Team begins work on Hillsborough tragedy documents

The Hillsborough Independent Panel is overseeing the public disclosure of archives held by the emergency services, the city council and other public bodies in Sheffield.

The documents relate to the disaster in April 1989 when 96 Liverpool fans died in a crush at Hillsborough Stadium after going to see their team play Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final. The panel, chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, was set up last year after the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.

The seven members are broadcaster Peter Sissons; public information expert Christine Gifford; TV producer and researcher Katy Jones; Paul Leighton, former deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland; academic criminologist Professor Phil Scraton; Bill Kirkup, former associate medical director at the Department of Health; and archivist Sarah Tyacke.

The panellists made no public comment as they arrived for their first meeting in Liverpool city centre. They are expected to spend much of the day discussing how they will go about their task, which involves studying hundreds of thousands of official papers. They will also meet representatives of Hillsborough victims' families and see a presentation by Peter Evans, archives and local studies manager at Sheffield City Council.

Lord Justice Taylor's inquiry into the disaster, which reported in 1990, criticised senior police officers on duty at the match for a "failure of control" and recommended the introduction of all-seater stadiums.

But the families have continued to call for further inquiries into the deaths. Speaking as she prepared to meet the panel, Margaret Aspinall, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: "We want closure and we hope we will get the truth this time. It will give us some peace."

Speaking afterwards Bishop Jones said he began the meeting by reading out the names of all 96 victims. He said he did it in "recognition of the continuing grief" of the victims' families. He added: "I also did it to underline the solemnity of the task we have. When you read out the names of 96 people who died, it does underline just how important it is to get to the truth of what happened."

The Bishop said their tasks were to ensure the maximum public disclosure of the documents and to write a report detailing their contents. The group will complete the task by making recommendations about a national archive of the Hillsborough documents.

He added they would "leave no stone unturned" in their search for the truth, which included holding meetings with South Yorkshire Police. "The families have felt that there is information that has never been put into the public domain and the task that has been given to us by the Home Secretary is to bring that information into the public domain," the Bishop said. The Bishop said documents will be made public as soon as possible.