Richard Crisp was charged by South Yorkshire Police for ‘malicious communications’ shared on social media after a death at the stadium on Saturday
Wates has fired an employee who allegedly mocked the death of a West Bromwich Albion fan and the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy on social media.
The posts came after the death of 57-year-old Mark Townsend, who fell ill during a football match between Albion and Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday.
A tweet from an account under the name Richard Crisp after the match wrote: “Another one to add to the Leppings Lane tally. What are we at now, 98? When we get to 100 we’ll have a party. Up the Owls.”
The Leppings Lane end is the visitors’ stand at Hillsborough stadium, where Sheffield Wednesday, nicknamed the Owls, play their home matches.
A total 97 Liverpool fans died in a fatal crush at the stadium in 1989 caused in part by a failure of crowd control by South Yorkshire Police.
According to LinkedIn, Richard Crisp had been a project manager at Wates since July last year and is based in Sheffield.
Prior to this, he held construction manager and site manager jobs at Vinci, Engie, Wildgoose Henry Boot and Galliford Try, among others.
In a post to X, formerly known at Twitter, Wates said: “We can confirm that Richard Crisp is no longer employed by the Wates Group.
“The comments he made over the weekend are unacceptable and completely at odds with our values as a company.
“We offer our deepest sympathies to everyone affected by the tragedy at the West Bromwich Albion game this weekend and to all those who lost loved ones at Hillsborough.”
South Yorkshire Police confirmed that Crisp, 55, from Hillsborough, had been “charged following malicious communications shared on social media after a man sadly died during the Sheffield Wednesday v West Bromwich Albion fixture on Saturday 28 September”.
“Richard Crisp, 55, from Hillsborough, is charged with sending communication/article of an indecent or offensive nature,” the force said in a statement.
“He has been released on police bail until his court appearance at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on 14 October 2024.”
In his recent speech at Labour conference, Keir Starmer announced that the government would bring forward “a law for the 97” by next April, in time for the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
The legislation, which would introduce a ‘duty of candour’ for public officials, requiring them to be truthful and transparent with the public, was included in the recommendations made in the Grenfell Inquiry report, published earlier this month.
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