Every year this is a very solemn time in the city of Liverpool as we remember the day when 96 innocent people went to a football game and didn’t come home.
For 24 years the families of those victims have been fighting for the truth, despite sustained and criminal abuse from the establishment who undermined, smeared and lied to save their own skins. Finally, with the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report, we are moving towards not only truth but justice.
The city unveiled two memorials to the victims. In the Town Hall we will permanently have on display a clock stopped at 3.06pm. On Old Haymarket, the seven foot bronze structure made by Liverpool artist Tom Murphy is a stunning memorial to the 96.
This year has been has been marked also by the sad passing of Anne Williams. The courage, determination and strength of will Anne had was truly remarkable and I am glad to have known her, and we can take heart in the knowledge that she lived to see the whole truth revealed. It is now up to us all to make sure that justice is delivered on behalf of Anne, her son Kevin and the other 95 people who died, and their families.