Straw: determined to find the truth

Jack Straw's statement to the Commons

Straw Announces Fresh Inquiry into Hillsborough

Eight years ago, 96 Liverpool fans died in a crush as they poured into the stands of the Sheffield Wednesday ground for their team's FA Cup semi-final match with Nottingham Forest.

The crush was televised live. Thousands watched in horror as fans were trampled as they struggled to break free by getting onto the pitch.

Mr Straw told the House that Lord Justice Stuart-Smith would scrutinise new evidence on the 1989 soccer stadium tragedy to see if a further public inquiry was needed.

Relatives say video evidence like this was suppressed

"I hope that this examination will enable us to establish conclusively whether or not material evidence about the causes of the Hillsborough disaster has been overlooked," Mr Straw said in a statement.

The new evidence includes a video tape taken from a closed circuit television camera trained on the stand where the disaster took place. Police in the control room told the original inquiry that they were unaware of the build-up of fans because the camera was not working; however a video tape of the events recorded with the camera was discovered earlier this year.

At the original inquest, verdicts of accidental death were recorded. But the government's inquiry, headed by Lord Justice Taylor, concluded that the police were principally at fault.

1989: Fans try to escape the crush

Afterwards, South Yorkshire police faced legal action from many of the injured and bereaved, some of whom claimed that vital evidence had been suppressed.

Families of the victims have lobbied for a fresh inquiry on the basis of new video and medical evidence challenging the police version of events.

In his Commons statement, Mr Straw said the evidence would be made available to the House and the public. "We owe it to everyone touched by the tragedy, but above all to the families of those who died, to get to the bottom of this matter once and for all," said Mr Straw.

Shadow Home Secretary Dr Brian Mawhinney welcomed the new inquiry saying, "We owe it to the families and friends of those who died, the members of the police force and other emergency services and to all who believe in justice to ensure that no matter of significance is overlooked and that we don't reach a final conclusion without a full and independent examination of the evidence."

Hicks: some reservations

The chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Groups, Trevor Hicks, has given the Home Secretary's announcement a qualified welcome: "We believed that there is a prima-facie case and we think that case can be proven to the satisfaction of Lord Justice Stewart-Smith.

"We have some reservations, of course, at this stage because we don't know the full terms of the inquiry, the way it will be conducted, or indeed whether there may be minor issues which we would take objection to. But we think we got the best we could expect at this moment in time." he said.

The Home Secretary announced last Thursday that he would meet relatives of the Hillsborough victims this afternoon, and then make a statement on the events at Hillsborough in the House of Commons.