Hillsborough jury to consider whether victims 'unlawfully killed'
Jurors in the Hillsborough inquests have been told to consider evidence "dispassionately and without emotion''.
Jurors in the Hillsborough inquests have been told to consider evidence "dispassionately and without emotion''.
They've been told the questions they'll be asked as they try to establish how the 96 Liverpool fans died at the disaster at the Sheffield Wednesday ground in 1989.
One of the decisions they'll have to make is whether the victims were unlawfully killed.
Addressing the jury of seven women and three men, Sir John Goldring said: "We have heard a great deal of most moving and distressing evidence.
"We would not be human if we did not feel powerful human sympathy for those touched in their different ways by the disaster and its aftermath.
I must give you this clear warning. Whatever your feelings you must put them to one side.
You have to address the evidence dispassionately and without emotion. Your findings should be based on that dispassionate assessment of the evidence you have heard.
"You should not make critical findings unless they are justified by the facts. However, you should not shrink from making such judgments if there.''
The coroner said that deciding how each of the 96 fans died was the most important, difficult and controversial'' question to answer.
Jurors have been told to consider the surrounding circumstances which may have contributed to the deaths - but they are not allowed to find any person guilty of a criminal offence.
They must all fill in an individual questionnaire for each of those who died, as well as a general questionnaire.
The coroner said the purpose of the inquests was to answer four questions about the deaths under investigation - who the person was and when, where and how they died.
He is expected to take up to three weeks to sum up the evidence.
The inquests will then adjourn for the half-term break in mid-February and are due to reconvene on February 22 when the jury is expected to be sent out to reach its determinations.
The hearings at a specially built courtroom in Warrington started on March 31 2014, and more than 260 days of evidence have been heard.
The tragedy unfolded during Liverpool's FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest as thousands of fans were crushed on Sheffield Wednesday's Leppings Lane terrace.