Anne

The inquest at Sheffield Town Hall

had to determine how and when the 95 victims died.

After hearing evidence from more than 200 witnesses

and retiring for two days and two nights

to consider their decision,

the jury returned with their verdict - accidental death.

Thank you, Chair.

If I can, I'd like to come back to the...

..actual wording of the verdict.

"Accidental death"?

Think about that, what does that mean?

All our children just happened

to wander into a football ground one day and just wind up dead?

By accident?

What, they tripped over? They banged their heads?

This is 95 people...

..who had the life crushed out of them in an overcrowded cattle pen

because the authorities cocked up on the day.

Let's have this right here and now. If this was an accident...

..then it was man-made...

..and it was avoidable.

I never got the chance to say goodbye to my lad.

We will NEVER let this lie.

And we will FIGHT it...

..until justice is done.

There you are, Anne.

Enjoy. Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh! Um, that was great, by the way.

Glad you came along?

Oh, yeah.

Taking that first step,

it's always the hardest bit.

Especially on your own.

Oh, I'm not...

My husband, Steve... Well, he's... He's not...

He's not much of a talker - typical man.

Well, you just tell your Steve from this typical man,

if he ever does want to talk...

I mean it. We've all been there.

Thank you.

You know, I've had so many different people

telling me so many different things and, John, I...

I just need answers.

Hang on a minute.

Teresa... Can you pass us a pen and a bit of paper?

There's someone I want you to get in touch with.

There you go. Thanks, love.

Sheila Coleman.

Sheila attended every single one of those inquests for the City Council.

She might be able to help you with some of the questions you've got.

And she's all right, Sheila, I think you'll like her.

Promise me you'll ring her?

Promise.

Thank you.

Anne? Yeah.

Sorry I'm a bit late! Sheila.

Don't get up, you just sit down! Right.

Is that Kevin?

Yeah.

I'm so sorry.

I've got a lad of my own....

I honestly don't know what I'd do.

God, I'm starving. Are you hungry?

They do a brilliant club sandwich in here.

You know what? I've never had one.

You've never had a club sandwich? No!

Well, are you in for a treat. Excuse me?

Two club sandwiches, please. Do you want a drink?

Um... Spritzer?

Yeah. Two spritzers, please,

with ice and soda, thank you.

Right. Good to meet you, Anne.

You, too.

I don't how much John's told you,

but I'm... Well, basically, I'm an academic researcher,

and in that capacity, I attended all the inquests

on behalf of Liverpool City Council.

Right. Right.

They started every single inquest

with blood alcohol readings - even the kids.

From day one, the families had been interrogated

as to whether they'd had a couple of pints on their way.

Do you see the script?

"Drunken Liverpool fans at it again."

Look, the least we can do for your boy

and all those who died with him

is to put the record straight, starting with judicial review.

Thank you. There you are.

Thank you. There you go.

Cheers.

Cheers!

OK.

Step one is we have to convince a barrister

to take the case on in the first place.

To do that, we need evidence.

We've got someone coming up from London, Ed Fitzgerald.

He is one of THE best human rights specialists around.

Right.

I was there for your Kevin's inquest and, for me,

his is the case with the most discrepancies.

I think once we explain some of those anomalies to Ed,

there's no way he can turn us down.

You know, I've been so lost,

since Kev's first inquest.

You know, up till then... Well...

I thought he'd died outright in the crush.

And then we were told that he was still alive on the pitch.

And then,

of course, the coroner ruled that everyone was dead by 3:15, so...

It's a bit more complicated than that.

What the coroner actually said is that everybody had received

the injuries they died from by 3:15.

But my question is,

did they need to die from those injuries?

Could any of them have been saved?

You know, I was shown a photo

of a police officer giving Kev mouth-to-mouth on the pitch,

and then... There's this police lady,

called Debra Martin.

Now, she said she heard him speak in the gymnasium,

and that was well after 3:15.

That's it.

That's exactly the sort of evidence I'm talking about, Anne.

Right. We need to find those witnesses

and prove that Kevin could have been saved.

Hello,

South Yorkshire Police?

Yeah, I wonder if you can help me. I'm...

I'm trying to track down some witness statements.

'Can I ask what this is in relation to?'

Yeah, it's relating to the, um...

The Hillsborough football disaster.

'Right, I'll try and find out for you.'

'Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to deal with a request like that

'over the phone, you'll have to put it in writing.' What?

I'm sorry, but why didn't they tell me that in the first place?

"Dear Sir, my name is Anne Williams.

"I am writing to you about my son,

"Kevin Daniel Williams,

"who died at Hillsborough.

"I have never received copies of the witness statements

"taken in relation to Kevin's case...

"which I believe I am entitled to see."

'Last Christmas' by Wham!

Can I look at that?

About time.

Sara, love, can you pass me that file, please?

Thanks.

Right.

Here we go.

Hello? Um, yeah, is that F Division?

'Yes, it is.'

Could I speak to PC 7808, please?

Derek Bruder?

'I'm afraid PC Bruder isn't stationed here any more.'

What? Well, I've got it down here that Halewood's his station.

'He's actually at Hope Street now.'

Oh, right. Well, could you transfer me to Hope Street, please?

'I'm not able to do that, sorry.'

Right, well, could you at least give me the number?

'I'm not allowed to give out his number.

'If you give us your number, I can get him to call you?'

Right.

It's Mrs Anne Williams.

And it's 0704...

'I'm sorry, we can't make long-distance calls.'

It isn't a long-distance number. It's Formby.

Hiya, love.

Hello?

Gimme that... Hello?

Yeah, speaking.

Yeah.

No, no, no.

No, that's great. Um...

Yeah, Sunday, Sunday.

Er, whenever's good for PC Bruder.

Yeah.

Come straight in, lad.

Er, no need to stand, we're not like that here.

PC Bruder...

Sheila Coleman, Anne Williams.

Sorry, er...

First of all, I, um...

I just want to thank you...

To thank you for trying to help save my son.

And...

Well, what I want to know is...

There's a Sheffield policeman,

and he said he pulled Kevin out of the crowd at 3:28.

And he was dead.

But you were giving the kiss of life...

after that.

So I suppose what I want to know is... well, was he?

Alive?

I can only really tell you what I saw, Mrs Williams.

I saw Kevin convulsing on the pitch and that's why I went down.

Cos I was convinced I could still help him.

And then I looked for a pulse in Kevin's neck.

And, yeah, it was only slight, but there was something there.