27 years and 11 days

That is all it took to get something approaching justice. Justice for the families of 96 people who went to a football match on a sunny spring day in April 1989.

Just about everyone who should have looked after them, or when that failed, investigated what went wrong so that it would not happen again, or look after the sick and dying, either was useless, poorly lead or just lies and lies and kept on lying about it for nearly a quarter of a century.

THe police lied about the opening of a gate, blaming it on drunken fans, when an office ordered it to be open. A lie was made up about drunken fans stealing from the dead, urinating on the bodies and the police. The lie was repeated, and retold by newspapers, even though it soon became clear that wasn't The Truth. It took one paper until 2012 to admit The Lie, although they re-employed the editor who insisted The Lie was published. The coroner at the original inquest decided that all fans would die after 15:16 and so listened to no evidence after that point, missing evidence that better first aid could have saved many of the fans. The ambulance service were so poorly lead, that dozens of vehicles were lined up outside, whilst inside fans died. The ground had not had a valid safety certificate since 1980, and yet had staged not just league games, but cup games through the decade. Even the Prime Minister guessed the truth, but did nothing. Her press secretary insulted fan's groups, and today still refused to withdraw his remarks. An independent investigation by another police force failed to find anything wrong, but by then many note books had been tampered and officers who had been on duty pressured to change their statements. And all the time the fans were blamed for their own deaths, and their grieving families accused of self pity.

It took Andy Burnham, attending the 20th anniversary service at Anfield to hear the fan's anger that finally persuaded him to launch an inquiry. The Independent Panel reported in 2012, and made several recommendations, including annulling the inquests of all the 96. So for the last two years, in a business park in Warrington, inquests into the 96 deaths were re-held; and witnesses spoke on oath, and the cover up was revealed in detail.

Despite all the above, it is unlikely that anyone will face criminal charges for what happened, senior police officers who either took part that day, or in the cover up in the days, weeks and years afterwards, have MBEs and knighthoods and expensive pensions, living in their mansions, affected not one jot by what happened today.

But there has been closure for the families. And 96 ghosts can sleep untroubled, cleared of their own deaths, having been victims of the largest criminal cover up in modern times, maybe in history. And all down to the hard work and dignity of the families, so of which did not live themselves to see justice. The country should be ashamed. The police should be ashamed. The Sun should be ashamed. The Ambulance Service should be ashamed.

In the end it could have happened to the fans of any club; I was att he other semi-final, had the draw gone the other way, could have been us. Could have been us at any time.