September

[Sweder]

Suspect that may have been Bradford City fire. Hillsborough saw 96 innocent fans crushed to death after Police failed to safely control entry to the ground, opening the exit gates to relieve congestion at the turnstiles.

The ground had no safety certificate. Fans and clubs had complained in previous years at the unsuitability of the ground to host such an event (FA Cup semi final). That night police and officials from the emergency services met to 'set our story straight', pointing finger of blame at 'drunk, ticketless fans'. Police ordered blood alcohol tests on all 96 victims, including children, as their still warm bodies were laid out in the club gymnasium, to establish medical support for their 'line'.

Politicians and news agencies colluded to perpetuate the lie that Liverpool fans caused the incident through drunken, yobbish behaviour. It has taken 23 years under governments of both colours to reveal the extent of this treachery. For all that time families of those killed lived with the suspicion that their families had died effectively at their own hand. It transpires that of the 96 killed, at least 41 had the possibility of resuscitation - that is, showed signs of heart and lung activity after 3.15 pm, the cut-off set in the original report as the time beyond which no-one had died. The EMS/ paramedics were in chaos, had no contingency plan for a major incident. 40 ambulances were officially reported as 'on scene' in the official report/ whitewash, but only 3 accessed the pitch (where, we now know, the injured lay dying). This was corroborated by the driver of the one vehicle to reach the Leppings Lane end of the pitch. His testimony, along with 116 other accounts critical of the authorities, was removed from the first report, and 164 further statements 'altered' to bring the reports into line with the story issued by the police.

Liverpool fans have been subjected to abuse, accusations and derision for 23 years, ugly taunts about how they robbed their own dead, urinated on the police as they tried to help victims, caused the whole thing through hooliganism. My own club's 'fans' have been at the vanguard of some of the vilest chanting imaginable (LFC fans also sing about the Man United dead at Munich in '58, but that doesn't excuse anything).

For 23 years the families of the Hillsborough 96 raised their own money, got the backing of a few MPs and celebs, and continued to fight against a huge wall of official denial. Yesterday that wall was flattened, crushed into disreputable rubble, by an independent, open body of inquiry. Amazingly all the skullduggery, collusion, the pre-meditated smearing of Liverpool fans, was a matter of public record. Official papers were released 7 years before the 30 year public access date, and we now know the results. PM David Cameron offered a full and unreserved apology in parliament yesterday.

It simply isn't enough. Those responsible must be named, publicly, and brought to justice for a heinous and despicable crime that has lead to suicides, lives blighted by doubt and torment, to 23 years of unimaginable hurt.