After 27 years the families of the 96 Hillsborough victims received some comfort on Tuesday.
There were cheers, tears and applause in the courtroom when the jury of nine delivered their verdict of unlawful killing on a majority of 7-2.
This was the most crucial of the 14 questions the jury were asked to answer and reverses the decision of the original 1991 inquest.
The jury also found that the behaviour of Liverpool fans before the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was NOT a contributing factor to the disaster.
This verdict brings to a close the longest jury proceedings in UK legal history, the inquest first sat on April 1st 2014.
Sir John Goldring, the coroner, told jurors on Monday that a majority decision of 8-1 or 7-2 would be accepted on the last of the 14 questions they were yet to answer: whether the 96 people who died were unlawfully killed by gross negligence manslaughter.
The jury were asked to answer a general questionnaire of 14 questions, this afternoon they will also record the time and cause of death for each of the Liverpool fans who died.
Before sending them out to try and reach a verdict Goldring instructed the jury that, to find that the 96 people who died at an FA Cup semi-final on 15 April 1989 were, in fact unlawfully killed, they had to be convinced the South Yorkshire police chief superintendent in command at the match, David Duckenfield, “was responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence of those 96 people”.
All 14 questions and their answers are below.
Hillsborough Inquests: First question is Basic Facts: Did 96 people die as a result of the disaster due to crushing in central pens? Yes.
— David Conn (@david_conn) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 2) Did police planning errors for match cause dangerous situation – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 3) Did police errors cause dangerous situation at Leppings Lane terrace – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 4) Did error by commanding officers cause crush on Leppings Lane terrace – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 5) Did order to open Leppings Lane exit gate cause the crush on terrace – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 6) Were the 96 #LiverpoolFC fans unlawfully killed – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 7) Did behaviour of #LiverpoolFC fans create dangerous situation on terrace – NO
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 8) Did any part of design, construction or layout of the stadium contribute to disaster – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 9) Did error in the safety certificate and oversight of stadium contribute to disaster – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 10) Did errors By Sheffield Wednesday FC and staff contribute to dangerous situation at match – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 11) Did errors by Sheffield Wednesday and staff contribute to dangerous situation at Leppings Lane turnstiles – NO
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 11a) Could errors by Sheffield Wednesday FC and staff have contributed to dangerous situation at turnstiles – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 12) Could engineers Eastwood and Partners have done more to detect unsafe features at stadium – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 13) After crush developed was there error by police which contributed to deaths – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
#Hillsborough verdicts: 14) After crush developed was there error by ambulance service which contributed to deaths – YES
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) April 26, 2016
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