A pilot is to be charged with manslaughter over the Shoreham Airshow disaster, in which 11 people died, prosecutors have said.
Andrew Hill, 53, of Standon in Hertfordshire, will be charged with manslaughter by gross negligence and endangering an aircraft under air navigation laws, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced.
A total of 11 men died when a Hawker Hunter aircraft crashed at the Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex on August 22, 2015.
All those killed were either in vehicles on the road or watching the display.
Hill was seriously injured in the crash, after being thrown from the plane, but survived.
In November, police submitted a file to the CPS to consider whether to charge him over the incident.
Announcing the decision to charge Hill on Wednesday, CPS lawyer Simon Ringrose said the pilot had tried to “perform a loop manoeuvre” as part of the airshow’s acrobatics but the plane “failed to complete the manoeuvre and crashed onto the A27 dual carriageway”.
He added: “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.
“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.”
Ringrose announced the charging decision at a private meeting with the families of those who were killed in Lewes.
Hill is due to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 19.