Victims' families arrive to hear Hillsborough inquest verdicts

The jury of six women and three men reached a verdict yesterday (Monday, April 25) after were told by coroner Sir John Goldring that he would accept a majority decision on whether the 96 victims were unlawfully killed.

The coroner explained that he could accept a decision of 7-2 or 8-1 on the question if they could not all agree.

The verdicts will be made public at 11am. For live updates from the coroner’s court in Warrington keep an eye on the Star Live page and use the #starlive hashtag.

The jury forewoman has previously indicated to the court in Warrington that unanimous decisions had already been made on every other question they were posed.

The jury has been told to answer a general questionnaire of 14 questions as well as record the time and cause of death for each of the Liverpool fans who died in the disaster on April 15 1989.

These include questions about the police planning before the game, stadium safety, events on the day, the emergency services response to the disaster and a question about whether the fans were unlawfully killed.

Question six asks: “Are you satisfied, so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?”

The hearings have been ongoing for more than two years, with the jury having heard months of evidence from more than 800 witnesses.

Before they were sent out on April 6 to start their deliberations, jurors were told they could only answer ‘yes’ to Question 6 if they were sure that match commander Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield owed a duty of care to those who died in the disaster, and that he was in breach of that duty of care.

Thirdly, they would need to be satisfied that his breach of duty caused the deaths and, fourthly, that it amounted to “gross negligence”.