The 96 victims of the Hillsborough tragedy can finally rest in peace, campaigners said yesterday.
The Prime Minister’s apologies and the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel have been welcomed by campaigners who have now called for the parties responsible for the disaster to be made accountable.
Hillsborough Families Support Group member Trevor Hicks, who lost two daughters at Hillsborough, said they would now press for criminal action against those involved in the disaster, adding: “The truth is out today, justice starts tomorrow.”
Mr Hicks said the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report revealed shocking “depths of depravity” in the way the police tried to blame the fans.
He said the report showed that “possibly as many as 41 people might have survived” if the disaster had been better handled.
He also rejected the “profuse apologies” offered by Kelvin MacKenzie, who was the editor of The Sun when it ran a front page story blaming fans for Hillsborough.
Mr MacKenzie, who wrote the headline “The Truth” on the controversial report, said in a statement: “Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline.
“I too was totally misled. Twenty-three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium.”
But Mr Hicks said Mr MacKenzie’s words were “too little, too late”, calling him “lowlife, clever lowlife, but lowlife”.
Sheila Coleman, spokesman for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, believes there is still some way to go however.
“Words are easy but of course the Hillsborough Justice Campaign welcomes the apologies. But we have had the truth, now it is time for justice,” she told Press Association Sport.
“Clearly people indulged in criminal activities by changing and altering statements and telling lies.
“If you or I did that we would be prosecuted - people cannot be above the law.
“Certainly the law-makers and those who are supposed to uphold the law shouldn’t be above the law.
“How can you have faith in a police force which ordered its younger officers to alter their statements?
“This was not just one or two, it was the majority and the coroner’s court was used by South Yorkshire Police to try to revert the Taylor Report.
“The Attorney General has to quash the inquest verdicts and has to investigate as to what criminal procedures should be brought.”
The Footballer Supporters’ Federation (FSF) said the report was vindication for fans and their families.
Malcolm Clarke, chair of the FSF, said: “The report exonerates supporters who were victims of a smear campaign by certain elements of the media and senior police officers leading to allegations of drunken, ticketless fans storming the gates at Hillsborough’s Leppings Lane End. This was completely untrue.
“The Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report is vindication for those who have spent decades fighting for justice for their fellow fans, friends, or family members. Today is their day and their reaction to the report deserves to be listened to with the greatest possible care.”
Former sports minister Richard Caborn, who at the time of Hillsborough was MP for Sheffield Central, said: “I hope that now the truth is out that will help people to grieve knowing exactly what happened.
“It is really sad it has taken so long to get this information into the public domain.”