Shortly before kick-off, police match commander David Duckenfield ordered exit gate C to be opened in an attempt to ease crowding, which led to an influx of supporters entering the pens.

During the 1981 semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers, a crush occurred at the Leppings Lane end of the ground after hundreds more spectators were permitted to enter the terrace than could safely be accommodated, resulting in 38 injuries, including broken arms, legs and ribs.

"[30] South Yorkshire Police (SYP) presence at the previous year's FA Cup semi-final (also between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and also at Hillsborough Stadium) had been overseen by Chief Superintendent Brian L.

As a result of the stadium layout and the segregation policy, the additional turnstiles that would normally have allowed access to the North Stand from the east were not being used, and the Liverpool fans were forced to converge on the single entrance at Leppings Lane.

[37] At 2:46 pm, the BBC's football commentator John Motson had already noticed the uneven distribution of people in the Leppings Lane pens, and while rehearsing for the match off-air he had suggested a nearby cameraman look as well.

[43] Police superintendent Roger Greenwood (the most senior SYP officer in command inside the ground on the day)[44] realised the situation, and ran onto the field to gain the attention of referee Ray Lewis, who stopped the match at 3:05:30.

[59] At the 1989 FA Cup final between Liverpool and local rivals Everton, held just five weeks after the Hillsborough disaster, the players from both participating teams wore black armbands as a gesture of respect to the victims.

[72][73] The death toll reached 96 in March 1993, when artificial feeding and hydration were withdrawn from 22-year-old Tony Bland after nearly four years, during which time he had remained in a persistent vegetative state showing no sign of improvement.

Stephen Whittle is considered by some to be another victim of Hillsborough, as due to work commitments, he had sold his ticket to a friend (whom he and his family chose not to identify), who then died in the disaster; the resulting feeling of survivor guilt is believed to be the main reason he took his own life at age 50 in February 2011.

South Yorkshire coroner Stefan Popper limited the main inquests to events up to 3:15 pm on the day of the disaster – nine minutes after the match was halted and the crowd spilt onto the pitch.

Sheffield Wednesday was also criticised for the inadequate number of turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end and the poor quality of the crush barriers on the terraces, "respects in which failure by the Club contributed to this disaster".

[95] Lord Taylor noted with regard to the performance of the senior police officers in command that "...neither their handling of the problems on the day nor their account of it in evidence showed the qualities of leadership to be expected of their rank".

Announcing the report to the House of Commons, Home Secretary Jack Straw backed Stuart-Smith's findings and said that "I do not believe that a further inquiry could or would uncover significant new evidence or provide any relief for the distress of those who have been bereaved.

In addition to the "unlawful killing" verdict, the jury concluded that "errors or omissions" by police commanding officers, Sheffield Wednesday, the ambulance service and the design and certification of the stadium had all "caused or contributed" to the deaths, but that the behaviour of football supporters had not.

[155] Prime Minister David Cameron also responded to the April 2016 verdict by saying that it represented a "long overdue" but "landmark moment in the quest for justice", adding "All families and survivors now have official confirmation of what they always knew was the case, that the Liverpool fans were utterly blameless in the disaster that unfolded at Hillsborough.

[157][158] Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh called for David Cameron to make a formal apology in the House of Commons to the families of those killed at Hillsborough and to the city of Liverpool as a whole.

[175][176][177][178][179] On 16 October 2012, the Attorney General announced in Parliament he had applied to have the original inquests' verdicts quashed, arguing it proceeded on a false basis and evidence now to hand required this exceptional step.

[182][183] In April 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would consider bringing charges against both individuals and corporate bodies once the criminal investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission – Operation Resolve – had been completed.

[184] In April 2016, the then Home Secretary Theresa May commissioned the Right Reverend James Jones (Bishop of Liverpool from 1998 to 2013)[185] to produce a report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families, in the hope that their pain and suffering would not be repeated and that their perspective would not be lost.

[86][187] Having met the Hillsborough families in one-to-one meetings and group sessions whilst compiling his report, Jones was able to include numerous first-hand accounts of their encounters with private and public authorities.

A case, Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C. 310, was eventually appealed to the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and was an important milestone in the law of claims of secondary victims for negligently inflicted psychiatric injury.

[252] Initial media coverage – spurred by what Phil Scraton calls in Hillsborough: The Truth "the Heysel factor" and "hooligan hysteria" – began to shift the blame onto the behaviour of the Liverpool fans at the stadium, making it a public order issue.

[264] The story accompanying The Sun headlines claimed "drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and "police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon".

[279] James Murdoch made a full apology for The Sun's coverage when he appeared at a hearing of the House of Commons Select committee dealing with the News International phone hacking scandal in 2012.

"[284] Trevor Kavanagh, the political editor at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, said that he was "not sorry at all" about the reporting and supported his former boss Kelvin MacKenzie, stating that "we were clearly misled about the events and the authorities, including the police, actively concealed the truth".

[296][298] Gary Lineker described the incident as "disgusting as it is unsurprising",[299] and David Walsh, chief sports writer at the Sunday Times, said it was a "shocking misjudgment" to not include this story on the front page.

A combination of economic misfortune – its docks were, fundamentally, on the wrong side of England when Britain entered what is now the European Union – and an excessive predilection for welfarism have created a peculiar, and deeply unattractive, psyche among many Liverpudlians.

[309] Liverpool goalkeeper Charles Itandje was accused of having shown disrespect towards the Hillsborough victims during the 2009 remembrance ceremony, as he was spotted on camera "smiling and nudging" teammate Damien Plessis.

On 8 September 2012, just four days before the Hillsborough Independent Panel Report was published, Crompton had emailed the force's assistant chief constable Andy Holt and head of media Mark Thompson.

[336][337] As the documentary included previously unreleased security camera footage from the stadium on the day of the disaster, it could not be shown in the UK upon initial release due to the 2012 High Court inquest still being in progress.