UK quashes verdicts on ‘89 disaster

LONDON - Agence France-Presse

A British court yesterday quashed accidental death verdicts returned after 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death at the Hillsborough football stadium in 1989, while police launched a new investigation into the disaster.

Following a request made by Attorney General Dominic Grieve in London, High Court judges annulled the inquest verdicts delivered in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and called for new inquests to be held.

The move follows a damning report in September which concluded that 41 of the 96 people who died would have had the “potential to survive” if they had received treatment more quickly.

The fatal crush was caused by huge overcrowding in a terrace at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield prior to an FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest 23 years ago.

It was the worst disaster in the history of British sport.

The Lord Chief Justice, Igor Judge, said there were “good grounds” for Grieve’s application and described the events surrounding the tragedy as “catastrophic.”