Former prime minister backs Hillsborough family's campaign against South Yorkshire Police
Former prime minister Baroness Theresa May has urged South Yorkshire Police (SYP) to “to see sense” and clarify the truth about the death of two teenage girls in the Hillsborough disaster.
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.
Their parents 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.
This was taken as precedent in further civil litigation on Hillsborough to argue that as victims lost consciousness almost immediately they did not suffer.
Jenni and her former husband Trevor believe that the record cannot be officially corrected without the consent of SYP, which they say they have not received so far.
Chief Constable Lauren Poultney has said the force “will take the steps available to us to support the families”.
At an event in the House of Lords, former prime minister and Home Secretary Baroness May said: “After everything that Trevor and Jenni Hicks have been through, it beggars belief that all these years later they are still having to fight to have the truth acknowledged as to what happened to their daughters that day.
“South Yorkshire Police must see that this is another disgraceful example of the evasion and obfuscation of the last four decades.
“Surely, at some point, this must stop and I would urge South Yorkshire Police to see sense and agree to a statement in court clarifying what the truth is regarding the death of Sarah and Victoria.
“This will help not just Trevor and Jenni but any other families in the future who may find themselves in a similar position.”
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 victims lost consciousness within seconds was flawed.
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.
Their 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 will correct the record, however there is some confusion as the Lords’ judicial functions have now been passed to the Supreme Court.
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.
Trevor, of Settle, North Yorkshire, said: “South Yorkshire Police could fix this almost immediately. But they are refusing to do so.
“They are adding insult to injury. If they really wanted to support us, as they say they do, then they’d make that application with us for a statement in open court.”
Chief constable Poultney added: “I acknowledge the huge distress that must have been caused to you by the court’s findings.
“If that case was to be re-run today, it would not be defended by South Yorkshire Police, and I apologise for the fact that the case was contested in 1991.
“I offer my sincere apologies for the pain and suffering endured by Sarah and Vicki.”