Liverpool awards Freedom Of The City to H’boro 96 Key figures who helped in the 27-year fight for justice will also be included in the honour later this year
THE Hillsborough victims and key figures in the 27-year fight for justice have been awarded the Freedom Of The City in a unanimous Liverpool Council vote.
At an extraordinary meeting of the full council at Liverpool Town Hall on the evening Wednesday, May 25, councillors formally agreed to bestow the honour.
Victims from Halton who died in the disaster included father and son Thomas Howard senior, 39, and Thomas Howard junior, 14, from Runcorn.
Adam Spearritt, 14, and Kevin Tyrrell, 15, were also from Runcorn.
Peter Thompson, 30, was living in Widnes at the time of Hillsborough while Penketh man David Benson, 22, was working in the timber trade in Widnes.
As well as the 96 men, women and children who died in the disaster on April 15, 1989, a motion by city Mayor Joe Anderson asked members of the local authority to make the award to former Bishop Of Liverpool The Right Reverend James Jones, Professor Phil Scraton and Kenny and Marina Dalglish.
The names of all 96 victims were read out to a hushed council chamber by deputy Mayor Ann O’Byrne, Lib Dem leader Richard Kemp, Green party leader Tom Crone and Liberal councillor Steve Radford.
The decision to announce the award was made earlier in May and the council meeting was part of the formal process.
It is expected the actual presentation of the awards will be made later in the year at a ceremony at St George’s Hall.
Mayor Anderson also paid tribute to the fami- lies of the victims and said they had ‘turned around one of the biggest miscarriages of justice ever seen in this country’. He said their loved ones had ‘paid the ultimate price for the failings and actions of others’. Councillors approved the recommendation that: “The Honorary Freedom Of The City be conferred on the 96 Hillsborough victims – who are all named in the report – as well as Kenny Dalglish and Marina Dalglish, Prof Phil Scraton and the Right Reverend Bishop James Jones for their roles in the independent panel which led to the quashing of the original inquest verdicts.” Cllr Crone told the meeting: “In a city such as ours, there will be many individuals granted Freedom Of The City over many years but I do not think you could find any more deserving.”