Huge Strides Taken in the Pursuit of Justice

Posted on 18. Oct, 2011 by Liam Tomkins in Hillsborough, News

Huge strides were taken in the pursuit of justice for the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster as the topic was debated in Parliament on Monday evening.

A campaign spearheaded by Steve Rotheram, Liverpool Walton MP, saw the subject publicly discussed in levels of unprecedented detail, heaping further pressure on the government to release private documents relating to the incident that would finally allow the victims’ story to be told as it actually unfolded.

The debate was unorthodox, but that is what made it so compelling, not just for those who were present, but for the many who spent their evening in front of the television, watching what they made happen with their 140,000+ e-petition signatures.

Every MP present did the 96 proud with their passionate accounts of the day itself, as well as their detailed and reasoned proposals for exactly how justice should be served. Tears were shed as emotion overcame professionalism, but it just didn’t matter, and more than once the gallery erupted into spontaneous applause in appreciation of the brave and brilliant people who had carried the torch for 22 years, and were finally finding their voices.

There were several calls for News International, in particular The Sun newspaper and the then editor Kelvin MacKenzie, to publicly apologise for the unnecessary pain they heaped on individuals who were already mourning the worst of losses. But despite the overwhelming backing for this campaign, as well as that for the full disclosure of private documents, the fight for justice is likely to continue into the new year, and beyond.

If and when the documents are made public, they will first be divulged to the families of the victims, before the real work begins with a full investigation into the day’s events – most notably what occurred after the initial cut-off time of 3:06pm.

Only once that has been explored in its entirety will we finally get the truth about what happened at Hillsborough. We can’t quite put a time scale on that, but suffice it to say, justice is now closer than ever.