Hillsborough review criticises delays faced by families

Families of people killed in the Hillsborough disaster waited more than 23 years for face-to-face meetings to discuss the findings of their post mortems, a review found.

The investigation found the loved ones of Manchester Arena bombing victims also faced lengthy delays.

The report, by forensic expert Glenn Taylor and published by the Home Office, said bereaved families should be entitled to timely meetings and better communication.

A total of 97 lives were lost in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, while 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a device at the Manchester Arena in 2017.

Paul Price, whose partner Elaine McIver died in the Arena attack, did not meet with the pathologist who carried out her post-mortem until 2023, and the meeting would not have happened if the review had not intervened.

The review was set up to examine what went wrong with the original pathology report into the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans at the 15 April 1989 FA Cup semi-final.

It was aimed at ensuring similar mistakes were not made in the future, the Home Office said.

The review follows a recommendation in a report by Bishop James Jones in 2017.

Overseen by the Home Office and commissioned by the Pathology Delivery Board, it was chaired by forensic science expert Glenn Taylor.

The original inquests, which were quashed by the High Court in 2012, heard no evidence from after 15:15 BST on 15 April 1989, the day of the disaster at the Hillsborough ground in Sheffield.

'Deeply personal'

That decision was based on pathology evidence that all the victims had suffered the injuries which caused their deaths before that time.

However, the subsequent Hillsborough Independent Panel found the evidence was flawed and it was highly likely that what happened after 15:15 BST - the time when the first ambulance arrived on the pitch - was significant in determining whether the victims could have survived.

In his 2017 report, called The Patronising Disposition Of Unaccountable Power, Bishop James Jones said: "It is difficult to overstate the impact of the failures of pathology at the first inquest.

"The impact is deeply personal for those families who feel they will now never know how their loved one died, but it also has a wider resonance - leading as it did to the necessity for new inquest proceedings 25 years after the disaster occurred."

The review's terms of reference included recognising the failures in pathology, assessing whether there was a risk of similar failings being made again, and considering if there were lessons learned which could be built into the development of Home Office-registered forensic pathologists and the wider provision of pathology services.

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