The trial of Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield will go ahead next month after an eleventh-hour attempt to halt the historic prosecution was rejected by a High Court judge..

Lawyers acting for the retired South Yorkshire Police chief superintendent failed in their bid at Preston Crown Court today –  with Mr Justice Openshaw refusing an application to stay proceedings.

The 73-year-old former officer is charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 Liverpool fans who died in the disaster at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final.

Under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the death of the 96th victim, Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after his injuries were caused.

Mr Duckenfield is due to stand trial on January 14 next year alongside former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell, 68, who is charged with an offence involving the stadium safety certificate and a health and safety offence.

Earlier this year, the Crown Prosecution Service successfully applied to lift a historical stay halting further legal proceedings on Mr Duckenfield, which was put in place in 2000.

Three other defendants – ex-Chief Superintendent Donald Denton, 80, former Detective Chief Inspector Foster, 70, and retired force solicitor Peter Metcalf, 68, who acted for South Yorkshire Police following the 1989 disaster – are scheduled to go on trial in January 2019, charged with acts intended to pervert the course of justice.

In September last year – when Mr Justice William Davis ruled Preston would be an “appropriate and proper” venue for the trial – an original six suspects announced they intended to attempt to block any prosecution by mounting an “abuse of process” application.

This August, former West Yorkshire and Merseyside chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison spoke of the “vindication” in the decision to discontinue criminal proceedings against him after a court was told there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.

Sir Norman, a chief inspector in the South Yorkshire force at the time of the disaster, had been charged with four counts of misconduct in public office.

He was off duty on the day but in the aftermath of the tragedy was part of a team tasked with finding material for police lawyers to present to the public inquiry led by Lord Justice Taylor.

He was charged with misconduct for allegedly telling lies about his role in the disaster in 1998, when he applied for the chief constable job at Merseyside Police, and in 2012, when the Hillsborough Independent Panel report was published.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans were crushed to death in pens at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989 as their FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest began.