Hillsborough:
the truth

Content note: this account discusses deaths, a fatal crowd crush, institutional failings and false allegations against supporters. It avoids graphic detail.

What Happened

Hillsborough Stadium was hosting the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. A dangerous build-up developed outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles. Police ordered exit gate C opened, but did not close the tunnel leading to the already overcrowded central pens. The resulting crush killed 94 people that day. Lee Nicol died on 17 April 1989, Tony Bland in 1993, and Andrew Devine in 2021 from injuries sustained in the disaster.

The 2016 jury found failures in police planning, policing and command; police and ambulance-service failings after the crush began; and failings by the club and its engineering consultants. It found that supporters’ behaviour did not cause or contribute and that those who died were unlawfully killed.

Read the 2016 inquest determinations.

The Campaign For Truth

Hillsborough's history is also a history of persistence by bereaved families, survivors and supporters. The early public account was challenged for years. The Hillsborough Independent Panel, new inquests and later legal findings changed the official record and vindicated a campaign that had refused to let the disaster be misrepresented.

In 2012, the High Court quashed the original accidental-death verdicts. In 2016, the jury at the new inquests returned unlawful-killing verdicts for the victims. Those dates are not administrative details; they are central to why Hillsborough remains a defining civic and institutional event for Liverpool.

Numerous inquiries and the search for truth

There was no single inquiry that settled Hillsborough. Families and survivors were forced through repeated investigations, inquests, reviews and court proceedings. The Taylor Inquiry’s 1989 interim report found that the main cause was a failure of police control and rejected claims that drunken or ticketless supporters caused the disaster. Yet the original inquests returned accidental-death verdicts after imposing a 3.15pm cut-off.

A 1993 judicial review did not overturn those verdicts. Lord Justice Stuart-Smith reviewed claimed new evidence in 1997–98 but did not recommend a new inquiry. Families later brought a private prosecution against two senior officers; one was acquitted and the jury could not reach a verdict on the other.

After years of campaigning, the Hillsborough Independent Panel examined more than 450,000 pages. Its 2012 report exposed compromised crowd safety, alteration of police statements and the promotion of unsupported allegations. The High Court quashed the accidental-death verdicts. On 26 April 2016, after more than two years of fresh inquests, the jury concluded that the 96 people then recognised as victims had been unlawfully killed and supporter behaviour did not cause or contribute.

Operation Resolve and the police watchdog conducted new investigations. Six people were charged in 2017. Graham Mackrell was convicted of a health-and-safety offence; David Duckenfield was acquitted of gross-negligence manslaughter at a 2019 retrial; other prosecutions were discontinued or ended with no case to answer. These outcomes do not overturn the inquest findings. Andrew Devine was recognised as the 97th person unlawfully killed in 2021. The final IOPC and Operation Resolve report in 2025 found fundamental police failures and evidence that South Yorkshire Police sought to deflect blame and control evidence.

Independent Panel report · IOPC and Operation Resolve · Criminal trial outcomes

The Sun, its false allegations, and a lasting boycott

Four days after the disaster, The Sun printed a front page headed “The Truth”. It presented grotesque allegations about Liverpool supporters as fact—including claims of attacks on rescuers, theft from victims and other abuse. The allegations were unsubstantiated. The Taylor Inquiry rejected the attempt to blame supporters; the Independent Panel traced how the stories spread; and the 2016 inquests confirmed that supporter behaviour did not cause or contribute. The 2025 IOPC report found no evidence for the most lurid allegations and little or none for others.

Other outlets carried allegations, some before The Sun, but its categorical headline made that front page uniquely notorious. The response across Liverpool and Merseyside was immediate and enduring: bereaved families, survivors, supporters, readers and many newsagents rejected the paper. “Don’t Buy The Sun” became an act of solidarity and a refusal to let falsehood replace the experiences of those who were there.

The newspaper offered apologies over the years. For many affected people, those apologies could not undo the publication, the years of false narrative or the hurt caused. The boycott remains a deeply held part of the city’s response.

IOPC media findings · Investigation of the stories’ sources

Justice for the 97

The campaign was sustained by bereaved families, survivors and supporters who organised, researched, raised funds, challenged official decisions and kept Hillsborough in public view. “Justice” has never meant only one court result. It has meant truth, accountability, clearing supporters’ names, proper treatment of bereaved people and reform so public bodies respond to disaster with candour.

Read the official list of the 97 names and ages

Impact On Football

Hillsborough led to profound scrutiny of crowd safety, policing, stadium design and the treatment of supporters. The Taylor Report shaped the move toward all-seater stadiums in the top tiers of English football and changed how major matches were planned and managed.

For Liverpool, the disaster is inseparable from the relationship between club, city and supporters. Kenny Dalglish's leadership in the aftermath, the families' long campaign and the club's commemorative practices all form part of the historical record.