My colleague Josh Halliday says he has been told the jury will begin the hearing by answering the 14 general questions about the deaths. After this the coroner, Sir John Goldring, will adjourn the session, after which the jury will record the times and reasons of death for each of the 96 victims.
Hillsborough inquest verdict - as it happened
This article is more than 8 years old
- Inquest jury rules 96 victims were ‘unlawfully killed’
- Police blamed for series of failings in 1989
- Fans exonerated after long campaign by families
- Brother of victim says South Yorkshire chief should quit
Updated
Tue 26 Apr 2016 11.50 EDT
First published on Tue 26 Apr 2016 05.03 EDTKey events
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It’s getting near the start of proceedings.
Hillsborough Inquests: Families of the 96 people who died are mostly in court now; space is very tight. Jury due to deliver verdicts from 11
— David Conn (@david_conn) April 26, 2016
If you listened to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning you might have heard extracts from Peter Jones’s increasingly anguished updates from Hillsborough on the day for Radio 2. This is his final report from the ground. The video has an added piano soundtrack which is not necessary. His words alone are heartbreaking.
My colleagues David Conn, Owen Gibson and Josh Halliday are in Warrington for the verdict. Andy Hunter is in Liverpool, where a live stream of the inquest session is being broadcast at St George’s Hall. There are 96 candles on the steps of the hall, and banners showing the names of all those died.
Here’s some image of people arriving at Birchwood Park in Warrington, where the inquest is taking place.
As well as recording the time and cause of death for each of the 96 Liverpool fans who died, the jury will be answering 14 questions – these are detailed in full in the link below.
There are two questions in particular which will see the most focus. These are:
6. Are you satisfied, so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?
Answer “yes” or “no”.
7. Was there any behaviour on the part of football supporters which caused or contributed to the dangerous situation at the Leppings Lane turnstiles?
Answer “yes” or “no”.
If your answer to the question above is “no”, then was there any behaviour on the part of football supporters which may have caused or contributed to the dangerous situation at the Leppings Lane turnstiles?
Answer “yes” or “no”.
If your answer to either of the questions above is “yes”, then was that behaviour unusual or unforeseeable?
Answer “yes” or “no”.
We still don’t yet know how the jury will deliver the decisions. They could deal with the questions first., or they might first go through the details of death for the 96 victims.
My colleague David Conn, who has covered so much of the inquest, is at Warrington, where the hearing has sat for the past two years.
Hillsborough: Families of the 96 people who died at a football match 27 years ago queue to hear the verdicts today. pic.twitter.com/xglzoTq1h0
— David Conn (@david_conn) April 26, 2016
As we await the jury’s decision, here’s some more of David’s more coverage of the final elements of the inquest process:
We will aim to bring full coverage of the potentially very complex jury verdict as it comes in, as well as the reaction on a day freighted with emotion and significance, both legally and, most of all, for the loved ones of those who died, many of whom have fought so long to determine what really did take place at Hillsborough, the ground of Sheffield Wednesday, which was hosting the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest match.
We will run considerable background coverage as the day goes on about the events at Hillsborough, what followed and the revelations at the long inquest.
But to start off, here is our page showing all 96 victims, with brief profiles of them, and links to further stories about them, the bulk written by my colleague David Conn, who has provided exhaustive, sensitive reporting of the inquest.
After almost three weeks of deliberations, two years after the beginning of what is now the longest case ever heard by a British jury, and just over 27 years since the appalling event itself, the moment has finally arrived.
Today we will get an inquest jury’s verdict on what events led to 96 men, women and children aged from 10 to 67 heading out to an FA Cup semi-final on 15 April 1989 and never returning home.
This will come after 11am UK time, from a jury of six women and three men who began their deliberations on 6 April, sitting at Warrington, Cheshire. It will come in the form of 14 answers to questions about each of the Liverpool fans who died, as well a formal recording of the time and cause of death.
All but one of these 14 decisions will be unanimous. The coroner, Sir John Goldring, told the jury on Monday that he would accept a majority decision of 8-1 or 7-2 on whether the 96 people were unlawfully killed by gross negligence manslaughter.
To opt for unlawful killing, Goldring directed the jury in his summing up, they had to be satisfied that the South Yorkshire police chief superintendent in command at the match, David Duckenfield, “was responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence of those 96 people”.