April 1 – After a long fight by campaigners, fresh inquests into the deaths of 96 football fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster finally got under way today and could take a year to resolve.
The inquests, in front of a jury of seven women and four men, come after the original accidental death verdicts were quashed by the High Court in December, 2012.
Making an opening statement, Lord Justice Goldring said the disaster was “seared into the memories of the very many people affected by it, most notably of course the families of the 96 people who died.”
Charlotte Hennessy, who lost her father in the disaster when she was six years old, said: “It’s finally here. I don’t know if excited is the right word to use, but finally we’re here and it’s going to happen. I’m really, really nervous. It’s been a long, long fight. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end. I was a bit of a emotional wreck this weekend, I’ve not slept a wink”
The disaster took place at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989 when fans were crushed to death at the FA semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
The original inquest verdicts of accidental death were quashed in December, three months after damning findings were released by the Hillsborough Independent Panel which found that 41 of the 96 who died had the “potential to survive”.
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