This is the scene at the current press conference, held by the Hillsborough Family Support Group, which represents more than 70 of the victims’ families.
On a historic day of vindication for people whose loved ones were unlawfully killed, @HFSG_Official press conference pic.twitter.com/xR4kKu5xtm
— David Conn (@david_conn) April 26, 2016
Trevor Hicks, whose two teenage daughters died in the disaster, is among the relatives speaking at this other press conference. They open the floor to questions, after checking there are no reporters from the Sun in the room.
Here’s some images from that press conference, which involved relatives of 22 victims. There is also a parallel press conference taking place in Warrington, involving other relatives.
The statements are going on, with one relative calling for the head of the Yorkshire ambulance service to resign.
Another, Anne Burkett, whose son, Peter, was among those killed, is now dealing with what she calls the “industrial-strength cover up” by police of what really happened.
“Now is the time for consequences,” she says, calling for South Yorkshire police’s chief constable to resign, and for “remedial measures” to be taken against the force more widely.
She says: “The story of Hillsborough is a story of human tragedy, but it is also a story of deceit and lies.”
The family press conference goes on, with criticism also of Sheffield Wednesday, for not making their ground more safe.
Meanwhile my colleague Frances Perraudin has this from Liverpool.
As the jury read out its verdicts, a crowd started to gather around a big screen showing the BBC news channel on Liverpool’s St George’s plateau.
Workmen on a crane started to hang banners reading Truth and Justice on the facade of St George’s Hall, on the steps of which were 96 red candles - one for each of the victims.
Alfie Standard looked on with tears in his eyes. “I was at that match,” he said. “We were queuing up to go through that B gate and one good thing that a police man did for us was to open a corner flag gate and let us go through there.”
Standard, who still has his ticket from that day, has only been to a handful of football matches since then because they make him too emotional.
“We were standing there and watching people get crushed,” he says. “People were shouting to the police to open the gate behind the goal and let the fans onto the pitch but they wouldn’t do it.”
One of Standard’s friends who was a paramedic tried to climb the fence to help a little boy who was unconscious, but the police pushed him away. “I still don’t know to this day if that kid was alive,” he says.
Standard described himself as being “over the moon” with the jury’s verdict. “Everyone in this city knew that this verdict was going to come.”
Another onlooker, Claire Brookfield, said the result would come as a massive relief to the city as a whole. “My dad was there that day and to know that he came home and 96 other people didn’t is terrible,” she says.
“It just feels like a massive weight has been lifted from this city, but the biggest thing is that criminal proceedings are still brought and that those people are held accountable,” says Brookfield.
“This city stood together while people have slated us and lied. We’ve got the victory we deserve.”
Stephen Wright, whose brother, Graham, was among those who died, has criticised police for failing to accept their wrongdoing earlier. He has called for the chief constable of South Yorkshire police, David Crompton, to resign.
The solicitors’ statement was read out before a family press conference about the inquest, which is happening now. Various relatives are speaking in turn.
Solicitors for the families of the victims, Elkan Abrahamson and Marcia Stewart, have made a statement to reporters outside the inquest. Like Andy Burnham, they have expressed anger at the adversarial approach to the inquest taken by the police and ambulance service.
It is now 27 years since the Hillsborough families found themselves thrown together by the appalling tragedy that led to the loss of their loved ones. At the outset, that (and support for Liverpool FC) was probably all they had in common.
The intervening years have brought much greater commonality: the shock and dismay at the way they were treated in the aftermath; anger at the cover up which started immediately following the disaster; frustration and disbelief at the deficiencies of both the legal and political processes which failed to deliver justice, and, above all, a constant and enduring tenacity and dedication to exposing the truth which has, despite all attempts to derail the process, stood firm over the decades.
The jury’s conclusions completely vindicate the families’ long fight for justice. It is therefore all the more shameful that, rather than focussing on the search for truth and despite having made public apologies, the approach to the inquests taken by South Yorkshire police and the Yorkshire ambulance service was to fight tooth and nail to avoid adverse findings by the jury; this turned the inquests into an adversarial battler that probably doubled the length of time it might otherwise have done.
Notwithstanding the difficulties along the way, the conclusion of the renewed inquests does bring both significant progress on the journey to expose the truth and, we hope, some degree of comfort and sense of closure to the bereaved. There is, however, still a long road to travel; the recent investigations have already taken three years and we therefore now urge the authorities to conduct rigorous and speedy investigations which will lead to criminal and disciplinary proceedings and to the attribution of final and full accountability.
We are humbled and inspired by the commitment of the families with whom we have had the privilege to work. Each have their own stories, but the common thread that runs throughout is their unremitting, unwavering dedication to achieving justice for the 96.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has released a statement in the wake of the verdicts:
I pay tribute to the families and friends of all the victims of the tragedy – as well as many others from the city of Liverpool – for the passionate and dignified campaign they have fought for almost three decades. Today they received total vindication for their fight for the truth and for justice.
In the immediate aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster there were some who painted those that died and the fans of Liverpool FC as drunken yobs and thieves. The findings of this inquest clearly show that to have been a lie - fan behaviour didn’t cause or contribute to the disaster and the fans have been exonerated of any blame.
All those that attended the semi-final 27 years ago were innocent victims and it is time that those who peddled those vile and malicious lies recognise the deep hurt they have inflicted on tens of thousands of innocent people - and are held to account.
The chief constable of South Yorkshire police, David Crompton, has unreservedly apologised to victims’ families. Speaking outside the force’s headquarters in Sheffield, he said:
On 15 April 1989, South Yorkshire police got the policing of the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough catastrophically wrong. It was and still is the biggest disaster in British sporting history. That day 96 people died and the lives of many others were changed forever. The force failed the victims and failed their families.
Today, as I have said before, I want to apologise unreservedly to the families and all those affected.