Hillsborough: family call for correction of death records of sisters
Victoria and Sarah Hicks were among the 97 Liverpool supporters killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster on April 15 1989
The parents of two teenage sisters killed in the Hillsborough disaster will launch a new campaign to correct their official records to reflect an "agonising hour" they spent before their deaths.
Teenage sisters Victoria and Sarah Hicks were among the 97 Liverpool supporters killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster on April 15 1989.
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 they suffered much longer.
The record cannot be officially corrected without the consent of South Yorkshire Police (SYP), which Jenni and her former husband Trevor Hicks say they have not received so far.
The chief constable of SYP, Lauren Poultney, has said the force "will take the steps available to us to support the families".
This has infuriated the parents and their legal team, who say there is a "simple and straightforward" way for SYP to fix the records by agreeing to testify in open court - which they have not done.
Ninety-seven Liverpool supporters were unlawfully killed at the FA Cup semi-final on 15 April 1989, 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.
They 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.
Jenni Hicks said: "For more than three decades, the law has recorded something about our daughters that we now know simply isn't true.
"This isn't about compensation. It's about truth. It's about dignity. And it's about acknowledging what Sarah and Vicki - and so many others - went through that devastating day."
Victoria, aged 15, was the only female child victim of the crush and was reported by multiple witnesses to be crying and in distress for some time.
Her older sister, Sarah, 19, was also spotted by numerous witnesses, distressed about the fate of her younger sister.
Mr Hicks has described travelling to hospital with Victoria while Sarah was still receiving treatment on the pitch.
He and Ms Hicks will attend a parliamentary event on Monday alongside legal experts, peers, and MPs, to review the situation.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, lead counsel for the Hicks, says the case raises issues that go far beyond Hillsborough.
She said: "This is about whether the legal system has the courage and the mechanisms to correct itself when later evidence proves earlier assumptions to be false,
"The findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and the fresh inquests are unequivocal. This was not a 'swift and sudden death' for Sarah and Victoria - far from it.
"For an agonising hour they suffered prolonged pain and suffering. And yet the formal legal record remains unchanged."
Ms Poultney said: "It is a source of tremendous regret that the serious errors and mistakes of South Yorkshire Police led to lives being lost and also enormous pain, suffering and distress to both the individuals who lost their lives at Hillsborough, but also to their family and friends.
"Under my leadership, South Yorkshire Police will take the steps available to us to support the families in achieving a sense of justice.
"I acknowledge the huge distress that must have been caused to Mr and Ms Hicks and others by the court's findings in 1991 and further to that, I recognise that the lack of an available route to challenge findings has compounded distress. I wish Mr and Ms Hicks the best for the parliamentary event."
Mr Hicks said: "the injustice here is not abstract.
"Because the courts accepted the police version of events, we were told our daughters didn't suffer. We were told the law could do nothing more for them. That was wrong then, and it's wrong now."