Liverpool bishop says it is time to forgive authorities 'if they are truly sorry'

One of the many priests who presided over the funerals of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster has said that if the authorities responsible for the death of 96 Liverpool fans are truly sorry then "that would be a start".

On 15 April 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death against a wire security fence at an FA Cup semi-final match at Hillsborough when too many supporters were herded into a small pen behind one of the goals.

Since the tragedy, the Taylor Report cited the major cause was lack of police control, while an inquest into the tragedy recorded verdicts of accidental deaths. Throughout the families campaign for justice the police authorities in charge of security on the day continued to deny culpability for their control of the situation. They had also asserted up until the verdict yesterday that the conduct of the Liverpool fans on the day of the match and as the disaster unfolded was at least partly to blame for the tragedy.  

But yesterday, at the climax of the third – and the most comprehensive – inquest a jury of six women and two men, delivered their verdict, completely exonerating the Liverpool fans and stating that they were unlawfully killed by a catalogue of failings by the authorities on the day of the match: particularly South Yorkshire Police, who have consistently denied they were to blame for the tragedy.

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Families and relatives reacted with relief at the verdict that ends a 27-year battle and the UK's longest inquest.  

Bishop Tom Williams, auxiliary bishop of Liverpool, was a parish priest at the time of the tragedy. He said that his first reaction to the verdict was a wave of anger at what the survivors and victims' families have had to go through to get to the truth.

"My first thought yesterday was of anger to be quite honest because I thought: 'it has taken 27 years, 27 years for the truth to come out'. And there have been lies and there has been deceit. And it has been organised," he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

Williams said that the latest inquest was the first to bring the personal stories of the victims into the public domain. In previous inquests the victims were referred to as numbers.

"I think we have coped very well as a city," Williams said. "The inquest has made it personal because each person had their own story to tell - the way the whole situation developed." 

The focus now turns to criminal prosecutions of those who have been cited as accountable for the deaths. Two ongoing criminal investigations into the disaster and its aftermath are due to be finished by the end of 2016.

A police inquiry is looking at the lead-up to the crush on the day of the match, while a separate inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating allegations of a cover-up.

Williams told the BBC that it was now important to look to forgive those who are truly sorry for their actions. 

"Yes, I think forgiveness is a very important thing: I think we would use the word 'mercy' as well as forgiveness. But I think - as I was saying to one of our church leaders yesterday - mercy is about embracing what you have done wrong and accepting it and then asking for forgiveness. So I think on the part of the authorities, when they made their apologies then, if they really meant them then that's the start.

"I think we've got to walk with them in the same way as we have walked with the supporters and the fans," he added.

"Yesterday was extremely emotional," Williams said. "I think I felt more emotional yesterday than I did at the time. I suppose its that fog you get into when its combined with just relief about the justice. And when you are talking about just being vindicated. I think for the families - I've walked with them and I've been with them: they've all got very personal stories to tell and they have been through hell."

Meanwhile, the Most Reverend Malcolm McMahon, Archbishop of Liverpool, said: "Since the awful events, the families of the deceased and all who survived that appalling tragedy have been relentless in their quest for justice.

"I would like to thank the coroner and the jurors for their careful consideration of the evidence and all whose work has led to the conclusion of the inquest into the death of the 96.

"I hope that the acknowledgment that those who died were unlawfully killed will bring comfort to the survivors and the families of the 96.

"May they rest in peace, to be for ever remembered in the hearts and minds of the people of Liverpool."