The Truth At Last

The 'indefensible wait for the truth' is finally over, as the Hillsborough Independent Panel has published, today what the families of the 96 knew every single day for the last 23 years.

In, what Michael Mansfield, QC, is calling the "biggest cover-up in British history", the report of the Hillsborough Independent panel, chaired by bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, exposes a catalogue of errors, failings and subsequent cover-ups by the authorities.

The report, which reviewed 450,000 documents, found delays and shortcomings in the response by the emergency services that, when linked to the highly suspect pathologist evidence, ultimately contributed to the loss of life.

The original coroner's report claimed that by 3:15pm, all those that could have been saved were already dead or brain dead. However, the panel's findings clearly show that ambulance service altered statements from staff and Dr Bill Kirkup, who was on the panel, claimed that 28 of the 96 victims had no 'obstruction of blood circulation' and a potential 41 people could have been saved had the emergency services been swifter.

The independent review also found that rescue attempts were held back by failures in 'leadership and co-operation', this is potentially what leads to the biggest cover-up in British history.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel's report shows how the authorities sought to blame the fans for the deaths with 'despicable untruths' of drunkenness, ticketlessness and violence. The coroner went so far as to carry out blood alcohol level tests on the dead, including children, which inappropriately fuelled the "persistent and unsustainable assertions about drunken fan behaviour".

The South Yorkshire Police Federation and the Tory MP Irvine Patnick fed stories to the White News Agency and lead to The Sun's front page headlined 'The Truth' and included allegations of Liverpool fans stealing from the dead.

Kevin Mackenzie, who was The Sun's editor at the time, today, issued an apology to the families of the victims claiming he was 'misled' and had "no reason to believe that the authority figures would lie".

Trevor Hicks, who is the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said that Mackenzie's apology is "too little, too late. The man is a low-life".

South Yorkshire chief constable Peter Wright endorsed the attempts to smear Liverpool fans. Officers carried out checks on the dead in order to throw their reputations into doubt.

The findings show that 164 police statements were significantly altered, and 116, that contained negative comments about the policing, were removed.

The cabinet papers were released after a 140,000 strong petition that took the debate of having the documents released to parliament, campaigned for their release before the usual 30 year period for such papers.

Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for the 'double injustice', "failure of the state to protect their loved ones and the indefensible wait for the truth".

The conclusion of the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report shows 'conclusively' that Liverpool fans "neither caused nor contributed to the deaths".

Trevor Hicks of the family support group said of the findings; "The truth is out today and justice starts tomorrow".