The emotion for those involved in the Hillsborough Families Justice Campaign came across as overwhelming. Twenty three years of battering against state officialdom that had labelled their children and relatives as irresponsible hooligans, aided and abetted by the Murdoch muck-rakers, finally led to total vindication.
The City of Liverpool today however will be waking up angry. The truth is now out that 41 of those who died that day could potentially have been saved. The extent of the fabrication and the official lies have been laid bare, and the farce of the original inquest fully revealed. Truth is but a starting point. Apologies are important but cannot be a substitute for justice. And some apologies, like that from Kelvin McKenzie are simply too little too late.
There can be no excuse for not laying aside the original inquest and giving each family their own accurate verdict on what happened to the victims on that day, an accurate verdict based on the new facts.
But pursuing those who were responsible for the disaster that happened is not an act of vengeance. And not only those directly responsible for the overcrowding of the ground, but for every act of cover up, the members of South Yorkshire police force who not only lied but changed the official record and obstructed the course of the justice for 23 years, and those who let them.
JC
