced it was the first national public body to sign up to the charter for families bereaved through public tragedy, which pledges to be open with those who lose loved ones in major disasters and to treat them in a sensitive manner.
Hill was questioned for the first time by police in December 2015 under caution after voluntarily attending an interview but was not arrested.
A pre-inquest review is due to take place on Monday. The full inquest was expected to take place in September, but it will now be postponed until the criminal proceedings are concluded.
