'Truth matters': Independent Public Advocate backs Hillsborough family's records campaign
The Government’s Independent Public Advocate (IPA) has backed a Hillsborough family’s campaign to make it easier for people to correct legal records in the wake of a tragedy.
Sisters Victoria, 15, and Sarah Hicks, 19, were among the 97 Liverpool supporters crushed to death in the 1989 disaster at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground.
Parents Jenni and her former husband Trevor are heading up a new campaign to correct the official court records, which wrongly state their daughters lost consciousness within 30 seconds and died a short time later, when in fact it appears they suffered much longer.
The assumption – dubbed “the 30-second rule” – was used in post-disaster cases and presumed victims lost consciousness almost immediately, including in a 1990s test case brought by the Hicks family.
Jenni and Trevor are now calling for the introduction of a “Hicks Rule”, to make it easier for people in similar circumstances to correct the official legal record.
This has been backed Cindy Butts, the first IPA who was appointed in 2024 to act as a voice for victims in the wake of tragedies like the Hillsborough disaster.
She said: “Jenni and Trevor’s campaign for a Hicks’ Rule speaks to something profoundly simple and deeply important: the truth matters.
“No family should have to fight for decades to correct an official record that has been proven wrong.
“When inaccurate records are allowed to stand, they don’t just distort history - they prolong trauma, shape how loss is understood, and leave families facing a second injustice.
“A Hicks’ rule would provide a clear, independent and compassionate way to correct the record.”
The campaign has been backed by former prime minister and home secretary Baroness Theresa May, and now South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has written to the Justice Secretary over the case.
In the letter to David Lammy, he said: “Our justice system must be capable of correcting past failings, especially where those failings continue to cause harm.
“In the context of all that the Hicks Family and other Hillsborough families have been through, the need for change feels justified, necessary and urgent.”
Some 97 Liverpool supporters were unlawfully killed after police opened an exit gate to relieve crowding outside the stadium and failed to divert fans away from the tunnel leading to the central pens, where the fatal crush occurred.
The Hillsborough Independent Panel and subsequent inquests found that the suggestion that victims lost consciousness within seconds was flawed.
The Hicks’ claim for damages against South Yorkshire Police was dismissed at multiple levels, culminating in a rejection by the House of Lords, when it was the highest court in the land.
The parents believe that a statement in open court (SIOC) will correct the record, however there is some confusion as the Lords’ judicial functions have now been passed to the Supreme Court.
Following reporting by The Yorkshire Post, SYP Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said: “The force has made contact with Mr and Mrs Hicks’ legal representatives to try to understand how they envision a SIOC could be used to correct the records held by the House of Lords.
"I truly hope that a viable route will be found and give my assurances that I support their campaign to correct the records."