Pressure was mounting today for the prosecution of police officers responsible for the Hillsborough tragedy cover-up.

South Yorkshire Police, which still employs 195 officers who were on duty at the ground that day, said the force was considering referring itself to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The under-fire force said it was "reviewing a wide variety of matters raised in the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel with a view to making a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission".

It added that it was looking in detail at the material released by the panel and its report before making a decision on whether any specific matters should be referred to the IPCC.

As the force considered its next step, the region's former MP revealed as one of the sources behind The Sun's controversial coverage of the tragedy said he was "deeply and sincerely sorry".

But ex-Sheffield MP Sir Irvine Patnick insisted he had been given "wholly inaccurate" information by officers.

The damning Hillsborough Independent Panel report revealed a cover-up took place to shift the blame on to the victims and that 41 of the 96 lives lost at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989, could have been saved.

The panel found that 164 police statements were altered, 116 of them to remove "unfavourable" comments about the policing of the match and the unfolding disaster.

Sir Irvine said he was "appalled" at the extent of the cover-up surrounding the disaster which saw Liverpool supporters die in a crush at the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.