"We want to save lives in the future" Fight continues for Hillsborough Law
Today is the 35th anniversary of the tragedy
Last updated 15th Apr 2024
35 years to the day since the Hillsborough tragedy, we're told the fight for a Hillsborough Law must continue 'to save lives in the future'.
97 people died and hundreds more were injured in a crowd crush at Hillsborough Stadium during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
In a 2017 report published following inquests into the deaths, Former Bishop of Liverpool the Right Rev James Jones urged the government to give "full consideration" to a "Hillsborough Law" or Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, which would include a legal duty of candour on public authorities and officials to tell the truth and proactively co-operate with official investigations and inquiries.
But in its response, published last year, the government said it was 'not aware' of any gaps in legislation or clarifications needed that would further encourage a culture of candour among public servants in law.
It has signed up to a Hillsborough Charter, pledging to place the public interest above its own reputation, but said a "Hillsborough Law" incorporating a legal duty of candour was not necessary.
Elkan Abrahamson, who has represented many of the Hillsborough families, said:
"Time and again, we find at inquiries that senior people in organisations have lied to earlier investigations have put pressure on people lower down in the ranks - whatever organisation it may be - to lie, to withdraw evidence, fabricate evidence.
The real concern at the end of the day is - we want to save lives in the future, we want to stop disasters happening - from my point of view, it's less about accountability than about improving the system, whatever the system may be.
"It seems that for a variety of reasons, people in power just don't accept that and don't care and would rather protect their own egos and reputations and maybe liberty than acknowledge the truth and strive to get a better system that will save lives in future.
"If only people had told the truth earlier, lives may have been saved"
"We've got now the Post Office scandal, the Lucy Letby inquiry, the Contaminated Blood (Scandal) - there's just so many instances when you think - if only people had told the truth earlier, lives may have been saved.
"This isn't a matter of a faulty design in something that can be improved and make life better, it's actually about people dying and I can't, for the life of me, understand why those in power are prepared to sacrifice other people for the gain of their own personal egos.
Charlotte Hennessey, who lost her father Jimmy in the disaster, said:
"Ultimately, we never want anybody to ever go through anything like what we have.
"What sort of a person would I be if I willingly allowed the system to let another daughter lose their dad, not know how they died, and then alter, 23 years after hsi death, discover that actually he was alive? That's not OK.
"My stance on everything is - I never want anybody to go through anything like I ever have and if I can help just one person, then I've done something good within the world.
"It's about making sure that other people don't suffer in the way that I have"
"It's a very bizarre feeling growing up knowing that your dad was killed in such a massive tragedy, but to then learn that he was still alive, there were police officers that helped him, St John Ambulance people that helped him and he didn't actually die until he was zipped up in a body bag.
"I don't even know how to describe it, I don't even know whether I've fully processed it and it's all these years later.
"I just think it's about making sure that other people don't suffer in the way that I have."
A Liverpool fan is currently in the process of running 227 miles from Anfield to Grenfell tower via Hillsborough to campaign for a Hillsborough law.
Mik Parkin set off from Liverpool on Saturday and aims to finish in London this coming Saturday.
Mik told the PA news agency:
"The Grenfell guys went to bed, the Post Office families went to work and were selling stamps. People went to a football match, people went to a music concert.
"(You) don’t expect anything like this to happen and your life turns upside down.
"So not only will it reduce that anguish of getting the truth, it also means when you have the truth, you can change.
"And it means buildings become safer, going to events becomes safer, the machine that is bringing up the wrong numbers gets out of the Post Office years and years earlier, rather than going through the decades of anguish."
A minute's silence will be held today at 3:06pm, the exact time at which the match was stopped in 1989 - to remember the 97.
Following the silence, a bell will toll 97 times in tribute to each victim.
Members of the public are being encouraged to gather in Exchange Flags, behind Liverpool Town Hall, to show their respect.
Liverpool Town Hall will be open to the public from 3pm until 4:30pm to allow people to see a special Freedom of the City plaque which is engraved with the names of the 97 fans who lost their lives.
Flags will also be flown at half-mast from civic buildings across the city and the Town Hall will light up red this evening.