Hillsbourogh Panel meets for first time in Liverpool

A group set up to study secret documents relating to the Hillsborough tragedy is meeting for the first time.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel is being headed by the Bishop of Liverpool the Right Rev James Jones.

It will oversee public disclosure of the documents after first letting the victims' families know their content.

Ninety-six fans were crushed to death at the Sheffield stadium on 15 April 1989 during Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final tie with Nottingham Forest.

The seven other panel members include Paul Leighton, former deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and broadcaster Peter Sissons.

The panel will spend two years reading thousands of documents detailing the events which led to the disaster. They have been held by South Yorkshire Police for the past 20 years. They contain evidence from the ambulance service, the police, the fire service, coroner and Sheffield City Council. The documents in their entirety have not been read by anyone outside the police force before. The government promised in July last year to release documents relating to the events of the day.

The Hillsborough families have been consulted throughout the process of establishing the panel, which is meeting in Liverpool.

Hillsborough Family Support Group chair Margaret Aspinall said: "We welcome the panel, which has the confidence of all interested parties and is felt capable of executing this very important task."

I was there the day of the disaster. Never have I seen such incompetence by the police. I was lucky, I avoided their advice, nearly got arrested for doing so, but survived.