Independent jury rules 96 Liverpool fans in Hillsborough disaster were 'unlawfully killed'

In what was a moment of vindication for the families of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster, an independent jury has ruled that the 96 fans who died in the Hillsborough Stadium were innocent and unlawfully killed.

The jury passed its ruling after hearing decisions on fourteen questions regarding the engineering and structural safety of the stadium, the behavior of the fans, effectiveness of club management, the effectiveness of the police and emergency services in reacting to the disaster.

To be sure it was indeed a case of “unlawful killing”, the jury had to determine whether the match commander, David Duckenfield, had caused the deaths of the 96 supporters through gross negligence.

Over the course of the longest inquest in British legal history, the jurors found that police errors had led to the dangerous situation developing on the day of the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest held at the Hillsborough Stadium.

Entry was possible only through one of seven decrepit turnstiles, a restriction that led to dangerous overcrowding outside the ground before kick-off. In an attempt to ease pressure outside the ground, Police Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, the senior police officer responsible for the match, ordered an exit gate to be opened.

The opened exit gate led to a tunnel marked "Standing", which led directly to the two already overcrowded enclosures. The gate marked standing was usually guarded by two policemen but was not so at the time of the disaster. The fans crowded into the stadium resulting in a stampede in the Leppings Lane Stand which caused 96 people to die and 766 getting injured.

The families of the victims were fighting against allegations by the South Yorkshire police that the disaster had been caused by misbehaving supporters. An inquest into the disaster in 1991 had ruled that the supporters had died accidently and there was no fault of the authorities.

A new inquest into the incident was launched when the Hillsborough Independent Panel concluded that the supporters were not responsible for the disaster.

After the historic verdict, fans chanted “God bless the jury” in the courtroom and loudly applauded the jurors. In an emotional gesture outside the courtroom, the family members of the victims held hands and sang “You’ll never walk alone”